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Real Madrid fans are in heaven. After winning the Spanish league title this season, they are now eyeing their 15th Champions League title. As a result, they have an advantage over first-placed AC Milan (with seven) as the most successful club in Europe’s elite club competition. Although Dortmund played a brilliant game, the Real club were very skilled in the most crucial moments. Carvajal and Vinicius Junior were the heroes in the second half.
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#fotogalerija How to watch the Champions League final in Ljubljana, Dortmund and Madrid
Big mistake by the organizer
The Champions League final offers many interesting background stories. It was the last club match for Toni Kroos, the outstanding footballer of Real Madrid, who retired after the European Championship. The last time Marco Reus played in a match in a Dortmund shirt, he started on the bench of the reserve players, and most likely the same was true for Mats Hummels. Both were in the starting lineup of the German club in 2013, when they also faced Bayern in the Champions League final at Wembley and lost 1-2. Jude Bellingham must have experienced special emotions as well. “I can hardly believe that it has turned out like this. I’m really looking forward to the matchup, the atmosphere, everything. “But my wildest dream is that in the first year after leaving Dortmund, I would play against my former team in the Champions League final and most importantly in my home country,” summed up the thoughts of the 20-year-old Jude Bellingham before the game. He played for Dortmund for three years and won the transfer to Real Madrid, where everything went well in his first season.
The club had no major injury problems before the peak of the season. The only one who had bad luck was Real Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin. The 25-year-old Ukrainian perfectly replaced Thibaut Courtois, who tore his cruciate ligament in August. He was the hero of Real’s penalty shootout win over Manchester City in the quarter-finals. At the beginning of the week, he seemed to have contracted a virus and soon found that he could not help his teammates, so Courtois intervened between the goals, for him only the fifth game of the season. Soon after the opening whistle of Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic, the organizers suffered a serious mistake, some fans invaded the pitch, and it took security personnel quite a while to restore order.
😡 UEFA and Wembley got off to an awkward start as a series of pitch invaders went unchecked, disrupting the start of the match. 2 minute delay #UCLFinalspic.twitter.com/hP3etCMJRI
— Craig Hope (@CraigHope_DM) June 1, 2024
After conceding the opening goal, Dortmund unexpectedly took the initiative and dominated the entire first half. After a great pass from Hummels, Karim Adeyemi found himself face to face with Courtois, who was too indecisive. Moments later, Niklas Fellkrug hit the post, but the footage showed he was in an offside position. The Belgian goalkeeper, who was not included in the squad for the European Championship by head coach Domenico Tedesco, had his palms warmed by Adeyemi and Marcel Sabitzer again until the end of the opening 45 minutes, but both times he succeeded.
Next, Real Madrid players entered the field more cautiously, blocking the way to the goal, and Dortmund did not get any more chances. Through Dani Carvajal, they even threatened the opponent’s goalkeeper Gregor Cobble twice, and then took the lead in the 74th minute. As Kroos did, he found Carvajal again, who was left too much space by the German player. The 32-year-old Spaniard, who is only 173 cm tall, headed it mercilessly. This completely cut off Dortmund’s goal and gave Real Madrid wings. Bellingham, Kroos, Eduardo Camavinga and Nacho Fernandez almost scored, but they were not accurate enough (Bellingham) or Cobble succeeded. Then in the 83rd minute, Ian Maatsen made a mistake and Vinicius Junior took the gift with both hands to decide the outcome.
Ancelotti: You never get used to this feeling
“Since I was very young, I dreamed of playing in such an important match. It’s hard to describe everything in words. This is the best night of my life. We were so close to having a perfect season. It couldn’t have been better. I thank my teammates, my family, all the backstage staff. This success is a credit to the whole club,” said Jude Bellingham, who originally had a bad performance on the field, with tears in his eyes. He then focused on the course of the duel. “We must be fair and say that Dortmund was the better opponent in the first half. What would have happened if we were one, two or even three goals behind? But then we showed our winning character. Respect for both clubs. Real Madrid is the team of my dreams, but Dortmund will also always remain in my good memories. Without her, none of this would have been possible.” With five Champions League victories, Ancelotti is the most successful coach in this competition. He achieved success three times with Real Madrid and twice with Milan. At the same time, as a player, he twice became one of the most successful red and black clubs in Europe. “You never get used to that feeling. The final was very difficult, much more difficult than we had hoped. We had a difficult first half. In the second we conceded less and played better. As always, small things make the difference. The dream continues,” smiled Carlo Ancelotti. Toni Kroos said goodbye to Real Madrid and his successful club career in the Champions League in tears. “The key was that we didn’t concede a goal in the first half. We played below our ability but the opponent forced us to do it. We talked at halftime and then changed our approach. We controlled the game and played better. But it cost us a lot and things could have gone differently.”
Dortmund also realised that they had missed a great chance. “We are very disappointed. That’s normal after a game like this where we had so many good chances. If you don’t take advantage of them, Real Madrid will punish you sooner or later. It’s a huge success that we got to the final. I’m very proud of the team and everyone because we proved that we belong at the top of Europe. But the bitter aftertaste will last for a long time because of the process,” explained Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kerber. Coach Edin Terzic was also proud of his players. “We played a very good game. All we lacked was calmness in front of the opponent’s goal. Real Madrid had it and that’s why they became champions. But I can only be proud of my players. Dortmund’s game went exactly the way I wanted it to and that means a lot.”
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