Real Madrid won a record-extending 15th Champions League title with a 2-0 victory against Borussia Dortmund at Wembley, but the LaLiga champions were pushed to the limit by the Bundesliga side, which went into the game as a heavy underdog.
Second-half goals from Dani Carvajal, the full-back’s first Champions League goal since 2015, and a Vinícius Júnior strike on 83 minutes sealed Madrid’s win and clinched a fifth Champions League success for coach Carlo Ancelotti, furthering a record already held by the former AC Milan coach.
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“It seems quite normal but it’s not normal, it’s something special to be able to win for this club six Champions Leagues in 10 years because, as what happened tonight, it’s difficult. Dortmund played really well, they were strong and better than us in the first half,” Ancelotti told CBS Sports.
“And in that moment you have to stay calm. “I said to the players, stay calm. It’s a fantastic result 0-0 because they played better and could deserve to be up. Second half was better.”
While Madrid emerged as European champions once again, Dortmund were unlucky not to pull off a huge upset in London, the scene of their 2013 final defeat against Bayern Munich.
Edin Terzic’s team dominated the first half, but Julian Brandt, Niclas Füllkrug and Karim Adeyemi all missed clear chances to open the scoring.
Germany international Füllkrug went closest to breaking the deadlock when he hit the post on 24 minutes.
Madrid struggled to get into the game, with former Dortmund star Jude Bellingham nullified by his old teammates.
But after weathering the first-half storm, Real settled down in the second period and eventually asserted their dominance before Carvajal and Vinícius scored the decisive goals.
“It was a very difficult game,” Carvajal told Movistar. “In the first half we came out alive, they were quite a lot better. We knew our moment would come … We knew how to suffer. That’s football.”
The game also marked a farewell for two German legends, with Dortmund’s Marco Reus entering as a substitute for his final appearance for the club before Toni Kroos left the field to a standing ovation from the Madrid fans on his last club game before retirement.
“This generation of players, starting also from the players who are not here — Cristiano Ronaldo, [Karim] Benzema, [Gareth] Bale – did fantastic,” Ancelotti added. “Ten years, six victories is something unbelievable to think.”