Real Madrid Crowned European Kings

Posted by Rob Shepherd on Monday, June 5, 2017

Saturday night saw the highly-anticipated Champions League final between Real Madrid and Juventus in Cardiff. Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Real Madrid won 4-1 to become the first club to successfully retain the Champions League trophy in its present format (AC Milan retained the European Cup back in 1990).

Real continued their amazing Champions League form by collecting the trophy a record 12 times, this was also the third time in four seasons that they have won the ultimate accolade in European football.

Champions League Large

Ronaldo – The Best Player Ever?

It came as no surprise that Ronaldo was Real Madrid’s man of the match, the guy is a machine! His second goal after 64 minutes took his tally to an incredible 105 goals in the Champions League. This victory in Cardiff means Ronaldo has won the Champions League four times and doing so he has managed to score 11 more goals than his nearest rival, Lionel Messi.

His league goal scoring record is even better, in 265 league games for Real, Ronaldo has scored 285 times. That is an unbelievable ratio of 1.07 goals per game. What seems almost incredible to me is that despite his prolific scoring rate, he is not totally adored at Madrid and Ronaldo has been the subject of jeers and boos from his own fans.

After holding aloft the trophy, Ronaldo said, “This is one of the best moments of my career but it seems I am able to say that every year, people won’t be able to criticise me because the numbers don’t lie.”

The numbers certainly do tell a story, 368 games for Madrid, 382 goals, 109 assists, a passing success rate of 80.1% and 119 man of the match awards.

Bright Opening from Juventus

The 4-1 score line could have been so different if Juventus had been able to continue their first half performance. After going behind to Ronaldo’s first goal in the 20th minute, Madzukic scored an epic overhead kick which must be considered along with Zidane’s volley in 2002, as one of the best goals ever scored in a European Cup final.

The build-up play from Juventus was sublime, Leo Bonucci hit a sweet pass to Alex Sandro who then released it to Gonzalo Higuain. Higuain controlled beautifully on his chest and laid it on for Madzukic to hit an unstoppable overhead kick to beat Keylor Navas. It was a beauty and would have been a worthy winner but Real had other ideas.

Stunning Second Half Performance

Whatever Zidane said to his players at half-time produced results. Real’s lead was restored with a deflected Casemiro shot and then Ronaldo scored at the near post from a cross by Modric.

If Juventus didn’t already have a mountain to climb, the sending off of substitute Juan Cuadrado was a hammer blow to the Italians. Any doubt of the result was put to bed when substitute Marco Asensio finished in the last minute.

Be the Best – Beat the Best

No-one can accuse Real Madrid of having an easy route to the finals and going into this game Juventus had only conceded three goals in the whole competition so the score line is the more impressive. Real had to beat bitter rivals Barcelona in the quarter-finals and in doing so didn’t concede a goal, despite Barcelona boasting of the lethal talents of Messi, Neymar and Suarez.

Juventus will be of course be devastated, this loss means they have now lost five Champions League finals since they last won the top European honour in 1996. Juventus goalkeeper Buffon has experienced this heartache on 3 occasions now and at 39 years-old you would think his time is running out fast.

Zidane’s the Man!

Probably like many, my lasting memory of Zinedine Zidane was his infamous headbutt on Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup final. The headbutt to the chest which led to a red card for Zinedine has probably clouded the memory of what a great player he was.

His senior career spanned 506 league games with spells at Juventus (of all teams) and Real Madrid. He was also capped 108 times for his country France. He moved from Juventus to Real Madrid in 2001 for a mammoth €73.50 million.

As a manager, he has been amazing. He has more trophies than losses! He has been in charge for 87 matches and his point per game tally is 2.44! At only 44, Zidane could have 20 years left in management and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him collect a few more European trophies in that time.

Next Game?

One person who will have watched the game with interest is the Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho. Jose’s team face Real Madrid in the next competitive European fixture in the UEFA Super Cup on the 8th August at 19:45.

The UEFA Super Cup takes place every year and sees the winner of the Europa League take on the winners of the Champions League. Real Madrid are the current holders of the trophy after they beat Sevilla in last year’s game.