The Real Madrid men’s football team won the Champions League, the most important European trophy for club teams, beating Borussia Dortmund 2-0 in the final. The final was played at Wembley Stadium in London, United Kingdom. For the Spanish team it is the 15th Champions League victory in its history, the sixth in the last ten years.
Real Madrid were the clear favourites, but the match was more balanced than expected: especially in the first half, Borussia Dortmund had several opportunities to score, which however they did not exploit. In the second half Real Madrid also seemed more brilliant from a physical point of view, and especially towards the end they could have scored several more goals.
The goals were scored by full-back Daniel Carvajal, one of the team’s most experienced players, and Vinícius Júnior, perhaps the most talented of the team’s young players.
With Saturday night’s victory, Real Madrid confirmed itself as one of the strongest teams in recent years, as well as perhaps the best in a tournament whose final phase is played through direct elimination, like the Champions League. He has also been known for years to win Champions League matches by scoring in the very last minutes, even in unexpected situations. The sports site The Athletic he recently called it “the most inevitable team in all sports.” More generally, Real Madrid have not lost a Champions League final since 1981.
Before the final, Real Madrid already held the record for the highest number of Champions League wins: today they further extended the gap on the second team, Milan, who won 7 and whose last victory dates back to 2007. At the time, Milan were trained by Carlo Ancelotti, who is now the coach of Real Madrid. With tonight’s victory, Ancelotti has in turn pulled ahead of other coaches who have won a Champions League, reaching 5 victories: in second place are Bob Paisley, Zinédine Zidane and Pep Guardiola tied, with three victories each.
