Let's jump back to 1955 when the first European Cup took place. Real Madrid had just won the league and Liverpool had just come bottom of the league, with Wolves winning it. However, there would be no qualification for the newly formed European Cup, which was an invitational tournament.
Back then there were European heavyweights such as Partizan Belgrade, Saarbrucken, AC Milan, RW Essen, and Anderlecht all in contention for the trophy, not to mention Real Madrid. 16 teams were invited to play in the premier European club competition
In the last 16, Real Madrid won fairly comfortably, beating Swiss side Servette 7-0 on aggregate, with Di Stefáno getting 2 in the 5-0 home win. MTK Budapest were also comfortable winners beating Anderlecht 10-4 on aggregate. The other tie of the round was Partizan Belgrade beating Sporting Lisbon 8-5 over 2 legs.
In the quarter-finals, Real Madrid were paired with the Serbian giants. After easily dispatching them with a 4-0 win at the Bernabéu, they lost 3-0 in Belgrade, managing to just go through. Elsewhere, AC Milan easily beat Rapid Wien 8-3 on aggregate.
In the semi-finals, there was unlikely pairing as Hibernian (who came 4th in Scotland the year before) were paired with Stade Reims. The French side beat the Hibees 3-0 on aggregate to go through to the final. In the other semi, Madrid once again did things the hard way winning 4-2 at home to Milan, and losing 2-1 away.
On 13th June 1956, the first-ever European Cup final was played at the Parc des Princes. Reims raced into a 2 goal lead in the first 10 minutes, before Di Stefáno and Rial pulled it back for Madrid. Hidalgo put the French side back in front in the 62nd minute, but a Marquitos strike 5 minutes later and Di Stefáno's goal 11 minutes from time saw the trophy go to Spain. Both teams fortunes have differed drastically, with Madrid winning the trophy a record number of times, while Nimes' last major honour was the French 3rd tier in 2011-12.