Real Madrid clinch 15th European Cup with final defeat of Dortmund
DRAMATIC EXIT: Real Madrid's Toni Kroos celebrates after his final game. Pic: Nick Potts/PA Wire.
Jude Bellingham sank to his knees, Toni Kross rejoiced in his successful swansong and Carlo Ancelotti was stereotypical emotionless as Real Madrid won their 15th Champions League.
Borussia Dortmund were in the last Wembley final and it was the same losing story as 2013 but more difficult to stomach given how they conspired to waste three golden first-half openings.
Champions League finals are always cagey affairs and Dani Carvajal capped his record-equally sixth medal by making the breakthrough with 16 minutes left before Vinicius Júnior grabbed the second nine minutes later.
Without an English team in the final, it was likely a domestic talent would play their part and it was Bellingham, rather than Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho, who was lifting the trophy ahead of him heading back to Germany aiming for augment with a different Euro mantle.
An abundance of fans, especially the legion of Dortmund supporters, made sure to be inside the arena from three hours before kick-off to make their presence felt.
A former manager of each club drew particular reaction when their faces popped up on the big screen.
Jürgen Klopp can do as he likes during his latest retirement phase and deciding to watch the club he made his name at provoked loud applause from the sea of yellow dominating the three levels of the eastern end. The German and his entourage in the corporate box even joined in when You’ll Never Walk Alone blared out approaching kick-off.
Down at pitch level was José Mourinho operating as a pundit. He was slightly more subdued when the camera panned in his direction but still earned acclaim for a three-year stint at the Bernabéu.
Before a ball was kicked, Lenny Kravitz, now a sprightly 60, temporarily owned the pitch as the centrepiece of the pre-show. Pop and pyro tend to accompany events of this magnitude and apparently among the fleet of dancers bopping beneath his stage were three from Swords in Dublin.
When the smoke finally cleared and the formalities completed, there was further disruption to proceedings within a minute. One pitch-invader is almost customary in the modern age but perhaps it was the blatant lack of security for the selfie-seeker that encouraged another to follow and then a third with abandon.
This wasn’t a good look for Uefa on the first return to Wembley since the Euro 2020 final was marred by droves of ticketless fans overpowering stewards to access the venue.
Once the real business got going, Dortmund were the livelier. Only Kai Havertz has scored a first-half goal in the previous four finals and it was a wonder how Dortmund drew a blank by the break here.
Niclas Füllkrug has been a handful this season and Dortmund’s striker got in behind to square for Julian Brandt who couldn’t angle his sidefooter into the corner.
Then Karim Adeyemi squandered a clearer chance on 20 minutes, sent clear by Mats Hummels’s incisive pass but taking the ball far wide around Thibaut Courtois to remain within shooting distance.
This was the one and only Champions League appearance for the Belgian in goal but he was alert to the danger, shovelling away Marcel Sabitzer’s awkward 20-yarder.
That came after Füllkrug’s most culpable of misses midway through the half. When Ian Maatsen dispossessed Eduardo Camavinga, his threaded pass only required the forward to beat Courtois from eight yards but he sent his effort off the post, watching it bounce agonisingly across the line rather than behind it.
Real were struggling for cohesion. Maybe muscle strain impeded Bellingham but he went to the dressing-room aware he had underperformed in the stadium he made his England debut against Ireland in 2020.
Ancelotti – aided by his son Davide – did what he so often mastered by galvanising his team at the break. And what a different team they were.
Kross was similarly quiet in the first half but within three minutes bent a free which Gregor Kobel pushed around the post. Slacking marking from the corner to allow a free header ought to have warned Dortmund what was coming.
Although Füllkrug executed a header that was saved on the hour, Madrid bossed the last third territorial battle. A hanging cross from Vinicius Júnior was missed by both Bellingham and Kobel in the air.
Weakness was apparent and Dani Carvajal profited by glancing his 74th minute front-post header from another Kross corner into the opposite corner.
Nico Schlotterbeck’s toe denied Bellingham a second moments later before Kroos and Camavinga forced Kobel into saves.
An uncharacteristic blunder by Maasten gifted Bellingham the ball in space and his layoff to Vinicius Júnior was expertly tucked away to the far corner.
Füllkrug did eventually have the ball in the net in the final minute but was correctly flagged for offside. It was their own mishaps they can blame on this one getting away.
: G Kobel; J Ryerson, M Hummels, N Schlotterbeck, I Maatsen; E Can (D Malen 81), M Sabitzer; J Sancho (J Bynoe-Gittens 88), J Brandt (S Haller 81), K Adeyemi (M Reus 72); N Füllkrug.
T Courtois; D Carvajal, Nacho, A Rüdiger, F Mendy; E Camavinga, T Kroos (L Modric 86); F Valderde, Rodrygo (Éder Militão 90), J Bellingham (Joselu 86); Vinicius Júnior (L Vázquez 90+3) Referee: Slavko Vinčić (SVN).
: 86,212.
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