Real Madrid beats Borussia Dortmund 2-0 in Champions League final, earning its 15th European Cup

LONDON — In an explosion of gold and silver confetti, Actual Madrid held aloft the Champions League trophy for a record-extending fifteenth time on Saturday.

Probably the most acquainted sight in European membership soccer’s best competitors felt as contemporary as ever after a 2-0 win in opposition to Borussia Dortmund within the closing at Wembley Stadium.

“Getting used to it? By no means,” stated Carlo Ancelotti, who prolonged his personal file of wins as a coach to 5. “The dream continues.”

A white wall of Madrid followers at one finish of the stadium serenaded their conquering heroes after objectives from Dani Carvajal and Vinicius Junior sealed the victory.

A predictable outcome got here in lower than predictable circumstances after Dortmund dominated the possibilities within the first half.

“It was a really troublesome recreation, rather more troublesome than we had anticipated,” Ancelotti stated. “We modified issues as a result of within the first half we have been a bit lazy.”

Carvajal headed Madrid in entrance within the 74th minute and Vinicius doubled the Spanish large’s lead 9 minutes later.

Ancelotti’s fifth Champions League title was his third with Madrid and two greater than his closest rivals Zinedine Zidane, Pep Guardiola and Bob Paisley.

Carvajal, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Nacho received the trophy a sixth time to equal the benchmark set by Madrid icon Paco Gento.

Madrid’s win comes only a 12 months after Manchester Metropolis lifted the trophy for the primary time, a victory many believed would herald a brand new period of dominance for Guardiola’s crew in Europe. As an alternative, it was Ancelotti who underlined his case to be thought of the best coach of his technology for his continued supremacy within the Champions League.

In addition to three titles with Madrid, he was a two-time winner with AC Milan.

Madrid’s dominance of the competitors defies perception, having received greater than double than anybody else. Milan is the second most profitable membership with seven.

“That is the love story between Actual Madrid and the European Cup. Gamers come, gamers go, however we will say that that is our competitors,” Madrid president Florentino Perez stated.

Dortmund paid the worth for not profiting from its first half superiority when Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois pulled off a sequence of saves and Niclas Fullkrug hit the submit.

Madrid took full benefit after the break when Carvajal met Kroos’ nook on the close to submit to energy a header previous Dortmund keeper Gregor Kobel.

Vinicius fired previous Kobel to make it 2-0 and raced off in celebration after his aim killed off Dortmund hopes of pulling off one of many largest Champions League upsets in current reminiscence. Later, Vinicius celebrated and posed for selfies with rapper Jay-Z, who was within the crowd of 86,000.

For a very long time, the German aspect seemed able to halting Madrid after dominating the possibilities within the first half.

Coach Edin Terzic tactically outmaneuvered Ancelotti in each division, and Madrid’s stars have been subdued.

Solely a mixture of Courtois and the body of the aim saved the scores stage on the break after the keeper twice saved Karim Adeyemi from scoring after which watched as Fullkrug’s sliding effort got here again off the submit.

“There was the momentum when the sport circled and also you see why they’re the champions of this competitors,” Terzic stated. “We couldn’t handle to attain and that was the important thing why we didn’t handle to win the sport.”