Real Madrid embellishes Champions League legacy by beating Liverpool to win 14th European Championship

PARIS – And now it’s 14 Champions League Because Real Madridmore than the next two most successful clubs in Europe – AC Milan there are seven, Liverpool six – combination.

And now Carlo Ancelotti has four as a coach, more than anyone else. (“I’m a record-keeper!”, he said, equal measure of skepticism and self-righteousness.)

And now Kylian Mbappe The downfall isn’t necessarily too much anger – it’s gratifying to win the European Cup in his city, a 10-minute scooter ride from where he was born and raised. (Or, as the club president Florentino Perez put it after the game: “Mbappe is now forgotten and that’s okay… Madrid had a perfect season.”)

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We already know that no club is closely associated with the title: From the early days of Paco Gento, Ferenc Puskas and Alfredo Di Stefano, to Zinedine Zidane Galactico This outfit is capable of winning 5 European titles in 9 years. But perhaps no team has ever become European champions after overcoming such a difficult run in the knockout stages: Mbappe’s (and Lionel Messi‘S) Paris Saint-Germainchampion Chelsea And after that City of Manchester and Liverpool, number 1 and number 1a in the unofficial power rankings of most fans.

“I can’t say much – this is a really tough Champions League campaign, if anything easier tonight than in previous matches,” Ancelotti said after 1-0 win. “The key factor? The quality, mentality, experience of the veterans, the motivation and impact of the young players, all matter. Also, I’ve never seen anyone win without a match. some luck.”

There was no heroic comeback this time, as Liverpool failed to convert the chances they created before Vinicius JuniorThe goal in the second half, thanks in no small part to the long limbs Thibaut Courtois: part-octopus, part-gumby, all nerves of steel. But the winning tools were the same ones they had used in the previous rounds: belief, impossibility, and experience.

Real Madrid arrives at the Stade de France with three weeks of end-of-season competition in fact pre-season kick-off. That’s what happens when numerology hands you an early championship: You can rest and recuperate, tweak and tinker, eyes and mind fully focused on the prize. Ancelotti’s squad reflects this: It may or may not be his best squad, but it’s the one he trusts to start the game, with Fede Valverde wide right double duty as a winger in attack, a fourth midfielder without the ball.

Liverpool’s pursuit of a back four means Jurgen Klopp doesn’t have that luxury. It is true that he gives his players rest when he can, but he still has a tough FA Cup final against Chelsea with all his might to play just two weeks ago, and in any case, the mental exhaustion of standing within a point of eventual Premier League champions City cannot be underestimated. On paper, he might as well call XI his first choice, but the vibe is different. Are from Virgil van Dijk arrive Mohamed Salah arrive Fabinho arrive Thiago AlcantaraIt felt like tired veterans returning to the front after a quiet day – not 100%, but hungry to gut it.

With the start of the match delayed by nearly 40 minutes due to outside security issues, this has seen Some people support pepper spray, the tension only increased as the pregnant minutes passed. The delay was so significant that both teams were back on the field to warm up again.

The game plays out according to the scenario from the very beginning. When Madrid tried to play from behind, they were hit by a double central barrier of Salah and Sadio Manewith Luis Diaz on the left and either Jordan Henderson or Trent Alexander-Arnold On the right. When they search for the long “shadow out” (usually with Vinicius), Ibrahima Konate usually there to meet him every step of the way.

It came as no surprise, then, that the first time Madrid held the ball in Liverpool’s first half went into the 25th minute or so. Earlier, Courtois had to make two stunning saves against Salah and leaned against the post after Mane missed. Eder MilitaoCreate space where there isn’t and shoot his shot into the wood.

Madrid were on the ropes, but this is a team that knows how to make both shine and hurt. Have Dani Carvajal Combined with the lightning-fast Diaz and poked holes, creating a roar from the white-shirted crowd behind the Madrid goal. Have David Alaba, demanding and receiving a hard knock from his defensive partner, Militao. They need a spark and they get it from the way they defend.

At the other end, not much. The highlight should have been Benzema’s goal – not the one he scored and then disallowed due to a bizarrely complicated (but ultimately correct…probably true… ?) On the offside rule and what constitutes “playing the ball”, which is one he did not, in the same play, when he killed a long pass of the sky, froze Alisson with a bewilderment, but then froze himself, unable to bury his chance.

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Mark Ogden reports on the chaos at the Champions League final outside the Stade de France as Liverpool fans were pepper sprayed by police.

Is it Madrid’s holiday? Was it a moment they didn’t grasp? The business fee they did not carpet? No. Because they have another one right before the hour. Valverde broke through on the right and Benzema, the thoughtful man’s striker, shot from close range. He brought in Konate, which makes sense, but he also sucked in Alexander-Arnold, who was a few yards behind his centre-back. This allowed Vinicius, shadowed from the other flank, to sneak in and meet Valverde’s low, hard cross, driving it past Alisson.

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Vinicius and Valverde, once the future of Madrid, combine to define the present and in doing so, show that the future is very much in the present. Both reached the age of 18, the former is very famous and admired as a Brazilian child prodigy, the latter is almost an afterthought as a Uruguayan. Both are instrumental in their own right this season. Vinicius enjoyed a breakout season playing Robin for Benzema’s Batman with a string of goals and assists, while Valverde demonstrated the reliability and versatility that kept the hybrid 4-3- Ancelotti’s 3/4-4-2 becomes possible. Much of it was made up of Madrid veterans and rightly so, but these two have moved to a higher level under Ancelotti this season.

In another dugout, Klopp shook his head and sent the cavalry – first Diogo Jotaafterward Roberto Firmino. The opportunity came: The best of all was probably Salah’s finish, which Courtois somehow seemed to miss with his head, splattering itself like a splattered paintball.

“Today, no one can take away my desire to win the Champions League, I will win it,” Courtois said after the game and anyone who saw what he did, especially about Mane and Salah, would be inclined to believe him.

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Steve Nicol shares how Real Madrid can get a different goal than Liverpool in the Champions League final.

As the clock ticked to stop time, Liverpool supporters sang “You’ll Never Walk Alone” in the skies above Paris. And really, they won’t. Moments later, Madrid fans responded with chants: “ASIAN! ASIAN! Asi gana el Madrid!“(“That’s the way! That’s the way! That’s the way Madrid won!”) They weren’t wrong either.

When the final whistle blew, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric embrace, while Benzema trotted over and patted Kroos on the back.

“This is probably the most difficult Champions League [win]”, Benzema said. We showed everyone that we’re alive and we’re here and we’ve won. “

It feels like one of those old movies they show on Saturday afternoons, where the group pulls together one last big heist. Except, even without Mbappe, you suspect it won’t be their last – not with someone like Ancelotti, one of the few men who can combine cardigans- chicken and Lead a team in its transition to a championship and Cup double. Not with young guns – Vinicius, Valverde, Eduardo Camavinga, Rodrygo – had “a big” under their belt. Not with Courtois, in the prime of his career claiming to be the world No. 1 between positions and getting a few interesting things going. (“We have shown who is the King of Europe.”)

Not with the culture and expectations of success that exist”la Casa Blanca. “