The1956 European Cup final was the inaugural final in the pan-European football competition, now known as theUEFA Champions League, to determine the winners of the1955–56 European Cup. It was contested byReal Madrid of Spain andStade de Reims of France, and played at theParc des Princes inParis on 13 June 1956 in front of 38,000 people. Real Madrid reached the final by beating Italian sideAC Milan 5–4 on aggregate, whereas Reims beat Scottish clubHibernian 3–0 on aggregate. The match finished 4–3 to Real Madrid, who went on to record an unrivalled five consecutive European Cup titles. The match started brightly for Reims, withMichel Leblond andJean Templin scoring to make it 2–0 inside 10 minutes, but by half-time, Madrid had levelled the scores through goals fromAlfredo Di Stéfano andHéctor Rial. Reims took the lead again on 62 minutes throughMichel Hidalgo, but whenMarquitos and Rial scored in the 67th and 79th minutes respectively, Reims could no longer respond, winning Madrid the first everEuropean Cup/Champions League title, the first of five consecutive titles that they won.
Real Madrid entered the European Cup competition as the title winners of the1954–55 La Liga. In the opening round, they were drawn against Swiss championsServette. After they secured a 2–0 victory away from home in the first leg, they secured a 5–0 victory at theSantiago Bernabéu Stadium withAlfredo Di Stéfano scoring two goals in the victory.[1] In the quarter-finals they were drawn against Yugoslavian sideFK Partizan who had finished fifth in the previous season. In the opening leg at home, Heliodoro Castaño Pedrosa scored two goals as fellow goals fromFrancisco Gento and Alfredo Di Stéfano gave Real Madrid a four goal lead heading into the away leg inBelgrade.[2] Partizan won second leg 3–0, but that was not enough to advance to the semi-finals.[3] There, Real Madrid won the first home leg againstAC Milan and with two-goal lead could afford a second leg 2–1 defeat at theSan Siro.[4]
Reims entered the European Cup competition as the title winners of the1954–55 French Division 1. In the opening round, they were drawn against Danish championsAGF Aarhus. In the first away leg they secured a 2–0 victory thanks to a brace fromLéon Glovacki,[5] before a 2–2 draw at theStade Auguste-Delaune. In the quarter-finals they were drawn against Hungarian sideVörös Lobogó who had finished 2nd in the previous season. In the opening leg at home,Michel Leblond scored two goals as fellow goals from Léon Glovacki andRené Bliard gave Reims a two-goal lead heading into the away leg atBudapest.[6] There, a tight match ensured a 4–4 draw, which saw Reims advance to the semi-finals,[7] where they defeated ScottishHibernian in both legs, reaching final undefeated.[8]
^Di Stéfano was a native Argentine that in October 1956 (four months following this match) became a naturalised citizen of Spain. He started playing on theSpain national football team in 1957.[9][10]
Servette
AGF Aarhus
Partizan
Vörös Lobogó
Milan
Hibernian
Reims
