Ahead of Liverpool v Chelsea on January 31st, Carlsberg 0.0 are celebrating the fixture that has featured a 0-0 draw in four of the past five meetings, with an event featuring legends of both clubs: Bruce Grobbelaar and Gus Poyet. We've decided to look back on some of the greatest 0-0s in history and for this edition, we're reminiscing on a classic Champions League clash between Real Madrid and Manchester United from 2000
There are clubs who want to be crowned champions of Europe and and there are others for whom doing so is simply part of their DNA.
Real Madrid and Manchester United both fall into the latter category. Two behemoths of the European Cup from its early days in the 1950s, it's fair to say that the competition wouldn't be what it is today without the enthusiasm of people at both clubs.
Manchester United manager Matt Busby was defiant in his belief that his 1955/56 English champions should represent England in the second edition of the competition, after Chelsea had been denied entry by the Football League the previous season.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid won the first five editions of the then-European Cup, under the presidency of Santiago Bernabeu, for whom their iconic stadium is named.
Real Madrid v Manchester United: An iconic 0-0 draw
Fast forward to the year 2000 and the appetite of both clubs to lift the famous trophy was as strong as ever. Real Madrid had only won it twice (in 1966 and 1998) since that famous five-in-row, while Manchester United were the defending champions, having won it in 1999, for the first time since 1968.
So in April 2000, European football fans gazed towards the Spanish capital, the the two most recent champions went head-to-head in the first leg of the quarter-final.
The line-ups boasted some of the best attacking talent of the era, with the likes of Raul, Fernando Morientes and Steve McManaman welcoming Alex Ferguson's trailblazers who included David Beckham, Ryan Giggs and Dwight Yorke among their ranks.
A stellar list no doubt, but the success of each side had also been built on defensive strength. Roberto Carlos was a force of nature on the left-side of Madrid's back four, with the Brazilian lining up alongside Aitor Karanka, Ivan Campo and Michel Salgado.
For United, goalkeeper Mark Bosnich had replaced the imperious Peter Schmeichel, who left Old Trafford the previous summer, with Gary Neville, Henning Berg, Jaap Stam and Denis Irwin protecting the Australian.
Irwin's fellow Corkman Roy Keane was captain and the defensive midfield rock for United, tasked minimising the avenues the likes of Fernando Redondo and Ivan Helguera could use to gain a foothold in the game.
Fans were on the edge of the seats from the first whistle, with both sides creating chances to take the lead. Madrid dominated early on, with McManaman teasing familiar opposition from his Liverpool days, and Roberto Carlos testing United with his famous long-range abilities.
Fairly maligned for his brief stint at Old Trafford, Bosnich had one of his better nights in the United goal, managing to keep out everything thrown at him with a string of saves from Raul, Morientes and McManaman, among others.
Paul Scholes, Keane and Beckham all probed as United launched a series of their storied counter-attacks, while the Yorke's telepathic partnership with Andy Cole up front was on full display.
In fact, Yorke was the only player to find the net on the night, only for his close-range effort in first-half injury-time to be ruled out for offside.
Two stellar squads cancel each other out
In the era of the away goals rule, the home side knew it was vital not to concede, as this would have handed Ferguson's men a major advantage heading into the second leg.
As it turned out, the breathless first leg ended in stalemate, with both sides left to rue missed chances which could have seen them edge ahead in the tie. Goals are what every football fan wants to see, but with everything on the line in this clash of the titans, a 0-0 draw was as engaging as any six-goal thriller.
It would 15 days before the two giants would meet each other again, in front of a vociferous Old Trafford crowd who were hell-bent on backing the Red Devils in their quest to win back-to-back Champions League titles.
The stadium was silenced after 21 minutes, when a backtracking Keane put the ball past his own goalkeeper Raimond van der Gouw, who had come in for the injured Bosnich.
A quickfire Raul double in the second half left the hosts with a mountain to climb, but such was the determination of that United side, they almost did just that.
Beckham gave United a glimmer of hope with a wonderful individual effort on 64 minutes before a successful Scholes penalty two minutes from time proved too little too late.
Real Madrid lift the famous trophy
Real Madrid would go on to lift the trophy that season, and their scoreless draw with United was a key stopping point along their journey.
The two-legged tie was a showcase of what many feel is the Golden Era of the Champions League, even if millions tuned into the first leg without the reward of a goal.
The fact we are still speaking about the clash all these years later though shows that football matches don't necessarily need goals for them to become etched in the memory for decades to come.
Carlsberg 0.0 has teamed up with the legendary Gus Poyet and the iconic Bruce Grobbelaar ahead of the upcoming Chelsea vs. Liverpool Premier League fixture on January 31st, to dive into the depths of the Chelsea-Liverpool rivalry, and unravel the untold stories behind the fixture that has produced a 0-0 draw in four of their last five meetings.
This event builds on the significant work that Carlsberg and Carlsberg 0.0 have done in football over a period spanning several decades. They boast longstanding partnerships with Liverpool, the FAI, and the Ireland men's and women's teams, including creating a memorable mural on Bondi Beach for the WNT ahead of last year's World Cup.
