Real Madrid, eternal and invincible, maintained its European legend by winning its 14th Champions League. It defeated Liverpool (1-0), dominating, but losing, after a difficult final that was disrupted by logistical issues. The “Merengues”, with a huge goal from Thibaut Courtois (59th), won a long, closed final that was less chaotic than the previous rounds.
This team has “won” against Paris Saint-Germain (0-1/3-1), Chelsea (3-1/2-3 at.p.). Then, Manchester City (3-4/3-1 a.p.). Saint-Denis was a great place to see the defenders, with a duel between Dani Carvajal & Luis Diaz, or a big game by Ibrahima Konate. He was full of authority, but lost for his first C1 final.
Karim Benzema was awarded his fifth of five goals. Clement Turpin disallowed him for scoring offside, but he was the highest scorer in the C1 (15 goals), which earned him decisive points for Ballon d’ Gold. He beat his rivals Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah. This is the first match for Fernand Mendy (young French international) and Eduardo Camavinga (young Brazilian international).
Real now has twice the number of C1 (14) than its first pursuer, AC Milan (7). The “White House,” has reestablished its dominance over European football.
It had won five European Cups for European champion teams (1956-1960), and then won a sixth in 1966. Then, its rivals, Liverpool (4th 1984) and Milan (5th 1994), were closer. Real had a lead in the Raul generation (1998-2000, 2002), which was already beaten by Carlo Ancelotti’s first visit (2014), then the hat trick of the Zinedine Zidane-coached team.
Luka Modric and Marcelo are here, just like “Benz”, in order to win a fifth unit of the C1, one unit less than the record of Francisco Gento who won the first six Real titles. “Carletto”, also breaking records with his fourth win on the bench, adds both as head AC Milan (2003, 2007, and even two as playing “rossonero” (1989, 1990).
Jurgen Klopp in Liverpool is far from these numbers. After “losing many finals”, he was now starting to win the C1 2019 against Tottenham (2-0). However, his famous “gegenpressing”, (counter-pressing) didn’t stop the “veterans”, (the word comes from Ancelotti) at Real.
Liverpool didn’t win their 7th C1 and fell again against Real (3-1), which was a painful loss after they lost by one point to second for the title. It remained at Man City. Mohamed Salah lost another final after the African Cup with Egypt and the play-off against Senegal, his teammate Sadio Mene.
The dominant Liverpool machine broke down at its weak point in the back Trent Alexander-Arnold. He did not manage Vinicius at his far post and scored on a cross in Federico Valverde’s depth (59th). This was Real’s second most dangerous move of the match.
Clement Turpin was required to evaluate a complex action with the aid of the video. Clement Turpin was finally unable to award Karim Benzema a goal for an offside action in which Fabinho touched the ball, but perhaps the N.9 was still at play (43rd). Liverpool was a bit more intimidating, but it was still a very subtle team in the final observation round.
After waiting 36 minutes for Liverpool fans to finish, the kick-off was delayed another quarter of an hour. Nothing happened until a shot by Mohamed Salah was blocked. Thibaut Courtois (16th). After Sadio Mane’s strike was deflected by the Belgian goalkeeper, the Belgian goalkeeper escaped with a jerk after being marked by three defenders (21st).
Vinicius’ goal made the Reds more dominant. Courtois relaxed against Salah (64th and 69th), and then sickened him with a strong strike from the Egyptian (83rd). Real was defeated 1-0 by Liverpool in the European Cup final in 1981. The King of Europe is back.
