Just when you thought it might be all about the man it’s never about, it was about the man it’s always about. In the buildup to this final, Casemiro had insisted that he’s there to “plug holes”, claiming that it is robbing the ball, not scoring goals, that brings him pleasure, and yet he had just reached a higher plane, thumping in the shot that put Real Madrid back into the lead and looked set to bring the night in Cardiff to a close. Three minutes later, though, another man stepped centre-stage. Him, again. Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro.
Never write him off, never say it’s over. Don’t even laugh when he says he wants to play beyond 40; listen instead. He decides when it ends. This season, more than any other season, well past 30, he has decided how it ends too. In Cardiff, it ended in a way it has not for 59 years: with Real Madrid champions of Spain and Europe. Although Marco Asensio added a late fourth, Ronaldo’s second was the moment Madrid knew they were the first team to defend the Champions League.
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