AGI – Real Madrid won the Champions League by beating the Germans Borussia Dortmund 2-0 in the final at Wembley with goals from Carvajal in the 74th and Vinicius in the 83rd. For the ‘blancos’ it is the 15th big-eared cup between those of the Champions and the Champions League. For Carlo Ancelotti it is the fifth as a coach in addition to the two won as a player. The German yellow and blacks had been absolute dominators of a first half in which they only lacked a goal (a post and at least two other clear scoring opportunities) but in the second half Real took the lead and found the decisive bursts in the last quarter of ‘now with Carvajal and Vinicius. Edin Terzic and his Borussia return home empty-handed and with many regrets for the untapped opportunities: Wembley, 11 years after the final lost to Bayern Munich in 2013, is still haunted by Dortmund.
The start of the match with great character and personality was undertaken by the German team, capable of putting the Spaniards in serious difficulty by creating three giant scoring opportunities in a handful of minutes before the half hour mark: Adeyemi wasted everything face to face with Courtois going around him on the exit but slipping away too much (Carvajal closes in the corner), two turns later Fullkrug hits a sensational post in splits on Maatsen’s verticalization, then it’s Adeyemi again who scares the Blancos with a left-footed diagonal shot that is very well blocked by Courtois. Real struggled immensely to build a game, thanks to a suffocating and well-organised pressure from Borussia, who in fact allowed their rivals only two shots from outside (very high) in the entire first half. Before the break, however, the yellow and blacks showed up again with Sabitzer, who shot from distance, calling Courtois into another intervention to deflect it for a corner. In the second half Ancelotti’s team was forced to react and immediately tried to change the pace, starting to worry the German rearguard: in the 49th minute Kroos kicked a tight free kick directly into the goal, soiling Kobel’s gloves for the first time, then on the following corner Carvajal sent head high.
About ten minutes later the Spanish full-back appears in the opponent’s area again, attempting a right-footed counter-ball at the far post which is almost providentially blocked by Maatsen. In the 74th minute, however, it was Carvajal who broke the deadlock, taking Real Madrid ahead: Kross’s corner was a photocopy of the previous one, this time the defender’s header is perfect and mocks Kobel for 1-0. Borussia feels the pinch and seems to suddenly pull the plug, risking taking the lead on a couple of occasions, only to then give it to the Blancos in the 83rd minute: Maatsen makes a mistake in the setup phase by serving Bellingham, the ball for Vinicius is perfect and the Brazilian transformed it into 2-0. A burst of pride leads Dortmund to close the gap with a header from Fullkrug, but the attacker is caught offside, making everything in vain. At the final whistle it was once again a triumph for Real Madrid.
