Archive for June 2, 2024
An expected winner
Real Madrid 2 Borussia Dortmund 0
Real stumbled in the first half of this year’s Champions League final against Borussia in London Wembley. In a dreadful first-half performance they were spooked by Dortmund’s pace and intensity, living on their nerves as they somehow got to half-time level.
The very lively Karim Adeyemi spurned glorious chances, Niclas Fülllkrug saw his shot bounce back from the inside of the post and Sabitzer‘s long range shot was saved by Courtois.
And the longer Dortmund couldn’t score, the sense of inevitability that Real would survive and prevail was growing. Real (still without injured David Alaba, albeit sitting on the substitutes‘ bench) looked deep in trouble, as they did against Manchester City in the quarter-finals, and Bayern Munich in the last four. But with still 0-0 after more than seventy minutes, the inevitable happened:
Carvajal met Toni Kroos’ corner to glance a header beyond Swiss keeper Gregor Kobel and the hand of defender Mats Hummels (74‘), and Vinicius Jr swiftly added a second (83‘). Füllkrug thought he had pulled a goal back with a powerful header to make it 1-2, but the goal was rightly ruled out because of offside.
So in the end, Real Madrid rode their luck and overcame the outstanding challenge from Borussia Dortmund to win the Champions League again, and Dortmund lost their second Wembley final after 2013 when they were defeated by Bayern Munich.
It was Real‘s fifteenth win of the European Cup of Champions altogether, and their ninth since the competition has been reshaped and renamed as Champions League in 1992. it was a highly thrilling final, but the outcome somehow was inevitable, and still Real haven’t lost any of their Champions League finals in 43 years.
Carlo Ancelotti is the most successful manager in Champions League history. He now has won the trophy a record-breaking seven times as coach (five) and player (twice). However, there are two finals which still haunt him to this day. Ancelotti, 64, was manager of AC Milan when they lost to Liverpool in Istanbul in 2005 in arguably the most dramatic final of all time, when Milan was 3-0 up at half time, but Liverpool, managed by Rafa Benitez, equalised in the second half and won the penalty shoot-out. Ancelotti was also part of the Roma squad which lost to Liverpool in the 1984 final, although he missed the game itself through injury. But since then, Ancelotti who describes his management style as “quiet leadership” in his book, never had to taste defeat in any Champoins League final! Chapeau!
EXTRA TIME 
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