Inter Milan travel to the Santiago Bernabéu for their 2026/27 UEFA Champions League opener burdened by a historical record they desperately want to overturn.
Real Madrid vs Inter Milan: European Heavyweights Collide in Blockbuster Opening Fixture
The Nerazzurri have not beaten Real Madrid in European competition this century, a drought stretching back nearly three decades.
Their last victory over the Spanish giants came in 1998 at San Siro. Luigi Simoni’s Inter defeated Guus Hiddink’s Madrid 3-1 in the group stage, with Roberto Baggio scoring twice and Ivan Zamorano adding the third.
Since that memorable night, the balance has tilted firmly in Real Madrid’s favour.
Inter have faced the 15-time European champions four times this millennium and failed to win any encounter, whether on home soil or at the Bernabéu.
The scale of this drought becomes even more striking when considering that Inter have changed their club crest twice since that last European victory over Madrid, yet another triumph remains elusive.
The meetings during the 2020/21 and 2021/22 Champions League campaigns offered Inter further opportunities to break the hoodoo, but neither produced the breakthrough they desperately sought.
However, this rivalry carries a much older chapter that provides Inter with a very different memory.
In 1964, Helenio Herrera’s legendary Inter defeated Real Madrid 3-1 in the European Cup final in Vienna. That victory remains one of the defining moments in the Italian club’s illustrious history.
Real Madrid delivered their own response two years later. They won the first leg of the 1966 European Cup semi-final 1-0 before securing qualification with a draw at San Siro.
Los Blancos subsequently lifted the trophy by beating Partizan in the final.
Overall, considering only UEFA Champions League encounters, Real Madrid hold the edge with seven wins to Inter’s five, with just one draw between these two European heavyweights.
Inter remain one of only three clubs, alongside Benfica and Liverpool, to have defeated Real Madrid in a European Cup final.
Simone Inzaghi’s men will hope to finally rewrite history and end their Bernabéu misery when they step onto the pitch for this season’s group stage opener.
