Real Madrid beat cross city city rivals Atletico Madrid by 4-1 as the Galacticos won a pulsating Champions League final in Lisbon. The scoreline would have flattered Real but it perhaps doesnt resemble the greater story. Atletico gave their all before they fell apart after Gareth Bale scored deep in the second half of extra time to hand Real the lead for the first time in the game. Substitute Marcelo than scored from a thumping volley and Cristiano Ronaldo wrapped it off from the spot following Diego Godin‘s tired challenge.
It was Atletico who lead for the entire match but Sergio Ramos scored the equaliser to cancel out Godin’s first half effort with barely two minutes remaining on the clock. It was heart break for Atletico who simply couldn’t cope with Real’s relentless surge since then. It was sad on the part of the Rojiblancos who had their talismanic striker substituted after just 8 minutes into the match following a hamstring pull which he didn’t recover from last week that was sustained against Barcelona.
Real Madrid: champions of Europe in 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1966, 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2014.
With the epic win Carlo Ancelotti joined tha ranks of Bob Paisley as a three-time managerial winner of the European Cup. He did it with Milan in 2003 and 2007, and now he’s achieved it with Real Madrid.
As the Guardian points out: Simeone is doing that thousand-yard stare thing. Nothing so haunted has been seen on a football pitch since the blood drained from Johan Cruyff’s face at the end of the 1974 World Cup final. It can be a painful business, this game.