Real Madrid 1 Atletico Madrid 1 AET
Real Madrid won 5-3 on penalties.
A very tight battle, as expected.
In the San Siro on Saturday night, Real Madrid started very energetically and dominated for 20 minutes, so I knew they would fade after an hour.
In that early spell Gareth Bale hit a free-kick from the right side that was going wide before Caminero’s flick diverted the ball against keeper Jan Oblak’s foot on the line.
Right back Dani Carvajal deserved his yellow card for that nasty late lunge on Griezmann.
Then Tony Kroos drove a flat free-kick towards Bale, whose back-headed flick flew across in front of keeper Oblak as raging bull Sergio Ramos stormed in and got a faint touch in front of the keeper for 1-0. Replays showed Ramos was offside but no flag went up.
After the goal, Atletico had a few tame efforts from Griezmann.
While Modric and Bale toiled, Ronaldo was so anonymous that I thought: As long it’s 1-0, it’s not over.
My best friend Doug phoned at the interval and predicted extra time. But I thought Real had already expended too much energy: “They won’t go the distance. And Ronaldo’s not fit, he’s just walking about.”
Second half, Griezmann was on the right flank and played a nice pass into Torres in the box, looking for a one-two. But Torres, expecting a dinked diagonal ball in the air, was caught on his heels behind Pepe, who moved first, so Torres threw his leg in front of Pepe, fouling him. Both players fell over as the ball went past them.
Ref Mark Clattenburg should have given a free-kick to Pepe but instead gave a penalty to Atletico.
I was immediately dubious about the penalty being converted, because so many soft penalties are not scored. The antics of Keylor Navas, to delay the kick, meant that the keeper was given a yellow card.
Griezmann, having had to stand still for far too long with his hands on his hips, ran up very straight and smashed the penalty so hard that when the ball hit the underside it bounced 16 feet in the air and came down in the D, where Modric just managed to head it away.
The gamesmanship of the goalkeeper had worked.
The undeserved penalty that Torres was awarded did not equalise the offside goal by Ramos.
At half-time Simeone reconfigured his midfield with an excellent substitution.
He brought on Yannick Carrasco, a 22-year old Belgian who was signed from Monaco last summer, moved Koke into the middle, and saw his tall, bearded winger galvanise the team.
When Carrasco linked with Felipe Luis on the left, and clipped in a lovely cross, Saul’s waist-high volley flew wide of the far post.
Modric replied by releasing Benzema wide on the right but the striker’s meaty drive was blocked by the chest of the advancing Oblak. After a scramble in the box, Bale slalomed round Oblak and lashed in a shot that centreback Savic cleared off the line.
Then Carrasco broke away at speed from deep in his own half, with Torres and Griezmann in support, giving Atletico a three-against-one advantage, so Caminero, fouling Carrasco just inside the Real half, took a yellow card for the team.
I thought it should have been a red card.
We seem to accept such cynicism because we call it a “professional foul.”
Then Atletico constructed a beautiful move on the right flank.
Juanfran played a one-two with Gabi and volleyed a fine cross that was bouncing towards the far post when it was met by the incoming Carrasco. The winger, having already lifted the game, had now scored the equaliser from three yards in 79 minutes.
Celebrating, Carrasco ran towards a blonde in the lowest tier of the stand whose arms were outstretched towards him. She definitely looked like a footballer’s wife. But turned out to be his girlfriend, a former Miss Belgium.
AN EXCITING MOMENT FOR THEM. AND US.
11 minutes to go!
It was Real 1 Atletico 1 with 11 minutes to go.
Would the underdogs win their first European Cup in the year of Leicester City?
Could they at last write the page in history that they’d talked about?
Alas, no.
Atletico had occasional concertina moments, squeezing into the ball, winning it, then fanning out quickly to give each other options.
Bale was no longer a threat, Danilo was booked for fouling Carrasco, and Real were there to be taken.
But mostly Atletico sat back too much, and wasted the creative energies of Carrasco by leaving Torres, one of the club’s favourite sons, on the pitch for too long.
Carrasco and Griezmann needed another youngster racing around to help them.
In the penalty shoot-out the first seven kicks were converted nicely.
Then, at 4-3, right back Juanfran hit the post, leaving Ronaldo to smack kn the winner, rip off his shirt, and strike one of his favourite poses.
I rarely watch the after-match and didn’t want to see Pepe, a cheating crybaby, lifting the cup with big ears. On the ITV highlights later, Roy Keane said that Pepe’s antics were ridiculous and disgusting: “It turned my stomach.”
And so a tired old Real Madrid team won the scruffiest of their eleven European Cups.
The world’s most star-studded club team could not score a goal in open play in the first half or the second half or in extra time. And the goal they did score was from a free-kick and should have been disallowed for offside.
Overall, an interesting game but not a memorable one – and certainly not a classic.
What’s future for Atletico Madrid?
I’m ambivalent about that.
On the one hand, their distinctly passionate teamwork has won titles and trophies. That’s what makes them stand out, that’s what makes the club what it is today. And if they lose that, they’ve got nothing.
So my first instinct is to say that club that found Aguero and Falcao and Diego Costa needs to keep doing what they do, but find a new striker. Because Fernando Torres is over the hill.
Half of me thinks that with the right striker, Atletico can come back next season and have another go.
Because there’s no disgrace in knocking out Barcelona and Bayern Munich, then losing the final after extra time and penalties, so they’ll get over this trauma. And I don’t really believe that Diego Simeone would be as inspirational elsewhere.
That is one view.
On the other hand, I do wonder whether Simeone might take his box of tricks elsewhere, thrive on a new challenge, and be more objective about another squad at another club.
If he stays, they need a proven centre forward.
If he goes, the next coach must somehow disconnect the squad from past failures in Champion League finals, and give them more belief in their attacking abilities.
For me, Real Madrid look like a bunch of tired old gladiators who know their best days are behind them. But on this occasion they had bigger warriors and more belief because they had done it all before. Confidence is 90% of football.
VERDICT: On Saturday night, Atletico Madrid lost because they were scared of losing to their richer and more famous rivals. And because Clattenburg didn’t have the balls to send Ramos or Pepe off.