Champions League Final 2017: Head-to-Head Record Before Juventus vs. Real Madrid

There is nothing to choose between Juventus and Real Madrid before they meet in the 2017 UEFA Champions League final in Cardiff on Saturday, June 3. Historically, each team has inflicted costly defeats on the other in some of Europe's premier club competitions.

In fact, as UEFA's official website has detailed, "both clubs have eight wins and two draws, with Juve scoring 21 goals to Madrid's 18." Each side is also in similarly strong recent form, having won their last three matches, per Sky Sports, and finished the season as champions of their respective domestic leagues.

This is the 19th meeting between these powers of the European game.

Interestingly, games in the Champions League era have fallen into two distinct categories. Notably, Juventus have won in the earlier rounds, with two semi-final wins and a quarter-final victory, while Real were victorious the last time these two met in a final.

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The latter win came at the end of the 1997/98 season when a lone Predrag Mijatovic goal made Los Blancos European champions for the first time in 32 years. This was a Real squad loaded with star names, but struggling domestically on then-manager Jupp Heynckes' watch.

Even so, Raul, Roberto Carlos, Fernando Morientes, Davor Suker and Clarence Seedorf delivered when it mattered against Zinedine Zidane, Fabrizio Ravanelli and Alessandro Del Piero. By contrast, Juve were a powerhouse domestically but still lost two out of three finals in the mid-'90s, with a win on penalties over Ajax and a 3-1 loss to Borussia Dortmund coming before defeat to Los Merengues.

The Bianconeri gained a measure of revenge in 2003 when they destroyed holders Real in the semi-final, inspired by the brilliance of Pavel Nedved. Sadly, Juve lost that year's final on penalties to Serie A rivals AC Milan.

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It was a similar story in 2015, when Carlos Tevez and Alvaro Morata broke Real's hearts in the last four at the Santiago Bernabeu, before being taken apart by Los Blancos' bitter rivals Barcelona in the final.

Real recovered from missing out in 2015, to win another Champions League last year. They have returned to the final this season thanks to the familiar goalscoring exploits of Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Portuguese powerhouse has found the net 10 times during this Champions League campaign, per WhoScored.com. As OptaPaolo pointed out, Ronaldo also has form for finishing against Juventus:

He's undoubtedly the player a well-drilled Juve defence led by tough-as-nails centre-back Giorgio Chiellini needs to shackle.

Yet the Binaconeri are no slouches up front. In fact, Real will likely be just as worried about Argentinian double act Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain as Juve are about Ronaldo. Higuain used to shine for Real, but he has become even better since moving to Italy in 2013.

The classic No. 9 has scored 32 times in all competitions this season, according to WhoScored.com. His tally has put Higuain among some Juventus greats, according to the Champions League official Twitter account:

There's a similar parity in talent in the respective midfields, where Real are led expertly by pass-master Luka Modric, schemer Toni Kroos and holding player Casemiro. Juve can match this balance thanks to the flair and vision of maestro Miralem Pjanic, along with the brawn and muscle of another former Real player, Sami Khedira.

The history, form guide and talent levels reflect the even nature of this final. Juve's superior defensive nous could give them the edge, but nobody can match Ronaldo's knack for goals when it matters in this tournament.