Champions League final: Real Madrid v Atlético Madrid – live!
Champions League final: Real Madrid v Atlético Madrid – live!
- Ronaldo, Bale and co chasing Real's historic tenth win
- Simeone can seal famous La Liga and European double
Never mind Real Madrid's tenth European Cup win; Carlo Ancelotti's on the verge of something special tonight, too. The
former Milan boss could join an elite group of managers who have won
the trophy with two clubs: Ottmar Hitzfeld (Dortmund and Bayern), Ernst
Happel (Feyenoord and Hamburg), Jose Mourinho (Porto and
Internazionale), and Jupp Heynckes (Real Madrid and Bayern). Not only
that, he'd become only the second boss in history to win the trophy
three times, after Sir Bob Paisley of Liverpool. Diego Simeone will be happy enough with his first, I should imagine.
Much better to concentrate on the positives, isn't it. And
it's about time a player scored a hat-trick in one of these here
finals. How about it, someone, huh? Nobody's managed one in the
Champions League era, with only Daniele Massaro (Milan 1994), Karlheinz
Riedle (Borussia Dortmund 1997), Hernan Crespo (Milan 2005), Pippo
Inzaghi (Milan 2007) and Diego Milito (Internazionale 2010) coming
close. Pierino Prati of Milan was the last man to hit a hat-trick in
European Cup days, for Milan back in 1969. Real Madrid's Alfredo di
Stefano managed one in 1960 at Hampden, too, but he was upstaged by his
team-mate Ferenc Puskas, who scored four against
Eintracht Frankfurt at Hampden. Mind you, everything in context, and
all that. Here's Eintracht keeper Egon Loy in action that night ...
Diego Costa, Pepe, Sergio Ramos ... anyway,
for the record, there have only ever been two sendings off in European
Cup or Champions League finals. Predictably, seeing English pundits have
spent the last 59 years of European competition whining about cheating
foreign sides, both of the teams who found themselves down to ten men
were from Blighty. Haw. The guilty men: Arsenal's Jens Lehmann in 2006,
and Chelsea's Didier Drogba a couple of years later. Behave, everyone,
now.
So Diego Costa has made it after all. Whether
his hamstring is up to it or not, only the first 23 minutes will tell.
Will he add to his 35-goal haul this season, or is he fated to be the
Harry Kewell de nos jours?
No such luck for his team-mate Arda Turan, who doesn't even make the
bench. As for Real, both of their main injury worries have made the
teamsheet: Karim Benzema is in the starting XI, while Pepe is on the
bench. Perhaps if Costa is forced to go off early, he and Pepe can enjoy
a donnybrook there.
Dramatis personæ
Real Madrid: Casillas, Carvajal, Varane, Sergio Ramos, Fabio Coentrao, Modric, Khedira, Di Maria, Bale, Benzema, Ronaldo.
Subs: Diego Lopez, Pepe, Marcelo, Arbeloa, Morata, Isco, Illarramendi.
Atlético Madrid: Courtois, Juanfran, Miranda, Godin, Filipe Luis, Raul Garcia, Gabi, Tiago, Koke, Villa, Diego Costa.
Subs: Aranzubia, Mario Suarez, Adrian, Rodriguez, Alderweireld, Diego, Sosa.
Subs: Diego Lopez, Pepe, Marcelo, Arbeloa, Morata, Isco, Illarramendi.
Atlético Madrid: Courtois, Juanfran, Miranda, Godin, Filipe Luis, Raul Garcia, Gabi, Tiago, Koke, Villa, Diego Costa.
Subs: Aranzubia, Mario Suarez, Adrian, Rodriguez, Alderweireld, Diego, Sosa.
Referee: Bjorn Kuipers (Holland)
These two teams have only met once before in the European Cup or Champions League. That
was in 1959 at the semi-final stage, and the tie proved a tight one.
Real won the first leg 2-1 at the Bernabeu, though they had to come from
behind, Chuzo opening the scoring on 13 minutes, Héctor Rial levelling
it up two minutes later, and Ferenc Puskás putting away a penalty on 33
minutes to seal the win. Atlético won the second leg at the Estadio
Metropolitano thanks to Enrique Collar's 43rd-minute goal. That meant a
replay at La Romareda in Zaragoza, with Real prevailing 2-1, Alfredo di
Stefano opening the scoring, Collar equalising, and Puskas restoring his
side's lead before the break. Four successive finals for Real, that
made it.
