Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid have won the Champions League after beating Liverpool 1-0 in the Final, decided by Vinicius Junior and a string of incredible Thibaut Courtois saves.

It was Ancelotti’s fifth Champions League Final, having won three and lost one before representing Milan and Real Madrid. David Alaba, Thiago Alcantara and Fabinho passed fitness tests to start in Paris, although the kick-off was delayed by 35 minutes following serious problems getting Liverpool fans into the Stade de France amid organisational failures, ticketless supporters climbing gates and bottlenecks outside.

Mohamed Salah had the first chance on 16 minutes, testing Thibaut Courtois for a one-handed reaction save from close range, then the goalkeeper fingertipped a Sadio Mane strike onto the upright and it bounced away from the line.

Real Madrid didn’t have a shot on goal until the 44th minute, when Karim Benzema got the ball in the net following some chaotic defending, but he was flagged offside. It took a very long VAR check to confirm that, as Fabinho seemed to get the final touch, but it was considered a touch rather than deliberately playing the ball.

Liverpool again poured forward after the break, but once more Real Madrid were ruthless and scored when Federico Valverde rolled across the face of goal to find Vinicius for a tap-in at the back post, kept onside by Trent Alexander-Arnold not intercepting the ball.

Courtois flew to get one glove to a sensational Salah curler from the edge of the box, then had to readjust when a Salah attempt took a massive deflection off Diogo Jota.

It turned into Salah vs. Courtois and the Belgian goalkeeper was the winner with another ridiculous save on the angled drive.

Liverpool 0-1 Real Madrid

Vinicius 59 (M)

27 thought on “Champions League: Ancelotti’s Real Madrid defeat Liverpool”
  1. Ancelotti is a legend. Now that is how you do a 1-0 Italian job. If that were PhD Max, Liverpool would have won 5-0. Carlo please give Medieval Max a copy of your winners medal.

  2. English clubs have only ever beaten foreign teams once inside Ninety minutes in a champ league final in the champ league era! Courtois was immense but Liverpool seemed to feel the weight of who they were playing! Carletto! Wow

  3. The epl were blabbing on about wining all 3 European cups a few months ago.

    They end up with zero.

    Even Serie A won more than them lol

  4. Funny how a lot of fans are always complaining about foreign teams taking over the news at FI, but now they are singing the praises of an Italian Real Madrid club based in Spain. Italian teams are light years away from even competing. I am not a fan of EPL clubs as they are plastic (Man City, Chelsea, Newcastle), and are basically foreign teams. Nevertheless Italian clubs are a mess from commercial, structural and pitch side.

  5. @Jeremy

    Carletto is an Italian institution. Half of his champ league wins are with an Italian club. He inspires not only Italian coaches, but all Italians with what he has done at home and abroad.

    Italian clubs lack the income compared to the premier league. If you don’t like it, then why are you here?

  6. @lord allegri I hear what you are saying but come one the keeper had the game of his life! Tactics or not

  7. @Manni

    Courtois was the difference maker for most of the knockout ties to be fair. Liverpool did have chances, but I still feel they played real madrid the name than the team. They just didn’t have the look of a team who believed they’d win.

  8. @Rosario where did I mention that I am not a fan of Italian football? I am just being realistic and giving my opinion. Roma winning the conference league does not change anything. It is a nothing trophy and you cannot blame English teams for having money. I did mention that some are based on plastic investment, but it is how the world is now. Liverpool and Manchester United are institutions, but England is a better place to do business. That is just a fact and Italy is all red tape, bureaucracy and corruption. It is worth noting that Real Madrid have a crop of young players that are given a chance. Barring AC Milan, Juventus would never trust a young kid like Vinicius.

  9. @Jeremy 💯 . It is also worth noting that Don Carlo has given those young guys a chance to shine. From next season Camavinga will see more time and was being transitioned to take over from Modric.

  10. Corruption? Are opposed to Boris? you’re very funny.

    barella, bastoni, lautaro…these were and are all young players given the chance by inter.

    Atalanta have produced and improved a hell of a lot of young players.

    Roma are rubbish. They’ve won nothing but a conference meeting cup.

    Man utd are a plastic franchise, fella. they barely won two champ leagues. one vs an english club on pens and the other post being outplayed all game by bayern munich. they’re a big club at home, but not in europe.

    again. no idea why you’re here.

  11. @Rosario everyone is welcome here and are you sure it is not time for your medication? Man United have won 3 Champions Leagues.

  12. @Kanwar Singh

    Aw here is another.

    2 champ leagues and one european cup, fella. the other finals they were shafted by barcelona.

  13. @Kanwar Singh

    Aw here is another.

    2 champ leagues and one european cup, fella. the other finals they were shafted by barcelona.

  14. Kanwar there is no use in having a discussion with this idiot as he cherry picks and distorts facts.

    If sticking to the old format you would have to subtract 1962/63, 1968/69, 1988/89, when AC Milan won. The Champions League was rebranded in 1992, but still 7 for ACM. They just brought the old in with the new genius.

    Always learn the facts.

  15. @Lars Anderssen

    hahaha another real authentic nordic liverpool fan.

    My comment clearly states ‘champions league era’, genius. Lean to at least use a comma, so I can workout the nonsense you’ve written.

    Now keep crying plastic liverpool fan.

  16. Got to hand it to Ancelotti he is ageing like a fine wine. His record speaks for itself and no player has ever said a bad word against him. People wrote him off when he was at Napoli and Everton. It is worth mentioning that he had to deal with ADL, and look at Everton now. The dude worked miracles and they were an upper mid table team.

  17. We’ll that’s a relief that RM didn’t mysteriously win 20 -0 in the last 5 minutes.

    Also you ppl praising Carlito why not ask him why he publicly bragged about training RM players to taunt Donna to fumble ball which shattered the kids confidence during Macedonia a week or so post the CL match. Even better let’s set him up on a date with Sacchi who benched Signori instead of throwing him in as a super sub-in, the words of the late great agent words he said to Sacchi “you should have won that WC”

  18. Can’t stand either team . Madrid the juve of champions league refs love them and have biggest horseshoes

  19. @jeremy are you sure you know what I are saying, last season sensation for inter was Hakimi, how old was he, I throw the question to u, This season Milan sensation(s) “Tonali,Kalulu,Theo,Tomori,Leo” all put together the oldest is YOUNG lion fikayo=24 are you sure you are a fan?

  20. “Lean to at least use a comma”. @Rosario, always proof read what rubbish you are typing in the first place. It is okay to critique me as I can handle opinions. However you got the facts wrong and decided to do a work around to save face. Check your spelling first.

  21. What we know about the CL…

    You don’t want to meet Real in a final
    You Do want to meet Juve in a final BUT
    You don’t want to meet Juve in a semi-final
    If you meet PSG and get beat in the first leg, just shout Boo in the 2nd and you’ll win
    If you meet Inter, you’re in the knockout stages, you’re probably in the Europa League

  22. I completely avoided TV or any social media until now as I did not want to watch another EPL club winning, especially Liverpool. I’m elated for Carlo. Not one person saw this coming when he took over at Madrid.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Tickets Kit Collector