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Mijatovic: We were scared of failing
- Predrag Mijatovic recalls his famous 1998 Champions League Final goal
- Real Madrid take on Juventus in the round of 16 of the FIFA Club World Cup
- The Montenegrin believes both clubs need to reassert their dominance
It might seem somewhat difficult to fathom in the current era, but on a Saturday afternoon in Amsterdam in May 1998, a feeling of fear filled the Real Madrid C. F. dressing room ahead of their UEFA Champions League showdown with Juventus FC.
“They were pretty much the powerhouses that Madrid have been for the past ten years or so,” former Real Madrid striker Predrag Mijatovic tells FIFA. “It was their third consecutive final, and only great teams accomplish that kind of feat. We were coming off the back of a 32‑year drought [in the European Cup/Champions League], so you can imagine how hungry we were to put in a performance. But we were also scared of failing, which was pretty logical, really, since we were coming up against Juve. We were under a huge amount of pressure.”
Little did the former Merengue know that he would score the goal in that fêted match that would change the club’s history forever.It came against a formidable Juventus side featuring the likes of Alessandro Del Piero, Filippo Inzaghi, Didier Deschamps, Edgar Davids and future Real Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane.
Ahead of Madrid’s last 16 match against the Old Lady in the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™, Mijatovic casts his mind back to the 1998 final. “We wanted to do everything we could to create history for Real Madrid,” says the former centre-forward. “But imagine if Juventus had put four past us. It was a lot of pressure. Everyone’s pre-match predictions had Juve down as the favourites. Then you step out onto the pitch, and that all fades into the background.”
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The context underpinning that final is perhaps difficult to grasp nowadays given Madrid’s recent Champions League successes. By 1998, Real Madrid’s early success in the European Cup, which included winning the first five instalments, had become ancient history. The capital city club suffered agonising exits season after season.
“Year after year, people said that their time had come, but 32 years went by, the former Yugoslavian international tells FIFA. “The television broadcast even changed from black and white to colour, which is why people often say that this was [Real Madrid’s] first Champions League trophy in colour.” Even the TV adverts in Spain mocked Madrid’s seemingly endless sequence of defeats.
Mijatovic had been at the club for a couple of seasons, but some of his team-mates, like club captain Manolo Sanchis, had been there for a lifetime. “Manolo came up to me after the game and said, ‘Thank you so much, because now I don’t have to keep quiet in front of my dad. Whenever we got together for Sunday lunch during the summer and he started talking about the Champions League, I had to keep my mouth shut. Now I can say that I’ve won one,” said the striker.
The decisive goal came in the 66th minute: a wayward effort from Roberto Carlos deflected off a Bianconeri shirt and landed at Mijatovic’s feet. The prolific goal-getter rounded goalkeeper Angelo Peruzzi and slotted the ball home unerringly with his weaker left foot to spark pandemonium amongst the Madrid faithful.
“It was the most important goal of my career and such a vital moment in the club’s history.” I remember it so fondly, and I have to say that I’ve probably watched it back a million times over,” says Mijatovic laughing. “Besides being an important goal, it wasn’t an easy one to put away because I didn’t have a lot of time or space. Fortunately, I managed to react sharply.”
“That day was a watershed moment for the club. After winning that seventh title, they went on to lift eight more European crowns. It was like we’d put to bed any demons in the competition. From thereon in came the eighth, then the ninth…,” concluded the Montenegrin.
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Real Madrid on the up
European juggernauts Real Madrid and Juventus have met on several occasions after 1998. “Since that final, their encounters have carried extra weight and have always been played with a lot of intensity,” says Mijatovic. “Now they’re set to lock horns again at the Club World Cup, with Madrid in the process of building a new squad, with a new manager in charge, and they’ve gone from strength to strength. Juve have also relinquished some of their dominance in the Italian game, so both teams find themselves at a similar juncture. Madrid have to get back to winning titles, while Juventus have to get back to dominating European football. It’s a really interesting match-up.”
Most clubs wouldn’t describe it as a rough patch if they’d won two of the last four Champions League titles, but Real Madrid are a different beast in that respect, and Mijatovic is all too aware of that fact: “They’re coming off the back of a season in which they failed to win the [domestic] league or the Champions League, and at Madrid, that’s considered a poor season. When they go a year without any silverware, that’s not good.”
With Xabi Alonso taking over from Carlo Ancelotti, the club is expected to get back to winning ways. “Xabi has come in and shown that he has no issues when it comes to coaching and dealing with key figures at the club,” the former striker tells FIFA. “He’s even played alongside some of them and knows the place inside out, so I think he has the tools to succeed there. It’s also worth bearing in mind that the bar has been set very high over the past decade. They’ve achieved everything they set out to achieve and much more. Filling Ancelotti’s shoes is no easy task, but I think Xabi is clear in what he wants to do. They looked a little hesitant at first, but they are getting better with every game and that gives me a lot of hope that Madrid will be in a position to compete on every front. Then, in football, you obviously need a bit of luck.”
With his playing days behind him, Mijatović remains a Real Madrid fan. The hero La Septima will be sat in front of the TV watching intently as Los Merengues once again attempt to make history, this time at the FIFA Club World Cup.
