Real Madrid's dominant Champions League history

While Real Madrid's recent dominance in the UEFA Champions League may seem like a new thing to younger fans, it's actually just the latest in a decades-long trend for the club.

In fact, Madrid is the most decorated team in the history of the competition, having claimed Europe's top club prize 12 times. No other club has won it more than seven times, and Madrid's three runners-up medals means that the Spanish giant has played in a final on 15 separate occasions.

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Madrid has won four of the past five tournaments, and if it is able to best Liverpool on May 26 it'll have the best five-year stretch in the competition since the club rung off five consecutive titles between 1956 and 1960.

Real Madrid's Champions League history, by the numbers

12 titles

As mentioned above, Madrid is the only team to have won 12 European club championships. Los Blancos have achieved European supremacy in both incarnations of the competition, with six titles coming when the tournament was known as the European Cup and another half dozen occurring after UEFA rebranded the tournament as the Champions League in 1992. 

15 finals

When Madrid makes it to the championship match, the club usually comes out as the winner. Only three times has Madrid played in the deciding contest and not lifted the trophy, an astonishing rate of return given how frequently the team finds itself in the final.

5 straight championships

When the tournament was launched in the mid-1950s, Madrid immediately established itself as the force to be dealt with on the continent. No other club has rung off five straight championships, and the current edition of the team has won three of the last four and will be going for three consecutive titles on May 26.

120 goals for Ronaldo, and counting

Madrid is the gold standard of clubs in Europe's premier competition, and its current talisman is the embodiment of that dominance. Cristiano Ronaldo leads the 2017-18 Champions League with 15 goals, and has topped the scoring charts six other times throughout his storied career.

The Portuguese superstar is by far the most prolific goal scorer in the history of the competition, with 120 goals to his name so far.

Year-by-year Real Madrid results