This has been the season of Real Madrid. All this while when pundits were predicting that Liverpool would canter to their seventh European Cup/Champions League title, Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid proved them wrong to finish the season with a bang.
A record-extending 14th European Cup title — twice as many as any other team in history (AC Milan have seven) — and a treble to add to the La Liga and Spanish Super Cup were already taken care of.
“There’s not much I can say — this was a really difficult Champions League campaign, if anything tonight (Saturday) was easier than the previous games,” Ancelotti said, catching his breath.
So when a smiling Karim Benzema roamed around the Stade de France flaunting five to show the number of Champions League titles he has won with Real, and Luka Modric and Ancelotti’s unbridled celebration filled up television screens, it was also a hat-tip to an amazing bunch of players with an insatiable thirst for success. Quality, mentality, experience of the veterans, the drive and impact of the youngsters, it is all there in abundance in this Madrid side.
Time and again they have defied logic by scripting miraculous escapes. Someone or the other has come out of nowhere and walked away with the accolades leaving their rivals stunned, and often speechless. Be it a Benzema, or a Vinicius Junior or a Rodrygo. Against Paris Saint-Germain or Chelsea or Manchester City. It has been the same story.
Saturday was no different. Liverpool were all over Real for most part of the match, but one Thibaut Courtois under the bar stood between the Mohamed Salahs and their quest for their own treble. Courtois’s unbelievable saves and Vinicius’s second-half strike kept the scoreline 1-0 till the final whistle was blown. “I needed to win a final for my career, to put some respect on my name,” Courtois, who was vilified in England during his Chelsea days, said. “He was unbelievable,” Ancelotti heaped praise on the Belgian. “Top class saves,” agreed his Liverpool counterpart Juergen Klopp.
He was pressed into action early on to deal with a Salah smart flick inside the six-yard box and Sadio Mane thought he had put Liverpool ahead but to his disbelief found Courtois diving to his right and the ball kissed his outstretched palm before hitting the base of the near post.
In the second half, Salah was denied twice as Liverpool just did not know how to put it past Courtois.
Courtois has been doing this for the past three seasons, making unbelievable saves to keep his team in the hunt. The lateral split foot save against Manchester City’s Jack Grealish in the second leg of the semi-final in Madrid actually kept Real in the tie before those three goals. “I felt good the last few weeks. “Once you make the first stop. Nobody could take away my desire to win the Champions League,” he said after winning Saturday’s Man of the Match award. Liverpool’s Egyptian maestro Salah would agree as his 2018 final’s revenge-seeking mission fell by the wayside.
It took 12 years for Real to win their 10th title — between their 2002 triumph against Bayer Leverkusen and the win over Atletico Madrid in 2014 — and they have bagged four since 2016. That shows the dominance of one club in the continental showpiece event.
The biggest takeaway from this campaign, however, is the coming of age of Brazilian Vinicius and Uruguayan Federico Valverde. And it was no surprise that these two combined to give the only goal of the match. Valverde, by intuition, knew Vinicius would be at the far post coming from the blind side to catch his marker Trent Alexander-Arnold napping. All the Brazilian had to do was tap it in.
Surely they have graduated to carry the legacy forward, while in Eduardo Camavinga and Rodrygo’s hands Real look to have an exciting future. Title No. 15 seems to be round the corner for the undisputed kings of Europe.
