Real Madrid against Bayern Munich is a match that grabs the attention.
Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr, and Jude Bellingham will face Harry Kane, Manuel Neuer, and Joshua Kimmich for a place in the Champions League semi-final.
Los Merengues, Los Blancos, will play FC Bayern, La Bestia Negra.
The Origin of ‘La Bestia Negra’
The Bayern nickname, La Bestia Negra, is most often used when the club is drawn against Madrid. Madrid have their own nickname, White Ballet, which comes from the 1960s. In Germany, Bayern are often called FC Bayern, Die Roten, or Die Bayern — the Reds, the Bavarians. But La Bestia Negra appears on banners at Allianz Arena during Bundesliga games, becoming more prominent whenever the club faces Madrid.
The nickname is rivalry-specific, making it a rarity. Bayern Munich are Real Madrid’s Bestia Negra — their black beast.
A Fifty-Year Rivalry
Tuesday’s game arrives close to the 50th anniversary of the first match between the two clubs. That was in March 1976, when Bayern beat Madrid 3-1 over two legs of a European Cup semi-final, on their way to winning the competition against Saint-Etienne at Hampden Park.
Bayern published an article celebrating “50 years of La Bestia Negra: How Bayern became Real Madrid’s European nemesis”. The historic record between the two clubs is in Madrid’s favour — 13 wins, four draws, and 11 losses. Bayern have not won a two-legged tie against them since 2012. It was the early encounters that created dynamics that have become permanent.
The Contentious 1976 Clash
The first leg of the 1976 game ended 1-1. Both goalkeepers, Sepp Maier and Miguel Angel Gonzalez, made outstanding saves in an even game, but the home crowd were enraged by the referee’s performance. Complete footage of the match does not exist, making it impossible to know whether that outrage had merit. Brief German highlights do show a Madrid fan running onto the pitch, punching Gerd Muller in the face, then landing a straight right jab to the official’s jaw, before being wrestled to the ground by Maier and a young Uli Hoeness.
Bayern won the second leg 2-0, but Madrid had a goal ruled out for offside and Maier made another string of good saves. Madrid captain Amancio Armaro was sent off in stoppage time when, frustrated by Bayern’s quality, ruthlessness and dashes of good fortune, he toe-punted the ball off the pitch after the whistle and received a second yellow.
Bayern were a hefty proposition in 1976. Back-to-back European champions in 1974 and 1975, they were the elite of European football, with a starting line-up containing Franz Beckenbauer and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, as well as Maier in goal and Muller up front.
They must have seemed invulnerable, and that, in turn, made Bayern a natural villain.