Europe’s topmost club competition delivered drama and memorable moments in equal measure, as Real madrid clinched a remarkable 15th European title, defeating underdogs Dortmund 2-0 at Wembley.
Real Madrid withstood a Borussia Dortmund barrage to win the Champions League for the 15th time as Dani Carvajal and Vinicius Junior struck late in a 2-0 win at Wembley on Saturday.
Defender Carvajal headed in from Toni Kroos’ corner on 74 minutes before Vinicius fired home to extend Madrid’s record as the most successful club in the competition’s history. Real Madrid beat Borussia Dortmund 2-0 to win a record-extending 15th UEFA Champions League (UCL) title while four of its players set a unique record in the tournament’s history at the Wembley Stadium in England on Saturday.
Toni Kroos, Dani Carvajal, Luka Modric and Nacho became the only players in history to win six Champions League titles, surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, who have five and four titles, respectively.
It seems quite normal but it’s not normal, it’s something special to be able to win for this club six Champions Leagues in 10 years because, as what happened tonight, it’s difficult. Dortmund played really well, they were strong and better than us in the first half,” Ancelotti told CBS Sports.
“And in that moment you have to stay calm. “I said to the players, stay calm. It’s a fantastic result 0-0 because they played better and could deserve to be up. Second half was better.”
While Madrid emerged as European champions once again, Dortmund were unlucky not to pull off a huge upset in London, the scene of their 2013 final defeat against Arch rivals Bayern
Edin Terzic’s team dominated the first half, but Julian Brandt, Fulkrug and Karin Adeyemi all missed clear chances to open the scoring.
But after weathering the first-half storm, Real settled down in the second period and eventually asserted their dominance before Carvajal and Vinícius scored the decisive goals.
“It was a very difficult game,” Carvajal told Movistar. “In the first half we came out alive, they were quite a lot better. We knew our moment would come … We knew how to suffer. That’s football.”
The game also marked a farewell for two German legends, with Dortmund’s Marco Reus entering as a substitute for his final appearance for the club before Toni Kross left the field to a standing ovation from the Madrid fans on his last club game before retirement.
“This generation of players, starting also from the players who are not here — Cristiano Ronaldo, [Karim] Benzema, [Gareth] Bale – did fantastic,” Ancelotti added. “Ten years, six victories is something unbelievable to think.”
You may call them boring but they are European champions.
