(Football news) Real Madrid defeated Liverpool 1-0 at the Stade de France to become the European champions for the 14th time in their History. Los Blancos had a very different road to the final which was filled with drama, emotions and most of all sensational grit. They started off with a 1-0 win at San Siro but then faced a shock 1-2 defeat at the Bernabeu against FC Sheriff. The defeat against the newcomers caused a blip in their season but things turned around. Madrid recovered well by winning 2 games against Shakhtar Donetsk before beating Sheriff away and Inter at home.
In the round of 16, Real Madrid put in one of their worst performances at Parc de Princes but only lost 1-0 to PSG. It looked like they did not deserve to even be in the UCL knockouts. In the return leg Madrid were 1-0 down at half time and needed 2 goals to equalise. Karim Benzema scored a dramatic hat-trick to mark one of the greatest comebacks in the history of the competition. In the quarter finals, Madrid won 3-1 at the Stamford Bridge against Chelsea thanks to another hat-trick by Karim Benzema. In the return leg however, they blew the lead and were trailing 4-3 on aggregate to Chelsea at the Bernabeu. With 10 minutes to go, Luka Modric played one of the best passes of the UCL season to set up Rodrygo who equalised. Real Madrid won in extra time as Karim Benzema scored once again.
It looked like Real Madrid had played two of the most dramatic UCL ties of all time but the semi final against Manchester City was something else. In the first leg the blues were far better throughout the 90 minutes but they could only manage to win 4-3. Manchester City had a two goal lead 3 times but kept on losing it. The 2nd leg at the Bernabeu was a cagey affair at first but Manchester City scored in the 73rd minute after which Real Madrid looked down and out needing two goals. They didn't even have a single shot on target until the 90th minute when substitute Rodrygo scored twice to send the game to extra time. Benzema scored another penalty in extra time to send Real Madrid to the final.
The final was another game where the entire world seemed to count out Real Madrid before the match. Liverpool dominated the majority of the game, the first half especially was total carnage but it remained goalless. Benzema scored just before half time but it was controversially disallowed. That goal sort of changed the momentum a little as Real Madrid started mounting more attacks in the 2nd half. Vinicius Jr scored the only goal of the game in the 59th minute which was set up by Fede Valverde. Liverpool had plenty of chances to equalise but Thibaut Courtois was steady as a rock. The Belgian made 9 saves which was most by any keeper in a UCL final since 2004. He was given the man of the match award for his incredible performance.
Real Madrid's Champions League campaign has been incredible and arguably the toughest of all time. Karim Benzema finished as the top goalscorer and also equaled Cristiano Ronaldo's record of 10 goals in a single UCL knockouts campaign. Thibaut Courtois's 59 saves in the campaign were the most since 2012. Vinicius Jr had the joint most assists with 6 to go with 4 goals. The old guards in midfield Toni Kroos, Casemiro and Luka Modric had another fantastic season which ended up being their 4th trophy as a trio. Youngsters Rodryo, Eduardo Camavinga and Fede Valverde delivered when it mattered the most throughout the tournament. 9 Real Madrid players namely Marcelo, Nacho, Dani Carvajal, Toni Kroos, Casemiro, Karim Benzema, Luka Modric, Isco and Gareth Bale equalised Cristiano Ronaldo's record of 5 trophies in the UCL era. The demands of the club is such that president Florentino Perez the very next day said "Now we go for the 15th UCL trophy next year".
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