Real Madrid are the only team to win back to back Champions League titles. In the modern era, AC Milan, Ajax, Juventus and Manchester United have all reached the final as defending champions, but none managed to retain the trophy.

But if any team had to, you just knew it would be Madrid.

In 1955, when French sports newspaper L’Equipe had the idea to bring the best teams in Europe together to play each other in competitive games, the best two teams in the world were Real Madrid and Barcelona. As the first European Cup invited only league champions, and Madrid got their foot in the door at exactly the right time: Madrid were league champions and assured of a place.

Madrid’s title victory shut the European Cup door on their rivals from Catalonia, and they made the most of it, winning the competition six times between 1956 and 1966, including the first five in a row. But despite their power and prestige in the 1950s, they wouldn’t win the competition until 1998.

It was the glamour injected by Real Madrid that ensured the tournament’s future, and after the formative years of Spanish dominance, it became the continental affair we know today.

Between victory in 1966 and 1998, Madrid had to wait 32 years to triumph in the European Cup again. But if there is some sort of spiritual attraction between Real Madrid and the European Cup, the only English club who can claim a similar pull is surely Liverpool. The club sides linked together by Steve McManaman.

Winners of the competition five times – more than any other English club – Liverpool produced Steve McManaman, who never won the Champions League with his hometown club. But he did win it with Real Madrid.

Indeed, McManaman did more than just take part in a team that won the title. He starred in it.

This wasn’t a team who fluked their way to the final, nor was it a team who played soft sides from weak nations. En route to the final, the Englishman’s Madrid beat reigning champions Manchester United 3-2 at Old Trafford in the quarter-final and in the semi-final they beat the previous season’s runners-up Bayern Munich.

But in the final, they met compatriots Valencia, a side who would go on to contest the next season’s Champions League final as well as win the La Liga title in 2002. They were no pushovers, but Madrid pushed them over. 3-0. But it was the crucial second goal which decided the tie.

With 65 minutes on the clock and Madrid holding a precarious 1-0 lead, a throw-in from the left-hand side was lumped into the box in a thoroughly un-continental style. It’s not what you expect from Real Madrid, who also wore an unfamiliar orange kit on the night, seemingly freeing Los Blancos from their glamour, and a pragmatic performance proved it.

It was a move made in true British fashion, a ball thrown into the box in hope rather than expectation, a chance to cause confusion and wreak havoc, not a precise move to cut through the opponent like butter.

It’s only fitting, then, that the ball would fall to the only British player on the pitch, McManaman, who caught a scissor-kick perfectly finding the bottom corner of the net with an unexpected quality. 2-0. Game over. A third goal ten minutes later from Raul served no purpose in the game, but it was Raul’s 10th of the competition, allowing him to end the competition as joint-top scorer.

A scissor-kick volley is something of a McManaman special, in fact. The next season, in a 4-0 victory over Real Oviedo, McManaman was on the end of a Roberto Carlos cross-field pass – one of the Brazilian’s own specialities – and it was caught perfectly by the Liverpudlian as it swerved into the goal.

By that stage, though, the Liverpudlian’s game time in the Spanish capital was beginning to decline. Before the game against Oviedo in 2001, Luis Figo was presented with the Ballon d’Or, but not for his performances in a Real Madrid shirt. The previous season, the Portuguese midfielder was starring for El Clasico rivals Barcelona, crossing the unspeakable divide just a month after McManaman’s goal had helped Madrid to yet another Champions League title. It was to be a turning point.

The Galactico policy made it tougher for the former Liverpool star to get into the team, and when Ronaldo was signed from Inter Milan, McManaman turned down the chance to move to the San Siro as part of the deal, hoping to stay and fight for his place. It’s his determination that endeared him to the Real Madrid fans before he finally did move back the Premier League in 2003, joining Manchester City.

Two years after beating Valencia, though, Madrid reached the final again, facing Bayer Leverkusen. And this time it was Figo who started on the right side of midfield in a team that now featured Zinedine Zidane, too.

The final will always be remembered for Zidane’s volley in a game which Madrid won, but again it wasn’t the final where the hard work was done. In order to qualify for the Hampden Park final, Real Madrid once again faced the reigning champions in the quarter-final, this time Bayern Munich.

In the semi-final, though, they faced Barcelona. The first leg was at the Camp Nou, and it’s here McManaman had one of his greatest moments in a Madrid shirt. Already winning 1-0, the tie was still finely balanced. A one away-goal lead would have been a nice lead to take into the home leg, but McManaman was played clean through in the second minute of added-on time and lobbed the ball beautifully over the goalkeeper, Roberto Bonano.

It was a swansong. It didn’t help McManaman fight his way back into the team, and his next season was his last in Spain. Whereas he made 47 appearances in his first season at the Bernabeu, he made just 25 in his final year when Madrid’s side was being filled with superstar after superstar.

As Madrid come to Wembley to face Tottenham, they will once again wear an unfamiliar away kit. And for those Spurs stars like Dele Alli, Harry Kane and manager Mauricio Pochettino – all three often linked with the Bernabeu club – McManaman’s story should act as a warning. The Bernabeu is a place where stars often fade quickly and the next superstar comes along as quickly as the last.

