Real Madrid Defeats Liverpool, 1-0, Wins Its 14th Champions League Title

Real Madrid won its 14th European title, beating Liverpool in this year’s UEFA Champions League finals. The result was 1-0 for Los Blancos, and the only scorer of this event was Vinicius Junior, who netted in the 59th minute of the game. Despite being underdogs, the Spanish titans once again proved to be fantastic when it comes to title battles, and they are currently 7-for-7 since the introduction of this format.

Real didn’t show more than their rivals, but still, Carlo Ancelotti and his boys can’t be denied any credit for having a perfect tactical performance. Also, they had Thibaut Courtois, the undisputed man of the match.

He had nine saves in this event, preventing Salah on a couple of occasions from scoring and confidently holding Real’s back line, even in the moments when his teammates made cardinal mistakes and didn’t have any solution for Liverpool’s forwards. The Belgian goalkeeper boosted the morale of his team with a couple of fantastic saves, while on the other hand, Alisson didn’t have any work, but still had to take out the ball from his net.

“I needed to win a final for my career, to put some respect on my name. I’m really happy and proud of the performance of the team. We’ve beaten the best clubs in the world. City and Liverpool were unbelievable this season, Liverpool played a great game but we had one chance and we scored it,” Courtois said following the game.

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Thibaut Courtois v Liverpool:

🧤 9 saves
📥 7 saved shots from inside the box
✈️ 2 high claims
🏔️ 1/1 aerial duels won
🧼 1 clean sheet
👌 65 touches
📈 9.5 SofaScore rating

Our #UCLfinal man of the match! 🌟 pic.twitter.com/oL7fp1jEP0

— Sofascore (@SofascoreINT) May 28, 2022

Liverpool’s fans caused a 40-minute delay because of the chaos they provoked, breaching the stadium without tickets. An amateur reaction of the French police and the security cast a shadow on today’s event. For sure, this was one of the worst organized finals ever, according to the reaction from the social networks posted by the fans that had the honor of visiting Stade de France today.

Liverpool had the initiative in the first half, and they were a better team on the pitch. Yet, in the closing moments of the opening 45 minutes, Real scored, but after a long VAR check, the goal was disallowed due to an offside, and Benzema didn’t reach his 16th hit in this year’s UCL edition.

The second half started in the same manner as the first, with Liverpool leading the way, but the English team couldn’t create any chances. Mane hit the post midway through the opening sequence, and that was Liverpool’s best chance until they conceded.

VINICIUS JR. BREAKTHROUGH FOR REAL MADRID. 💥 pic.twitter.com/GVzH0BsgvZ

— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) May 28, 2022

One quick counter-attack saw Valverde getting the ball on the right flank, and he would hit a hard low ball from the corner of the box, which reached Vinicius on the far post. The Brazilian was alone and he didn’t have a hard time netting for a big lead.

Following that moment, the Los Blancos calmed down the Reds over the next 20 minutes, but the English unit tried to get back in the end. That was when Courtois stepped up with a couple of brilliant reactions, earning the man of the match honors.

This was the third time for the Reds and the Los Blancos to meet in the UCL finals. The first one was in 1981 when Liverpool won 1-0. Four years ago, Real triumphed 3-1, and after that, repeated another victory over the great rivals tonight.

Liverpool was the third English team they beat in the knockout stage, previously eliminating Chelsea and Manchester City.