Without an extraordinary Thibaut Courtois, Real Madrid would never have managed to beat Liverpool on Saturday at the Stade de France (1-0).
The term resilience seems to have been invented for these Merengue, so often tossed about this season in the Champions League, and finally winners.
Real adds a 14th C1 to its trophy cabinet, twice as many as AC Milan, its runner-up.
At the Stade de France
Liverpool supporters, some of whom had had so much trouble getting back in, preferred to leave rather than see this, once the defeat of the Reds was over (1-0).
It was therefore in a Stade de France practically emptied of its red component that Marcelo, soul of the team who remained on the bench on Saturday evening, lifted the Champions League trophy.
For Real Madrid's 14th victory in the most prestigious of European competitions, an improved record.
Undoubtedly the most incredible, as the Merengues have often seemed fragile this season, even sometimes inferior to their opponents in the final stages of C1.
But they knew how to sign reversals of situation that even the boldest of scriptwriters would not have dared to propose to a producer.
Behind a smile that we guessed for once forced, we could see Jürgen Klopp wondering how his Reds had not been damned to beat this Real they had abused so much.
“We shot 23 times, including nine on target, deciphered “OptaJürgen” in front of the press, before looking at the opponent, whom he of course wanted to congratulate: “Real only shot on target .
“But it was the right one, on a missed shot from Valverde exploited at the far post by Vinicius, just before the hour mark…
Courtois, the guardian angel
As often this season, "Saint Thibaut" Courtois hovered over the meeting.
Author of the monstrous total of nine stops, the Belgian goalkeeper disgusted Mohamed Salah, decidedly cursed against Real in the final (even when Ramos is no longer there to hurt him as in 2018).
Courtois, with an ego as solid as it is assumed, also took out a parade from Martien in the 20th minute by deflecting a little gem of intelligence signed Sadio Mané on the post.
The 2018 World Cup semi-finalist finally has the victory he so desired, at least since he stumbled on the last step with Atlético in 2014 against… Real.
14 - Real Madrid 🇪🇸 have won the C1 for the 14th time in their history, at least twice as many as any other team in the competition.
Hegemony.
#LIVRMA #APorLa14 pic.twitter.com/UMZTUNtoM2
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) May 28, 2022
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At the microphone of BT Sport, the most agile of the double-meter made in the grandiloquent (but fair): “Yesterday [Friday], in a press conference, I said that when Madrid played finals he won them.
I was on the right side of history.
Of the finals, the White House has only lost three, in 1962, 1964 and 1981. Since this last failure against Liverpool at the Parc des Princes (1-0) at the dawn of the Mitterrand era, it has remained on eight finals won, sometimes easily, sometimes hard.
But won anyway...
Ancelotti, man of records
“It's easier to win the C1 with Real than with another team, slice Carlo Ancelotti.
The special passion of the supporters, the history, the structure of the club… all of this makes the club special.
The Italian is himself a winner at heart, despite a few less brilliant recent seasons at Everton or Naples: previously titled twice as a player, he set a new record of four Champions Leagues won as a coach this Saturday, with Milan (2003 and 2007) and Real (2014 and 2022), for a single failure against Liverpool (2005).
“This team is easy to train, continues the “Mister”.
The locker room was quiet to prepare for this match.
The players have incredible confidence.
This confidence comes with the history of this club.
It's rare in football.
And even unique.
To the point of really making us adhere to the winner's DNA theory rather than the thesis of "Carlo's cat", yet easily defensible this season: without even talking about the final, Madrid lost in the round of 16 go against PSG, in the quarter return against Chelsea and in the semi-final go to Manchester City.
“There is no luck”, sweeps Karim Benzema
Each time, Real almost took the door, and each time, it slipped through the window until the next round, carried by the future Ballon d'Or Karim Benzema, author of 15 goals this season in C1, including 10 in the knockout stage.
The 16th was denied to him on Saturday at the end of the first half, for an offside reported and confirmed after an interminable use of VAR.
“There is no luck, swept on Canal + the captain at the five European Cups, one of the guarantors with Modric or Marcelo of the balance of the group.
Luck, you can have it once, but not every time.
We deserve our victory.
We made an effort, we came back every time, we never gave up.
»
Dressed in a T-shirt with the “14” logo as eloquent as it is unsightly, Ancelotti added a layer of it in the Stade de France press room: “At the start of the season, no one thought that we could win this competition.
We deserved it.
We suffered a lot during our journey, but we were never demoralized.
“Even when Kylian Mbappé preferred to stay at PSG after a telenovela with twists and turns?
"Today, Mbappé does not exist, there is a Real Madrid party," said President Florentino Perez on the Spanish channel Movistar, with the insolence of people who succeed in everything.
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