But this Tottenham team are sampling their first real success in the Champions League after last season’s group stage exit. And if they’re to go on and make it a memorable campaign, Real Madrid are the face of the competition, and after two in a row, they’re the team to beat.

David Unsworth has overseen his first win since taking over as Everton manager on an interim basis.It was a difficult situation for the Under-23s coach to come into given that the team had won just two of nine Premier League games, which resulted in the sacking of Ronald Koeman.Under the rule of Unsworth, the Toffees lost to Chelsea in the Carabao Cup, Leicester City in the top flight and were eliminated from the Europa League due to a 3-0 defeat to Lyon.Pressure was on heading into Sunday’s match against Watford at Goodison Park, and it was a dreary start as Everton went 2-0 down after 64 minutes.The Merseyside outfit managed to launch a successful comeback, though, as Oumar Niasse and Dominic Calvert-Lewin got on the scoresheet.Leighton Baines found what turned out to be the winner in the 91st minute, just before Tom Cleverley missed from the spot.Former Newcastle United midfielder Joey Barton has been heavily critical of Unsworth, particularly his weight.Following Sunday’s victory, the controversial ex-Manchester City man gave his verdict on Twitter.

Everton’s season went from bad to worse as they suffered a comprehensive 4-1 defeat to a previously goal-shy Southampton at St Mary’s on Sunday, and Toffees fans have urged the club to appoint Sam Allardyce as their new manager.

The Merseyside outfit have now been without a permanent manager for five weeks following the sacking of Ronald Koeman, and David Unsworth looks unlikely to be handed the job on a full-time basis with the 4-1 loss on the south coast coming just days after the 5-1 humiliation at home to Atalanta.

The Toffees are in serious danger of being relegated this term as things stand, and in that respect Allardyce would be a good appointment as he has never gone down from the Premier League.

Everton supporters have been having their say on the 63-year-old via social media, and while one simply said “get Sam Allardyce in now”, another has told the club to “pay him whatever he wants”.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

Celtic and Hibernian offered up a real treat of a match in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday, drawing 2-2 in a dramatic and pulsating encounter at Easter Road.

After a goalless first half, things kicked into gear in the second half when Scott Sinclair scored a double to take his goal tally this season to 14. With a two-goal cushion, the Hoops looked destined to see out the match and pick up all three points, but the home side had other plans.

They fought their way back into the match though with two goals in three minutes thanks to Efe Ambrose and Oli Shaw. That set-up an end-to-end final ten minutes that really could have gone either way.

While obviously pleased to have avoided defeat, Celtic supporters were unhappy with the manner in which they allowed Neil Lennon’s side back into the game, with many pointing out the deficiencies in defence in particular.

None of the back four exactly covered themselves in glory and most were criticised, even popular stars like Kieran Tierney.

Fans took to Twitter to share their thoughts…

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Dele Alli went into this World Cup with doubts over his starting place in the England side but Gareth Southgate utilised Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s injury to bring the Tottenham man back into his starting eleven.

The man valued at £90m by Transfermarkt got the nod in Southgate’s strongest eleven, fielded for the opening game of the tournament against Tunisia but his performance was undermined by an early injury.

The playmaker has struggled to recover and despite taking his time to rest before coming back into the side for the fiery encounter against Colombia in the last 16, he did not look at his best on that dramatic night.

How far will England get in Russia? Tell us now and win any World Cup shirt of your choice.

He still struggled for mobility and fitness, so we raised the issue with you – should Alli be dropped for such a vitally important game?

It was a close vote, but 46 per cent of supporters who responded do want Southgate to abandon his faith in the midfielder, as you can see from the results below…

According to a report from The Express and Star, West Brom defender Ahmed Hegazi has a £10 million release clause in his Baggies contract. The 27-year-old may well have been part of a West Brom team relegated from the Premier League last season but he certainly did his bit to try and keep them there, to the point that Newcastle United should seek to land him this summer in case they lose influential ace Jamaal Lascelles.

The Breakdown

Ultimately, 24-year-old Lascelles played as big a part as anyone in helping to keep the Magpies in the top-flight last season upon their return to the Premier League, with the centre back appearing in 33 of their league matches, missing the other five only as a result of injury.

And with key goals at one end and wonderful defensive efforts at the other, the Englishman saw his stock raise ten-fold last season to prompt reported interest from clubs higher up the Premier League table, thus opening up the prospect of a summer move.

And were the North East heavyweights to indeed lose their captain, they will certainly have to replace him, which is why a reported £10 million release clause in Hegazi’s contract must be of interest to Benitez and the Newcastle hierarchy.

The 27-year-old may well have gone down with West Brom last season, but he was a rare shining light in their miserable campaign in starting all 38 of their Premier League matches, and showing decent top-flight pedigree in the process.

Be it aerially in both his own box and the opposition’s, or indeed on the floor in being comfortable on the ball or strong in the tackle, the Egypt international certainly proved his worth at the Hawthorns last term to suggest that he is an adept Premier League centre back.

