The strange case of Real Madrid's black socks

Real Madrid were close from the 17th Champions League final, but Chelsea have decided to ruin Zidane's plans. In the 2-0 victory of the Blues, Real Madrid took the field with a kit never seen before: white shirt, white shorts, black socks, a revisited version of the kit for home games. The last time Real had worn a broken suit - with a shirt and socks in white but shorts in black - and not the total white canon so distinctive of the Madrid club was on 19 December 2007, a Copa del Rey match against Alicante. Even then it did not go well for the men of the then Madrid manager Bernhard Schuster: it finished 1-1 with goals by Javier Balboa for the Blancos and a draw by Borja Pérez for the hosts.

While in the first leg they had played in white, Real had to wear black socks for two reasons: the first also relates to Chelsea's home kit, which involves the use of white socks; the second, on the other hand, concerns the Real Madrid away kit in pink, not exactly loved by Spanish fans. To avoid using the away kit, the club decided to break a tradition that had lasted for 14 years and to play with an unusual white-white-black combination. Even a hypothetical use of Real's black-pink kit was to be excluded, because the Chelsea shirt has black details that compromised its regular use.

After the 1-1 draw in Alicante and the 2-0 draw at Stamford Bridge yesterday, Real will think twice from now on before playing an unexpected kit at the beginning of the year.