Cristiano Ronaldo struck home the winning penalty to give Real Madrid an unprecedented 11th European Cup Saturday while breaking the hearts of Atletico Madrid fans for the second time in three seasons.
Real Madrid produced a gritty display of football to beat city rivals 5-3 on penalties in the Champions League Final in Milan's San Siro Stadium on Saturday. The opener came after 15 minutes with defender Sergio Ramos putting Real 1-0 up.
Atletico struggled to break through Real's defences in a rather dull first half, with 32-year-old striker Fernando Torres failing to complete a single pass.
And things continued to worsen early on in the second when Antoine Griezmann became the first player to miss a penalty in the Champions League final since Arjen Robben in 2012, after striking the crossbar.
But in the 79th minute, Belgian Yannick Carrasco scored a goal from close range to put Atletico back in the game after a delightful cross from Juanfran.
Neither side was able to score again in either the 90 minutes or the 30 minutes of extra-time, and the match went to penalties.
After successful spot-kicks for Real by Lucas vasquez, Marcelo, Gareth Bale and Sergio Ramos. And for Atletico by Antoine Griezmann, Gabi and Saul, Juanfran's penalty was saved by Navas before Ronaldo scored the decisive penalty giving them a 5-3 shoot-out victory.
Real coach Zinedine Zidane and Atletico counterpart Diego Simeone had kept to the script with no real surprises in their respective line-ups for he final.
French striker Karim Benzema spearheaded the hosts attack flanked by Cristiano Ronaldo and Welshman Gareth Bale, in front of a three-man midfield composed of Luka Modric, Casemiro and Tony Kroos.
Zidane, who won the trophy as a player with Real in 2002, won his first major trophy on Saturday in what is the Frenchman's first season in charge at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
source:
BBC News
source:
BBC News
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