Real Madrid beats Liverpool 1-0 in the UCL final on Saturday night at Stadium-de-France to lift the European trophy for the 14th time, more than any other club, breaking their own record. Madrid coach Ancelotti also becomes the first coach to lift four European club titles.
The match started with some controversy outside the Stade-de-France stadium as the fans could not enter the stadium due to some problems with the security checks and the match was firstly delayed by 15 minutes. It was further delayed by another 20 minutes as the problems were not sorted at some entry points of the stadium. The crowd who could not enter the stadium hyped the chaos further and tear gas was exploded on the fans who were waiting for more than ninety minutes in the queue.
The game finally kicked off at 1:10 IST in the Stadium-de-France and the atmosphere looked subdued for quite some time at the start of the game. It was running very slow but gradually Liverpool started to dominate the Spanish side. Chances started piling up for Liverpool as the game was running mostly in the half of Madrid. On top of 15 minutes, Alexandar Arnold wriggled away from Vinicius and Mendy to deliver a low cross from the right flank which was turned towards the goal by off-balance Salah but Courtois came to the rescue for Madrid. He saved another one on 18 minutes as Mane laid the ball to Salah who half-volleyed it towards the goal. Just after 2 minutes, Sadio Mane took on the defenders to get a shot off and the Madrid keeper made another great save. In 43 minutes, the game was well dominated by the Liverpool side when Benzema scored a beautiful goal against the flow getting past the defenders and the goalkeeper but it was ruled out for offside which gave rise to many controversies.
Liverpool didn’t let their pace go loose in the second half either and created many half chances. But going against the run of play, Vinicius Jr. scored the only goal of the night to give an advantage to Madrid. The English side still dominated the game and tried very hard to score the equalizer but what stood between them and the equalizer was the Belgian keeper, Thibaut Courtois, who was in extraordinary form yesterday and saved one after other shots from the opposition front line. He stood like a wall and didn’t let any ball get past the final line. Five minutes of injury time were added but of no use to Liverpool. Real Madrid lifted their 14th UCL trophy to add another feather to their crown last night.
