Watch the match highlights and goals here
My Opinion:
That was a Champions League final with heaps of drama. Real Madrid
were able to field a near full strength team but were unable to play Alonso
through suspension. Atletico had Turan suspended for the Final whilst Diego
Costa made the starting eleven despite injury fears throughout the week.
The decision to start with Diego Costa didn’t work out as the
striker went off after only eight minutes clutching his hamstring. This was a
massive blow for Atletico whose main attacking threat was off so early whilst a
substitute had to be used up very early in the match. However, it was Atletico
who took the lead inside the first half as Casillas made a costly mistake in
rushing out and failing to get to the ball first. This allowed Godin to head
straight over the keeper to put them in front.
Atletico are an extremely strong defensive unit and proved it once
again as they kept Real quiet for the majority of the game. Their tactics were
pretty much to foul the Real players as often as they could in order to disrupt
their flow. It certainly worked really well on Ronaldo who just couldn’t get
into the game after being fouled every time he was on the ball. However, Bale
had Real’s best chances during the 90 minutes but surprisingly spurned every
one of them.
It really was quite a heroic defensively display from Atletico and
they came within two minutes of winning the Champions League. Incredibly, wave
after wave of attacks, Ramos headed in an equalizer from a Modric corner to
send Real into extra time which came much to the relief of Ancelotti, the Real
players and their fans.
Extra time belonged to Real as they dominated an Atletico team who
were just unable to cope with the situation. It took until the second half of
extra time for Real to go in front but it came from Gareth Bale, who scored a
tough header at the far post that just made its way inside the post. Delirium
erupted amongst the Real players whilst Atletico were all but out for the
count. Marcelo came off the bench and took advantage of some tired Atletico defenders,
running through the defence before firing a low shot that Courtois probably
should have kept out but didn’t. The night wouldn’t have been complete without
a certain Cristiano Ronaldo scoring in Lisbon and it came right at the last
moment. He was brought down inside the box and then coolly slotted the penalty
into the back of the net.
A gutting night for Atletico who came so close to rounding off
such an amazing season with the Champions League title. They won La Liga and
can be proud of their efforts this season but tonight belonged to Real. I
thought they were the better team and deserved to win but they left it really
late. Ramos proved to be their saviour whilst it was great to see Bale and
Ronaldo both score in extra time.
My man of the match was Sergio Ramos
Follow me on Twitter @mattaylott
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