Real Madrid, the Champions League’s most successful team with 15 titles, begins its quest for a 16th European crown on Tuesday by facing Stuttgart in an unprecedented clash. The star of the match will be Kylian Mbappé, who, after leaving PSG, is looking to win the only trophy missing in his career: the Champions League.
Mbappé, tired of watching Real Madrid shine from afar, joins the team with the ambition of experiencing those magical nights at the Santiago Bernabéu, where the impossible often becomes reality. “I came to Madrid to experience these kinds of nights,” said the French striker in the run-up to the match, ready to make his debut in the competition in the white shirt.
Real Madrid, who ended last season by lifting their fifteenth European Cup after beating Borussia Dortmund in the final at Wembley, now face another German team, Stuttgart, in an unprecedented match in European competition.
Carlo Ancelotti’s team, who have gone 32 games unbeaten, come into the match after showing some defensive weaknesses in La Liga, where they have drawn twice in five games. However, the team knows that the new Champions League format will require a good start to position themselves among the 36 participating teams and advance to the final stages.