Real Madrid edge Atletico in penalties to lift 11th Champions League title
In a nail-biting finish at the San Siro, Real Madrid defeated Atletico Madrid 5-3 in penalties to win their 11th Champions League title after the match ended 1-1 at full-time. Sergio Ramos had put Real in front in the 15th minute before Carrasco scored in the 79th minute to level things up.
Starting Lineups:
Real Madrid (4-3-3): Navas, Carvajal, Ramos, Pepe, Marcelo, Modric, Casemiro, Kroos, Bale, Benzema, Ronaldo.
Atlético Madrid (4-4-2): Oblak, Juanfran, Godín, Savic, Filipe Luis, Saúl, Gabi, Augusto, Koke, Torres, Griezmann.
For the second time in three years, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid took on each other for the most coveted prize in European club football. Having beaten their neighbours in the final back in 2014, ten-time champions Real Madrid went into the match as the favourites for the title. Zinedine Zidane’s men assembled in their favourite 4-3-3 formation with the trio of Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema in attack.
The Los Rojiblancos, on the other hand, made a surprising selection at the back with Stefan Savic partnering Diego Godin instead of Jose Gimenez, who started on the bench. Having started all the matches in the Champions League this season, Antoine Griezmann was once again preferred by Diego Simeone to lead the attack along with Fernando Torres.
It was built up as the matchup between Real Madrid’s attack and Atletico’s defense, and the Los Blancos made sure that it remained the same by swamping the Los Rojiblancos’ defense in the initial minutes. The first warning sign came in the 6th minute after Casemiro almost tapped one into the back of the net from Bale’s free-kick. But, Jan Oblak kept things deadlocked in the match by denying the midfielder’s effort with his legs.
Although Diego Simeone’s men escaped the first attempt from the ten-time champions, Real’s dominance finally found its way into the goal in the 15th minute with another free-kick paving the way. Toni Kroos swung in the set-piece from the left, and Bale cleverly flicked it beyond the Atletico defenders to allow Sergio Ramos with an easy tap in from close range. Ramos, who scored the all-important equalizer in the stoppage time two years ago, once again broke Atletico hearts to put the record-time champions in the driving seat.
The frantic nature of the match settled down a bit after the goal with Real Madrid choosing to keep the lead rather than pushing ahead for the second. The Los Blancos’ uncharacteristic move gave Atletico more of the ball in the midfield with the possession shy side enjoying a lot of the ball in the half. Even though the goal remained absent, Atletico ended the half confidently after Griezmann tested Keylor Navas a couple of times.
Simeone brought on winger Yannick Carrasco in place of central midfielder Augusto Fernández after the break in an attempt to change things up. Atletico made a fantastic start to the second forty-five after Pepe fouled Torres in the box barely a minute after the restart.
The Spanish striker went in front of the defender in the hope of latching on to a through pass, but the Portuguese defender bundled him to the ground to give referee Mark Clattenburg no choice but to the point to the spot. After Torres’ penalty miss against Bayern Munich in the semi-final, Atletico opted to go with Griezmann for the penalty this time around, but the result remained the same. Navas jumped to his left to leave open the entire goal, but the French striker found the underside of the bar to the misery of Atletico fans.
Real Madrid dropped deeper and deeper as the match progressed and hoped to snatch another goal through a counter-attack to put the match to bed. Although Atletico had the majority of the ball, Zidane’s men had the best chances with Benzema wasting an opportunity in the 70th minute by smashing one straight at Oblak. Chances continued to come for Real Madrid with Ronaldo and Bale missing golden opportunities from close range. Those misses came back to haunt Real a few minutes later as substitute Carrasco tapped home an inviting cross across the goal from Juanfran to bring the teams back to level terms in the 79th minute. Similar to their meeting two years back, the 2016 final also went into extra-time after the match ended 1-1 at full time. Having scored the goal late on in the second-half, Atletico took the momentum into the extra time and dominated the possession once again. Real banked on counter-attacks and reached the Atletico box a few times, only to see the defenders putting their body on the line to deny their efforts. With players on both sides getting tired, the game slowly drifted to the lottery of penalties after 30 minutes of extra-time.
In the shootout, Lucas Vasquez put Real in front with the first kick, before Griezmann rectified his earlier error and made it 1-1. Marcelo, Bale, and Ramos scored their respective penalties, while Gabi and Saul converted for Atletico. However, Juanfran missed the fourth penalty to allow Cristiano Ronaldo the chance to finish it and he did it emphatically by converting the fifth to win the title for Real Madrid.
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