Heroes welcome for Real winners
Print Edition
TENS of thousands of fans endured the rain to greet Real Madrid players as they returned home early yesterday from their triumph in the UEFA Champions League final.
Many waited all night after celebrating the team’s win over crosstown rival Atletico Madrid in a penalty shootout on Saturday in Milan.
The players arrived in Madrid at about 6am local time and traveled on an open bus to the club’s traditional celebration spot, the Plaza de Cibeles, where an estimated 30,000 supporters welcomed the team.
Players carried the Champions League trophy atop the bus, constantly showing it to the cheering fans. The word “Campeones” and “11” were displayed on the bus, in reference to the club’s 11th European title.
Team captain Sergio Ramos, who scored Real’s goal in regulation time at the San Siro, took the walkway set up over the plaza’s fountain and draped the statue of the goddess Cybele with the club’s scarf and flag, then lifted the trophy high above the famous figure.
A huge video screen was set up at the plaza to allow fans to watch the final, and the party began right after Cristiano Ronaldo converted the final penalty kick in the shootout to give the club its second European title in three seasons — Atletico was the loser in both.
Real said “almost 80,000” fans watched Saturday’s final at the team’s Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, where four huge screens were placed at midfield. The title celebration at the stadium included confetti thrown into the air as “We are the champions” played through loudspeakers.
Spanish sports newspaper Marca captured the mood, describing Real as “the king of Europe”, adding that manager Zinedine Zidane had been “touched by a magic wand”.
“A supreme derby, exhausting, stifling,” wrote the AS sports newspaper.
Ronaldo’s decisive spot kick in the shootout gave Real Madrid a 5-3 victory on penalties, following a 1-1 draw after extra time in Saturday’s final.
Two years ago, the Portuguese superstar’s penalty had sealed a 4-1 extra-time win over Atletico and prompted the first of his shirt-tearing celebrations.
“I knew I was going to score the winning penalty. I was confident,” said Ronaldo, who won his third Champions League title. “I asked Zidane to let me take the last penalty.”
Rising to the dramatic moment after a quiet game for him, Ronaldo sent goalkeeper Jan Oblak the wrong way seconds after Atletico defender Juanfran had struck a post with his team’s fourth kick.
Real got its record-extending 11th European title and left Atletico with a bitter third loss in the continent’s biggest game. In its two previous finals, Atletico gave up last-minute equalizers.
Zidane has coached for less than five months, yet is already just the seventh man to both coach and play for champion teams in the competition’s 61-year history. The France great, who scored the winning goal for Real in the 2002 final, joins an elite group that includes Johan Cruyff and Pep Guardiola. “It’s the team of my life. It’s the club that has made me the biggest in everything,” he said, having lost two finals with Juventus, including in 1998 against Real.
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