Brazilian wonderkid Vinicius Junior scored the only goal of the game just before the hour mark, as Real Madrid beat Liverpool to lift their 14th Champions League title in Paris last night.
Carlo Ancelotti’s charges, despite their history in Europe’s premier club competition, were somehow regarded as the ‘underdogs’ heading into the decider.
Goalkeeper Thibaut Curtois produced an unbelievable display in goal for Los Blancos to deny Liverpool on many occasions and was deservedly named man of the match.
Build up to the game was dominated by Mohamed Salah’s ‘revenge’ remarks after the Egyptian ace got injured in the final between the two sides in Kiev in 2018, which Madrid went on to win 3-1.
Salah said as soon as it was confirmed that Liverpool would play Madrid, that he had ‘a score to settle’ but the former Roma man has now lost the Afcon final, World Cup play and now the Champions League final, in what is surely a season to forget.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was disappointed after the game and said his charges deserved more from it.
“After the game when I saw the stats it was 50-50 possession. We had a lot more shots, a lot more shots on target, but the most decisive stat is absolutely on Madrid’s side. Just to make sure that nobody thinks I wouldn’t congratulate Real Madrid, I do that now but I [also] congratulated everybody present and involved outside personally,” he said.
“They scored a goal, we didn’t, that’s the easiest explanation in the world of football and it’s hard, harsh to get anyway, [but we] respect that of course. When the goalkeeper is Man of the Match then something is going wrong for the other team, so we had I think three really big chances where Courtois made incredible saves. I would have loved to have had a few more of this calibre,” added the German.
Klopp’s Real Madrid counterpart Carlo Ancelotti, who became the first coach to win the Champions League four times, described Curtois’ performance as unbelievable.
“Trust me, I can’t believe what Thibaut Courtois did tonight, guys. Unbelievable,” said Ancelotti.