Ask any life-long Real Madrid fan to name one crucial moment in the club's recent history, and the answer may surprise you.
Only a few would recall La Decima, or Zidane's 2002 Champions League volley, or the breaking of Barcelona's La Liga stronghold in 2007 or 2012. Instead events at the Amsterdam Arena on 20th May 1998 would feature at the very top for most fans.
That was the day Real secured the 7th of their 12 European titles, but the build-up to it both in the short and long-term makes it a day where its significance cannot be underestimated. If there was ever one game which can be marked down as the beginning of an era of unprecedented dominance, this was arguably it.
Real Madrid legend Raul with the Champions League trophy after their 1-0 win over Juventus in 1998
Going into their Champions League final with Juventus that year it had been - incredibly - 32 years since the Spanish giants tasted European success. Only once in that period had they reached the final, when a late Alan Kennedy goal gave Liverpool a 1-0 win in the 1981 decider.
On tonight's show we were joined by Spanish football writer Sid Lowe who explained the significance the game and why a club of Real Madrid's stature, who already had six European titles to their name, had gone so long without reaching the peak of club football.
In reference to the great Real Madrid teams of the mid 80s and early 90s, Lowe remarked: "This was a team that scored a huge amount of goals and was generally the second best team in Europe at the team, but what happened was that it coincided not only with that PSV side that was ultra defensive and won a European Cup on away goals and penalties, but it also fundamentally coincided with the great AC Milan side of Arrigo Sacchi, and that was the main reason why I think a Madrid team as good as that wasn't able to end this very very long wait for a trophy which Real Madrid believe is almost their own. Their identity is totally bound up with the European Cup."
Predrag Mijatovic celebrates scoring the only goal in the 1998 Champions League final
"This is a club who's identity was built through those five European Cup wins in the 1950s. It's not the only thing of course because in that 32 year period they were winning countless league titles, but after Barcelona won the European Cup in 1992 that really focused their attention."
A string of short-term managers followed, with the likes of John Toshack, Alfredo Di Stéfano, Benito Floro and Fabio Capello all spending less than two years there, and all of whom referenced the increasingly toxic nature of the dressing room. Even current Bayern manager Jupp Heynckes - the man who eventually led them to that European title in 98 - went into that final knowing that he would be sacked at the end of the season after losing the dressing room.
Lowe also made referenced to the poor quality of that Madrid side in 97/98, so much so that winning the Champions League final - which was not expected - was their only path into entering the competition the following year.
You can listen to the full interview below:
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