Real Madrid celebrated their 15th Champions League victory in a spectacular shower of gold and silver confetti on Saturday.
The thrilling moment, a hallmark of European club soccer’s grandest competition, felt as thrilling as ever as Real Madrid secured a 2-0 win against Borussia Dortmund in the final at Wembley Stadium.
Carlo Ancelotti, extending his coaching record with a fifth win, expressed the perpetual joy of the achievement, stating, “Getting used to it? Never. The dream continues.”
The victory was hailed by a sea of white-clad Madrid fans, who cheered on their team as Dani Carvajal and Vinicius Junior scored the decisive goals.
Despite Dortmund’s dominance in the first half, Madrid’s victory was a surprise turnaround after they struggled initially. Ancelotti admitted, “It was a very difficult game, much more difficult than we had expected. We changed things because in the first half we were a bit lazy.”
Carvajal’s header in the 74th minute and Vinicius’s goal nine minutes later sealed the triumph for the Spanish giants.
Ancelotti’s fifth Champions League title, his third with Madrid, further solidified his status as one of the greatest coaches. He now boasts two more titles than his closest rivals, including Zinedine Zidane, Pep Guardiola, and Bob Paisley.
Carvajal, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, and Nacho also etched their names in history by winning the trophy for the sixth time, matching the achievement of Madrid legend Paco Gento.
The victory comes just a year after Manchester City’s maiden triumph, which many thought would mark a new era of European dominance. Instead, it was Ancelotti who demonstrated his coaching prowess once again with continued success in the Champions League.
Besides winning three titles with Madrid, he also won twice with AC Milan. This season, he won the Spanish title, making it his sixth league championship across five different countries.
Madrid’s dominance in the competition is astonishing, having won more than twice as many titles as any other club. Milan is the second most successful club with seven titles.
In the Champions League era, Madrid has won nine titles, including this one, which is their second in three seasons.
“This is the love story between Real Madrid and the European Cup. Players come, players go, but we can say that this is our competition,” said Madrid president Florentino Perez.
Madrid’s future dominance may continue with the anticipated arrival of Kylian Mbappe from Paris Saint-Germain as a free agent during the offseason, along with Brazil’s rising star Endrick.
However, Perez remained tight-lipped about Mbappe’s potential transfer, focusing instead on praising the current players for their European Cup victory.
Ancelotti, on the other hand, is already thinking ahead, recognizing the constant demand for success at the club and expressing eagerness for the future.
Dortmund missed out on capitalizing on their first-half superiority, with Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois making crucial saves and Niclas Fullkrug hitting the post.
After the break, Madrid seized control when Carvajal scored from Kroos’ corner. Vinicius then added a second goal, dashing Dortmund’s hopes of a comeback. Later, Vinicius celebrated his goal by posing for selfies with rapper Jay-Z, who was among the 86,000 spectators in attendance.
This was the second time Dortmund lost in the final. They were defeated by Bayern Munich in 2013 when the final was also held at Wembley.
Their only victory in the competition was in 1997. However, for a while, Dortmund seemed capable of stopping Madrid, especially after dominating the chances in the first half.
Coach Edin Terzic outsmarted Ancelotti tactically, and Madrid’s star players struggled to perform.
Courtois and the goalpost prevented Dortmund from scoring in the first half. Courtois saved Karim Adeyemi’s shots twice, and then Fullkrug’s sliding effort hit the post.
Terzic said, “There was momentum when the game turned around, and you see why they are the champions of this competition. We couldn’t manage to score, and that was the key reason we didn’t win the game.”