No joy for Atlético in the domestic head-to-head either, with Real winning 102 league and cup games to Atlético's 46. And
this season, while Atlético enjoyed the better of it in La Liga with a
win at the Bernabeu and a draw at the Vicente Calderón, Real won a
two-legged Copa del Rey tie 5-0 on aggregate. Po' Atlético! Po
Atlético's a-cold!
Having said all that: it's Atlético who are used to winning stuff right now. Not
only do they have this year's Spanish league in the bag, they're also
confident on the continent, having won the Europa League in 2010 and
2012.
Of course, the most relevant information will come with this evening's team sheets. Diego
Costa has been rolling around in vats of horse placenta all week, while
mainlining horse placenta smoothies, in the hope of repairing a
hamstring tear. Atlético are also sweating on the state of Arda Turan's
pelvis. Real, meanwhile, already without the idiotically suspended Xabi
Alonso, are concerned about the fitness of Pepe and Karim Benzema. Much
may depend on all this. Or maybe nothing will. To be honest, we're just
filling in time with inane waffle, it's what you have to do on the
internet these days it seems.
Anyway,
the most important news is that Atlético, nominally the away side
tonight, have been given special dispensation to wear their famous
first-choice red-and-white shirts and blue shorts.Well,
well, a good decision by Uefa. Atlético's shirts will sport a subtle
reference to Luis Aragonés, who died in February and would have won the
1974 final for Atlético had Schwarzenbeck not did his thing. Real will,
of course, be in their renowned all-white clobber. A classic look for
all: it's a good start for our hopes of a classic final.
Forty-seven long years ago, give or take a day, arguably the most romantic European Cup final of all took place at the Estádio Nacional in Lisbon. Jock
Stein's up-and-coming Celtic fell a goal behind early doors to Helenio
Herrera's all-conquering Internazionale, but then proceeded to take the
game to the Italian champions with reckless, glorious abandon. They
ended up thrashing Inter 2-1. A joyous pitch invasion took place.
Several players found themselves stripped to their kex and socks. The
presentation was held up for several minutes, forcing Uefa apparatchiks
to nudge Celtic captain Billy 'Cesar' McNeill towards the podium in a
car, a nice touch considering his monicker. (As one of the few Celtic
players at the time to own his own vehicle, McNeill naturally found
himself named after actor Cesar Romero, the getaway driver in the
popular movie caper Ocean's 11.)
The cavaliers had seen off the roundheads. Herrera's joyless reign of catenaccio was
over. Stein had become, in the words of Bill Shankly, "immortal". The
trophy had finally been wrested from Latin Europe, Britain had its first
European champions, and they'd all come from within a stone's throw of
Parkhead to boot. There were some pretty trees in the background.
Times
change, and there'll be nothing quite like all that innocent
gallivanting this evening, as Lisbon (this time at Benfica's shiny new Estádio da Luz) hosts the biggest match in European club football for the second time. But
that's not to say another stone-cold classic is beyond the realms! For
tonight sees the first final in the 59-year history of the European Cup
to be contested by rivals from the same city! Real Madrid have made
their first final in 12 years, and they're looking for a record tenth
win in the competition. (Let's not call it La Décima,
we're not Sid Lowe, we don't live in Madrid, we just sound preposterous
borrowing that patter.) Atlético Madrid are in their second final, and
their first for 40 years, having come within one minute and 35 yards of
the trophy in 1974, denied by a ludicrous late potshot by Bayern Munich's Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck, then thrashed 4-0 in the only final replay in the competition's history. (Have a wee look-see at this Gerd Muller masterclass.)
Both want this real bad, then, for obvious but very different reasons.
And both have the wherewithal to seize the prize: Atlético have just won
the Spanish league; Real have the upper hand in the head-to-heads this
year. This could go either way. This could be a match to savour, and to
remember. This is ON!
Kick off: 7.45pm local time, 7.45pm in the Guardian's Britain.
Culled From Eoresports
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