Real are looking to achieve 'Undecima' - an 11th European Cup victory.
Gareth Bale scored the only goal of their semi-final vs Manchester City.
Tomas Roncero, 'Diario AS' columnist, wrote ' It is no coincidence,' 'that Real Madrid's number 11 got the goal that may take us to our 11th European Cup. Gareth Bale's last two months have been worthy of a Ballon d'Or.'
If the Welshman gets the goal on May 28 that gives Real Madrid the trophy, and then has an excellent Euro 2016, don't bet against him for football's most-coveted individual prize in January.
Not that the golden ball will be his priority. He wants another Champions League medal and Madrid want the 'Undecima' – European Cup number 11.
Gareth Bale's shot takes a deflection off Fernando and flies into the far corner as Real Madrid beat Man City.
Bale was congratulated and would be a worthy winner of the Balon d'Or should he have a successful Euro 2016.
No club in the world attaches as much importance to winning the Champions League as Real Madrid. It is like Arsene Wenger with fourth place in the Premier League– it's the one thing that will save the season, the objective that will cover all other failings, their reason for being.
Madrid as a city has reached 17 finals but 14 of those finalist appearances have been Real's.
When Zinedine Zidane was floundering in the league two months back following a 1-0 home defeat by Atletico Madrid in which his players seemed to be strolling towards the most underwhelming of third-place finishes, the panic button was not pressed because, they said: 'There is still the Champions League'.
He knew it would save him and it has. Even defeat against Diego Simeone in the final will not be enough to see him replaced at the end of the season.
Zidane has dragged a mediocre season up by its bootstraps and sat the club back on the summit of European football. He and his players have given the supporters what they crave – another big final.
Bale tweeted about the 'Undecima' on Wednesday night. His Spanish might not be fluent yet but he has the numbers down thanks to Real Madrid's obsession with the European Cup.
'Decima' was the first word he would have picked up on when he joined almost three years ago. Back then the club were still waiting for their 10th European Cup.
He did more than most to help them get it with that crucial second goal in Lisbon in the 2014 final and now he has sent them into a second final in three years where the 11th will be in their grasp.
He has said many times that he joined Real Madrid to win this particular trophy and he was hailed by Madrid supporters after a man of the match performance to take them past City.
Bale became a Madrid fan watching Real win the competition in 2000 and 2002. They finished fifth and third in the league in those seasons but it did not matter to their supporters. The Champions League is the be-all-and-end-all.
The league and even more so the Copa del Rey are seen as mere consolation prizes during seasons which don't deliver the holy grail. Similarly in 1998 they only finished fourth but beat Juventus in the Champions League final so who cared?
Jose Mourinho experienced first hand what it is like to deliver on every front other than the one more cherished. He won the Copa del Rey in his first season, even beating Barcelona in the final. And he regained the league title in his second season.
But in three successive campaigns he never made it past the semi-finals in the biggest competition of all and so when he went to war with various dressing room heavyweights in his third year he lost the arguments and left the club.
The celebratory t-shirts were ready to put on as soon as the final whistle went and around one hundred supporters went to the City's Cibeles Fountain to celebrate the semi-final win. That will be multiplied a thousand times if they turn over their neighbours in the final.
Madrid is football's epicentre once more and Barcelona look longingly from the east coast.
The effect on the other half of the great Clasico divide is also enormous. Barcelona can do the double this season and they will still be in the shadow of Real if Zidane comes back from Italy on Sunday May 29 with the European Cup. They know it too.
That was why the front page of one Catalan paper proclaimed itself a 'Simeone supporter, but just for one day'.
Until Wednesday, Barcelona – with 18 appearances – had reached more European finals overall than any team in Spain but now they have been caught.
Madrid have not dazzled on the road to Milan as they did en-route to Lisbon two years ago, beating Bayern Munich 5-0 on aggregate in the semi-final.
They have played relatively poor teams. While Atletico have had to knock out Barca and Bayern, Madrid have not really been tested by Roma, Wolfsburg and Manchester City. But without conceding a single goal at home along the way they have reached the competition's climax.
'It doesn't matter who scored the goal,' said Bale when asked if he felt the own-goal verdict was unfair. 'The most important thing is that it puts us in the final and gives us another chance to win another European Cup.' The Undecima by any other name.
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