Cristiano Ronaldo on Saturday added the finishing touches as Real Madrid were crowned kings of Europe for an 11th time with a 5-3 penalties victory over Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Champions League final.
Two years after reviving Real’s bid for a 10th title, captain Sergio Ramos struck the opener after just 15 minutes at a packed San Siro.
However, the match was pushed into extra-time when Yannick Carrasco came off the bench to level on 79 minutes — the Belgian rushing toward the touchlines to kiss his partner in celebration.
Photo: EPA
After two scoreless periods of extra-time, the match went to penalties, and when defender Juanfran’s effort blasted off the bottom of Keylor Navas’s upright, Ronaldo stepped up to secure the trophy for the second time in three seasons. In 2013-2014, Atletico lost 4-1 in extra-time after Ramos headed a late leveler at the death.
It means Real coach Zinedine Zidane has joined an elite club of players — including, notably, Johan Cruyff, Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola — to have also won the title as a coach.
Man-of-the-match Ramos said Zidane’s arrival in January following the sacking of former Real coach Rafael Benitez was “really important for us.”
“He has a great relationship with the players. We will be celebrating this with him,” Ramos said.
The normally reserved Frenchman was overjoyed at lifting European club soccer’s biggest prize.
“I was given the chance to come to this amazing club and then to coach it. I have a phenomenal team and great players who are also talented, and it was together we achieved what we did tonight,” Zidane said.
Real, inaugural winners of the competition in 1955-1956, claimed their 10th title two years ago in Lisbon.
Atletico coach Diego Simeone had pledged his side, two-time UEFA Europa League winners — in 2009-2010 and 2011-2012 — would end their wait to finally win Europe’s premier competition.
However, it took only six minutes for Real to start knocking on the door when Jan Oblak had to produce a point-blank save from Karim Benzema after Gareth Bale’s assist.
When Ramos opened the scoring, Atletico’s hopes and morale plummeted.
“We started the game badly,” said Simeone, who hinted he could now consider his future at the club.
“I think I could start thinking about my future,” he said. “It puts a lot of years on you.”
Before half-time, Atletico were restricted to an Antoine Griezmann shot that fizzed wide of the upright, but they were handed a lifeline seconds after the restart when Pepe barged into Torres from behind.
English referee Mark Clattenburg had no hesitation pointing to the spot, but Griezmann, with seven goals in the competition this season, smashed his effort off the underside of the crossbar.
After Bale skewed an effort wide, Atletico got back on their feet to see Saul Niguez turn on Carrasco’s cross and send a half-volley wide of the post.
It prompted Simeone into some frantic arm-waving, but fans were left breathing huge sighs of relief as Real piled on the pressure.
After the game, Simeone said: “What really hurts me is to see the hurt of the people who have paid to come here — I feel a bit responsible that I was not able to give them what they wanted. That is what really hurts.”
Luka Modric sent Benzema clear, but he found the chest of onrushing Oblak with the goal at his mercy.
Modric was involved again when Ronaldo shot straight at the goalkeeper from long distance, and Atletico survived a huge scare when Oblak stopped Ronaldo’s effort, then had Stefan Savic to thank for clearing Bale’s follow-up off the line.
The match was turned on its head moments later when Carrasco muscled his way through Real’s central defense to smash Juanfran’s perfectly weighted cross past Navas and send the red half of the stadium wild.
However, in the end, penalty misses from Juanfran and Griezmann left Atletico coming up short.
“Penalties are always a lottery, you never know what is going to happen, but we showed that our team had more experience and we showed that we scored all penalties — it was unbelievable, a fantastic night,” Ronaldo said.
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