The prodigal son finally returns home, as Cristiano Ronaldo’s Real Madrid take on Manchester United. Ahead of the tie, let’s shed light into the history of this amazing fixture and some other interesting facts.
1. The last match between the two sides was the first leg of the Champions League round of 16, when a Ronaldo header cancelled out Danny Welbeck’s opener. The match ended 1-1 providing United an away goal advantage.

2. Manchester United and Real Madrid have clashed four times in European Cup ties, prior to this year’s match. With the European encounters consisting of two legs, this makes it a total of eight matches played between the two giants.

3. The winner of this tie, has gone ahead to win the European Cup on three occasions.

4.Madrid emerged victorious in the 1956/1957 semi-finals, as well as the Quarter Finals in 1999/2000 against the Red Devils, Madrid also defeated United in 2002/2003 season but were eventually knocked out.

5.The last two Champions League encounters between Manchester United and Real Madrid at Old Trafford have yielded 12 goals.

6. Only one hat-trick has been scored in the history of the tie, scored by the Brazilian Ronaldo in the second leg of the Champions League tie in the 1999/2000 season.

7. Ivan Helguera scored only the third own goal in the history of the fixture, scoring in the 52nd minute of the second leg in the Quarter final of 2003 Champions League. Other own goals have been scored by Madrid’s Zoco and former United captain Roy Keane.

8. Jose Mourinho and Alex Ferguson have faced each other 14 times, six of these clashes have been won by Mourinho, six drawn and only two won by Ferguson.

9. Manchester United have had their woodwork rattled six times, the most by any side in the tournament this season.

10. Cristiano Ronaldo has scored seven goals in 23 Champions League games at Old Trafford. Whereas He has 16 goals in 18 games at the Bernabeu.

11. Since 2003/2004 Cristiano Ronaldo has scored seven headed goals in the Champions League, he is second only to Didier Drogba who has scored eight.

12. Angel Di Maria’s four assists in this year’s Champions League, have only come against Manchester teams, with three against City and one against United.

13. Real Madrid have only failed to score once in their last 32 Champions League encounters, that was against Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu in April 2011.

14. Lyon were the last team to knock Real Madrid out at the last 16 stage in the Champions League, back in 2009/10

15. Real Madrid have had 154 shots in the Champions League, compared to United’s 98.

16. Manchester United have conceded three goals in each of their last two home games against Real Madrid in the Champions League.

17. Real Madrid are one of two Spanish teams to have beaten Manchester United at Old Trafford in the Champions League, Deportivo La Coruña being the other team when they won 3-2 on 19th April 2000.

18. The Red Devils have only lost once in their last 14 Champions League home games (nine wins, four draws), the last one against CFR Cluj during the group stage this season.

With the decider taking place in less than 5 hours from now, what new records do you reckon will be added to a long list of facts of this illustrious tie?