Victories for Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Villarreal, Real Betis and Real Madrid sealed Spain’s first-ever five-win clean sweep in a single Champions League matchday.
While this is not the first time five Spanish sides have featured in the same edition of the Champions League, it marks the first time all five have won on the same matchday. The benchmark was set on Tuesday courtesy of FC Barcelona’s 4-1 triumph at Fenerbahce, Atletico de Madrid’s 2-0 victory over Manchester United, and Villarreal’s 3-1 win against Napoli.
A flawless round appeared in jeopardy on Wednesday when Roma and Porto took momentary leads against Real Madrid and Betis respectively. However, two stirring comebacks (3-4 and 3-2) turned both ties on their head to seal this historic milestone.
To find the previous clean sweep by Spanish sides in the tournament—albeit with four teams—one has to look back to December 2019. On that occasion, Atletico defeated Lokomotiv Moscow 2-0 at home, Real Madrid saw off Club Brugge 3-1, Valencia snatched a 1-0 win against Ajax in Amsterdam, and Barca secured all three points in Milan against Inter (1-2).
To date, Spanish clubs have amassed eight wins from 10 matches in this season’s competition, dropping points on just two occasions: Villarreal’s 3-2 defeat in Dortmund and Atletico’s 2-1 reverse at Anfield.