Yes, the defender was part of a disappointing World Cup campaign with his country, in which they lost all three matches in a group many expected them to get out of, but that shouldn’t detract from the fine season Hegazi had last time round – there’s a reason West Ham are thought to be interested.

Is this the best World Cup ever? Give us your thoughts here

And for a reported £10 million, it could turn out to be an absolute bargain if the 27-year-old is able to produce the same level of performance this season as he did last time out.

Thus, with the future of Lascelles still uncertain heading into the 2018/19 season, Benitez must be ready, in case he does leave, to secure a bargain deal for the West Brom ace as replacement for the Englishman.

Newcastle fans… what do you think? Let us know!

West Ham recently confirmed the signing of Andriy Yarmolenko, but the Ukraine international is unlikely to be the only attacking addition made this summer.

According to Sky Sports, the Hammers have finally agreed a fee with Lazio for Brazilian winger Felipe Anderson, although a deal for Sporting Lisbon’s Bruno Fernandes appears to have hit a snag.

Fernandes is also attracting interest from other clubs in Europe, making signing the attacking midfielder an even more difficult task.

Furthermore, West Ham should consider making a move for Yarmolenko’s former Borussia Dortmund team-mate Mario Gotze if Fernandes cannot be brought in.

£16.2m-rated (via Transfermarkt) Gotze, for various reasons, has not lived up to his potential after initially taking European football by storm as a teenager.

The Germany international, who scored the winning goal for his nation in the 2014 World Cup final, was one of the most productive players in the Bundesliga during his first spell at Dortmund and the earlier part of his Bayern Munich career.

And under Pellegrini, the 26-year-old could hit heights close to that again. At Malaga, Pellegrini worked with Isco – whose style closely resembles that of Gotze’s – helping him to develop into one of the best attacking midfielders in La Liga.

With similar tutelage, Gotze could become an attacker, who alongside the likes of Yarmolenko, Anderson and Marko Arnautovic, help form one of the most dangerous attacks in the Premier League.

Former West Ham United centre-back Jose Fonte confirmed via his official Instagram account on Sunday night that he was looking for a new club after his contract with Chinese Super League club Dalian Yifang had been terminated, and Irons fans were quick to react to the news.

The Portugal international only left the east London outfit for Asia in February after finding himself out of favour under David Moyes, but his short spell in China has already come to an end.

The 34-year-old moved to the London Stadium from Southampton in January 2017, but he never really made a positive impact and he seems unlikely to return to the capital given Manuel Pellegrini has released James Collins and signed two younger defenders in Issa Diop and Francisco Balbuena.

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These West Ham supporters, who have urged Pellegrini to make a shock swoop for a Chelsea midfielder this summer, took to social media to give their thoughts on the story, and while one said “Fonte is well past his best now”, another disagreed and said “I would take him back”.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

Loads of Manchester United fans have been reacting to the latest transfer news, as reports claim David de Gea is set to pen a new contract with the club.

According to The Manchester Evening News, de Gea has ended speculation of him replacing Keylor Navas at Real Madrid.

The Red Devils’ talisman has been endlessly linked with a move to the European Champions in every transfer window since his arrival at Old Trafford, but MEN claims he is “expected” to sign a new deal.

The Spanish stopper has taken loads of criticism back home for his disappointing performance at the World Cup, but the unwavering support from Manchester United fans has reminded him where his real home is.

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De Gea has refused to agitate for a move at any point despite the on-going interest from Madrid according to the MEN report, which is probably just about the best news fans could get this summer.

Plenty of fans are growing frustrated with the lack of transfer activity, but keeping their Spanish stopper should no doubt be the top priority.

You can find some of the best Twitter reactions down below, where fans are praising the heavens about this transfer update…

Everton had a poor start last season, but recovered to finish 8th. Marco Silva will be looking to continue his positive start as Toffees boss next season. 

Everton have just signed Watford forward Richarlison for £50m, spending this sum seems to signal some intent for the coming season. The Goodison Park outfit have not been scared of spending big in the last couple of summers, bringing in the likes of Gylfi Sigurdsson and Cenk Tosun to Merseyside.

With the talents of Richarlison, Theo Walcott, Cenk Tosun and hot-prospect Ademola Lookman up-top, Everton look well-equipt in this area. Likewise, they have plenty of creative talent with the likes of Gylfi Sigurdsson in the middle. It is at the back Everton could do with tightening up. Defenders like Phil Jagielka and Ashley Williams are ageing, and Everton need an upgrade at the back.

With that in mind, this is the player Everton should sign for before deadline day…

The player Everton should go after is Lucas Digne, who is rated as worth £13.5m by Transfermarkt. He has an impressive CV, having played for AS Roma and Paris Saint-Germain before moving to Catalonia.

The Barcelona left-back made just 12 La Liga appearances last season, and seems out of favour at the Catalan giants. A move to Everton would allow him to get regular football at a strong Premier League outfit. As you would expect from a Barcelona player, Digne has bags of technical ability, and can deliver a pinpoint cross into the box.

This kind of quality at the back would help Everton kick-on from being a solid upper-mid table side, to a side who were genuine contenders to achieve European football.

If Everton secured one Digne, it would be another major signal of intent.