1956 European Cup Final

The 1956 European Cup Final was the first ever final in the pan-European football competition, the European Cup, now known as the UEFA Champions League. It was contested by Real Madrid of Spain and Reims from France. It was played at the Parc des Princes in Paris on 13 June 1956 in front of 38,000 people. Real Madrid reached the final by beating the now seven times champions Milan 5–4 on aggregate, whereas Reims beat Scottish club Hibernian 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, with Michel Leblond and Jean Templin scoring to make it 2–0 inside ten minutes, but by half time Madrid had levelled the scores, through goals from Alfredo Di Stéfano and Héctor Rial. Reims took the lead again on 62 minutes through Michel Hidalgo, but Marquitos and Rial scored in the 67th and 79th minutes respectively to win the cup for Madrid.

Real Madrid
Real Madrid entered the European Cup competition as the title winners of the 1954–55 La Liga. In the opening round, they were drawn with Swiss champions Servette FC. After they secured a 2-0 victory away from home in the first leg, they secured a 5-0 victory at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium with Alfredo Di Stéfano scoring two goals in the victory. In the quarter-finals they were drawn against Yugoslavian side FK Partizan who had finished fifth in the previous season. In the opening leg at home, Heliodoro Castaño Pedrosa scored two goals as fellow goals from Francisco Gento and Alfredo Di Stéfano gave Real Madrid a four goal lead heading into the away leg at Belgrade.