Real Madrid 4—Atletico Madrid 1 (after extra time).

The Champions League final is always a disappointment and this was no exception. Much was made of Atletico Madrid losing the final to Bayern Munich, after a reply, forty years ago. Little was said about how they cynically hacked and butchered Celtic’s Quality Street Kids and took turns booting Jimmy Johnstone up in the air at Celtic Park to help qualify for that final. Watch it on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDElMvVdOK4. That’s history now. Real Madrid have their own history to content with. Zidane scored a beauty of a goal that last time they won it in Glasgow. There were no great goals here, but they all count equally.

          Diego Godwin scored a headed goal for Atletico, just before half-time. Iker Casillas the Real Madrid keeper was the real culprit. He rushed out for a ball he was never going to win, stopped and the header drifted over his head as he scrambled backwards. It was the kind of goal any Scottish keeper would get slaughtered for. In between times Gareth Bale had a few opportunities and missed them and generally had a poor game. The best player in the world, Ronaldo, was also nowhere to be seen. A few flicks and tricks, some dreadful free kicks, a good bit of pouting and that was about it. It looked like Aletico had done the dream double of La Liga and European Cup. Only they hadn’t. Sergio Ramos scored with a wonderful header and equaliser in the ninety-third minute. This was no fluke. He did the same thing twice against Bayern. Bale popped up with what looked like the winner, in extra-time, with a back post header of his own, that in many ways cancelled out his poor performance. There was still time for Casillas to make the same kind of mistake he made for the first goal. This time, however, he was not punished. Sub Marcelo scored an individualistic third goal. The Atletico defenders couldn’t summon up the energy to tackle him as he waddled through and the much praised Courtois dived down like a man that was on a bender. The game was finished. Ronaldo got the obligatory penalty, which he dispatched with ease. It was an easy game for the best player in the world. He didn’t exert himself. There was lots of drama, but not great football.