Real Madrid’s coach does not say much but when he does people listen, and his second Champions League win underlined how attuned he is to his playersOn his 20th Champions League night, Zinédine Zidane left with his second European Cup – as many as Pep Guardiola, José Mourinho or Sir Alex Ferguson. It was way after midnight by the time Sergio Ramos carried it out of Cardiff and Zidane had already departed, slipping away quietly, pausing only to embrace the Juventus manager, Massimiliano Allegri, as he went. As the Real Madrid players paraded the trophy around the pitch Zidane had stood aside with his wife, watching them, a fond look on his face. “The key is that they get on...
The Italian legend will feel pain once more after losing in his third Champions League final, against Real Madrid, in what may well prove his last chanceGianluigi Buffon stood with his hands on his hips, staring vacantly into the distance and not moving for what felt like an age. Behind him the Real Madrid supporters were raucously celebrating their third goal and their second in the space of three minutes, flooring Juventus and leaving Buffon looking like a man who knew that the dream was over long before the clock had ticked down.This was anything but the “perfect finale” Buffon had talked about 24 hours earlier, when the 39-year-old expressed his hope that he would get his hands on the...
Zinedine Zidane came up with a plan in August to protect his star man for the vital games and Ronaldo delivered with two goals in the Champions League finalJust 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....
Juve have conceded only three goals in the Champions League all season and Real Madrid must find a way through their central defensive setup in the finalScoring goals is not something Real Madrid usually have a problem with. They have scored in every game this season and have not failed to score since Manchester City stopped them in the Champions League semi-final last year, a run of 64 games in a row in which they have found the net. If any team can stop them, though, it is Juventus, who have let in only three goals in 12 European games this season and only 27 in 38 in Serie A, and are equally comfortable in either a back three or...
Madrid are on the verge of a third Champions League title in four years, yet Ronaldo’s smothering persona is obscuring an exceptional eventCristiano Ronaldo has been grandly ever-present before Saturday’s Champions League final, lurking behind every object in your eyeline like the sky, or God. Away from football the Ronaldo newswire has been ticking and whirring away through the night. Ronaldo reveals his summer style secrets. Ronaldo’s girlfriend may or may not be pregnant. Ronaldo has been declared the most famous athlete on Earth – by an algorithm.As Real Madrid and Juventus complete their preparations for an intriguing final in Cardiff a large part of the analysis has, as ever, been bound up in trying to explain Ronaldo. Rarely can...