MY ACCOUNT
Carlo Ancelotti must have been considering it. He must have been thinking that this would not be Vinicius Junior’s night.
The hour mark was approaching, the Brazilian boy wonder had barely made an impact on this Champions League final, and on the bench there was semi-final hero Rodrygo, straining for a chance.
Heck, there was Eden Hazard too, and even Isco and Gareth Bale. For old time’s sake, did they ever cross Ancelotti’s mind.
There had been a first-half flicker from the 21-year-old Vinicius, when he got the better of Liverpool’s Ibrahima Konate with a stealthy piece of skill in the penalty area, but Jordan Henderson read the danger and gladly conceded a corner.
But that had really been the first and last time in the first 58 minutes of play that Vinicius caused Liverpool any real consternation. He had a team-low 29 touches of the ball at that point, but then Federico Valverde’s low cross from the right presented him with a 30th, a tap-in at the far post. The phantom menace became the match-winner.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, needing to initially cover Karim Benzema, appeared to almost forget about Vinicius, but there he was, lurking, and he could not miss.
Billed as a Ballon d’Or shootout between Benzema and Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah, this final largely ignored that script. If anybody put in a performance worth of such an honour here, it was Madrid’s outstanding goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who made nine saves, the most on record in a Champions League final since 2003-04.
Watched by Ronaldo, the great Brazilian whose health scare before the 1998 World Cup final at this very stadium was followed by France romping to glory, Vinicius stayed on the pitch until stoppage time, when Ancelotti opted for Rodrygo’s fresh legs.
Ancelotti, that is, who is now a four-time Champions League winner, the first coach in the history of the competition, in this or its previous guise as the European Cup, to reach that tally.
He has trusted Vinicius all season long, backed a blossoming talent and been richly rewarded by the youngster, and his winner in such a game of high prestige marks another step forward in a career that could see him finish among the all-time greats.
There were plenty of greats inside the Stade de France, many in the stands. Needless to say, the likes of Luis Figo, Ronaldo, Clarence Seedorf, Zinedine Zidane and Fabio Cannavaro did not have to tolerate any of the nonsense outside the stadium that forced this game to be delayed by 36 minutes, that left reports of children in tears, of pepper-spraying police, media being mistreated, and of panic on the streets of Paris.
The Galacticos were joined in the VIP seats by Rafael Nadal, midway through his crusade for a 14th French Open title.
Madrid now have 14 Champions League and European Cup titles, and Ancelotti, who delivered La Decima in 2014, has delivered two of those after the two he landed with his beloved Milan.
A double of LaLiga and the Champions League is theirs, while Liverpool must settle for their own twin triumphs from the FA Cup and EFL Cup. The quadruple was beyond them, and Liverpool blew themselves out in the first half here.
After knocking out Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, Manchester City and now sinking Liverpool in the trophy match, Madrid reign once more.
Vinicius reigns – the first South American aged 21 or younger to have 10 or more goal involvements in a Champions League campaign since Lionel Messi for Barcelona in the 2008-09 season.
His four goals and six assists in Europe came from a personal all-competitions haul of 22 goals and 16 assists in 52 games for the season. At 21 years and 320 days, Vinícius is the fifth youngest player to score in a Champions League final.
Ancelotti reigns – “I am a record man,” he told BT Sport at full-time.
Benzema reigns – it was not his night but could have been.
The Frenchman had a goal ruled out for offside just before half-time, after a three-and-a-half-minute wait for a VAR verdict. Deciphering that moment was as challenging as the task of unravelling the Agatha Christie footballers’ wives court saga, and it caused almost as much soapbox frothing on social media.
Come the final whistle, and Madrid’s celebrations of their 1-0 victory, that moment was an afterthought.
At full-time, former Liverpool and Madrid striker Michael Owen said of Jurgen Klopp’s Reds: “I still think they’re the team to beat… the most fearsome team in Europe”.
Owen was in Paris, at pitchside even, but must have missed the news. Madrid reign again.
