The legendary San Siro stadium will provide the setting for Saturday’s all-Spanish Champions League final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.

This will be a replica of the 2014 showdown that was played at Benfica’s Stadium of Light.

On that occasion, Carlo An-celotti’s Real overcame Atletico 4-1 in extra-time to chalk up ‘La Decima’ (10th European Cup in the club’s history). It was also the first ever final in the competition’s 59-year history to be contested by two teams from the same city.

Since that success in Portugal two years ago, many things have changed at Real Madrid.

To start with, Italian coach Ancelotti was shown the backdoor at the end of the 2014/15 season after failing to bring any major trophies to the Bernabeu.

Rafa Benitez, formerly in charge of Inter and Napoli, failed to revive Real’s fortunes and, consequently, was also dismissed by the club on January 4.

Benitez’s replacement – Zinedine Zidane – also had a past in the Italian football as he played for Juventus between 1996 and 2001.

During his stint in Serie A, Zizou, as the Frenchman is popularly known, won two league titles and was a Champions League runner-up with the Bianconeri in season 1997 and 1998.

At Juventus, Zidane was coached by Ancelotti between 1999 and 2001.

Ancelotti sat on the Real Madrid hot seat after a coaching career spanning two decades. Before he had stints with Reggiana, Parma, Juventus, Milan, Chelsea and Paris St Germain

Zidane was appointed assistant coach to Ancelotti in 2013 and the following season he took over the reins at Real Madrid’s B team – Castilla.

Illustrious list

This weekend, Zidane, who scored Real’s winner in the 2002 Champions League final against Bayer Leverkusen, can emulate Ancelotti by becoming the seventh man to lift the European Cup both as player and coach.

He will follow in the footsteps of Miguel Munoz (Real Madrid 1956, 1957; Real Madrid 1960, 1966); Giovanni Trapattoni (Milan 1963, 1969; Juventus 1985); Johan Cruyff (Ajax 1971, 1972; Barcelona 1992); Ancelotti (Milan 1989, 1990; Milan 2003, 2007, Real Madrid 2014); Frank Rijkaard (Milan 1989, 1990, Ajax 1995; Barcelona 2006); and Pep Guardiola (Barcelona 1992; Barcelona 2009, 2011).

Incidentally, in this outgoing season Zidane suffered his first defeat as coach of Real Madrid against rivals Atletico Madrid as the latter conquered the Bernabeu with a 1-0 win on February 27.

In the first round (October 4), at a time when Benitez was still in charge at Real, the derby ended all square – 1-1 – at the Calderon.

Diego Simeone, who coached Catania in Serie A in 2010/11, has completely transformed the fortunes of Atletico Madrid since succeeding Gregorio Manzano on December 23, 2011.

Simeone’s first season at Atletico Madrid ended with the Rojiblancos winning the Europa League after beating Athletic Bilbao 3-0 in another all-Spanish final played in Bucharest.

Three months later, Simeone, who played for Inter between 1997 and 1999 and Lazio between 1999 and 2003, led Atletico to a 4-1 drubbing of Chelsea in the UEFA Super Cup.

In May 2013, Simeone’s side beat rivals Real to claim their 10th Copa del Rey. That success saw Atletico ending a 14-year winless streak in the capital derby. More impressively, in 2014, Simeone led Atletico to their first La Liga title since 1995/96, at a time when he himself was an Atletico player.

On Saturday, Simeone has another opportunity to become the third non-European coach to win the Champions League, following in the footsteps of fellow Argentines Luis Carniglia (Real Madrid 1958, 1959) and Helenio Herrera (Inter 1964, 1965).

If Atletico, who finished third in La Liga this season behind Barca and Real, prevail on Saturday, they would become the 23rd team to lift the prestigious trophy.

Meanwhile, the showdown will be the fourth in Milan.

In 1964/65, Inter overcame Benfica to make it two Champions Cup successes in a row.

In 1969/70, Feyenoord beat Celtic 2-1 and on May 23, 2001, Bayern Munich prevailed against Valencia 5-4 on penalties.

Fast forward 15 years and for the third consecutive time there will be no Italian teams in a Champions League final at the San Siro.

Really, has this become a curse for Serie A clubs?

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