La Undecima!!!!

We don't play finals, we WIN FINALS!

Real Madrid had to face Wolfsburg through a rigged draw, then poor Man City, and go on to win the CL final with an offside goal. Can't say I'm too happy, but congratulations Real Madrid fans.

@LVG

Perhaps not, but Juanfran looked tense in the buildup to his penalty. I expected Simeone to put a more offensive minded and confident player to take such a key penalty. Look at Real's lineup - Vazquez, Marcelo, Ramos, Bale, and Ronaldo. All extraordinarily confident players - borderline arrogant as well. You need that insane amount of composure and self-belief in a penalty shootout. That extra bit of confidence is what will give you the necessary luck to win the shootout. Because that's all a penalty shootout is in the end - confidence and luck.

I think that Juanfran's experience with the club led Simeone to trust him more than other players who yes are more attacking minded but still younger so not as trustworthy in his eyes. IMO being good at taking penalties has nothing to do with skill, it is all in experience and composure.

@LVG Well, it does has to do with skill a bit but yeah, I agree experience and composure are even more important. Beside, it was only inch away from being a great penality as well. Unlucky for Juanfran, really. :(

@Marcus2011
Saddest in football is when team wins finals on wrong decisions of the
referee . These things can be solved by simply introducing replays but
if those technologies were present Madrid would have never reached a
final and let alone beat Atletico . Sad day in football when team wins
it with referee luck and calls themselves as kings of Europe . Sad day
in football is when Real Madrid fan think that Atletoco did not
deserve to win .

Atletico was better team in 2014 and 2016 . And true kings of Europe .

It's been a while since I've seen a more salty comment from somebody on this forum. And to think, from what most consider to be a sensible member of this community.

I really don't know how to respond to this but I do feel like I must. There are no lucky wins, for one. The great teams make their own luck. Though this may not have been a win in a traditional sense, when it was all said and done - there was only one team standing at the end of it. Tested on the pitch for 120 minutes, there were only penalties left. It was all that there was to do, and though it may be a cruel way to end your season losing on penalties in the final of the champions league, it is just the way that it is.

For 120 minutes in Milan, Atletico had only one. One opportunity to score and that is the goal they scored. Do you know of any other opportunities that they've had besides the goal they scored? None. The penalty was not really deserved in my opinion but that is not really the point. Griezman froze, and that was that. If you want to call Ramos' goal offside, which was incredibly, incredibly tight - you could consider the penalty a vindication. They just did not take it. When it is however 'that' close between onside and offside, you cannot complain about it. Only a fool or a bitter person would. The football is a beautiful game because it's a fluid sport. There are no stoppages as there are in NBA, or NFL, or even the MLB. It's a fluid sport, continuous action. Bringing replays into consideration, and etc is simply not right for the sport. So these things will happen. Sometimes it goes for you, sometimes against you. However, when the difference is that small, you don't complain about it.

On the other side, how many opportunities did Real have to score? Benzema had a glorious one on one. Bale had 2. Ronaldo had a couple. If not for Oblak, we would've been looking at a score worse than the one in Lisbon.

Real Madrid can ONLY beat the teams that they have been drawn against. I don't want to hear any conspiracy theories, this is not a nut-house. They can only beat them they have been drawn against, and they have done that. Regardless of their route to the final, in the final - you have to beat the best. The team that has dispatched both of the 'favorites' out of the competition. In the end, that team looked quite toothless against Real Madrid. How can you possibly consider them to be 'true Kings of Europe'? Explain it to me, if you could. The entire game, only one opportunity created.

Just because Atletico played different than we're used to them seeing does NOT mean they were the better team. That was Real Madrid's plan from the beginning. Sit back and see what THEY do with the ball. See if they can control and create chances the way Real Madrid, Barca, or Bayern can. They simply couldn't. Zidane used their tactic against them, gave them a taste of their own medicine. It almost worked, but they managed a goal back. From there on, everybody knew if it did go to penalties - Real Madrid would win it. What does that little fact tell you? Real Madrid is a team with better quality. With bigger and more experienced players.

In the end, the only thing that matters is this: Real Madrid beat everybody that stood in their path this Champions League campaign. Whoever they were drawn up against, Real were the victors at the end. Yes, even the team that has beaten both Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

For the third year running, Real Madrid is the only team that has managed to eliminate Atletico Madrid. Barca couldn't do it, nor could Bayern.

For that reason alone, I'm quite confident and happy calling Real Madrid the Kings of Europe. As much as you may hate it, it is true.

Saying Atletico were the better team in 2014 is so ridiculous however that it borders on fantasy. The goal they scored? A big, big mistake by Casillas. From there on, they just sat back and defended. Real Madrid were the only team on the field.

And it told because soon after they equalized, Real found the second, the third, and the fourth. There is no doubt who the better team there was. I don't even know why I'm responding to this part of your comment. It is just so fantastically stupid, I had to say something.

Real were far better in 2014, this year Atleti was probably a bit better but that was because Real scored the first goal so they pretty much sat back.

There are no lucky wins, for one. The great teams make their own luck. Though this may not have been a win in a traditional sense, when it was all said and done - there was only one team standing at the end of it. Tested on the pitch for 120 minutes, there were only penalties left. It was all that there was to do, and though it may be a cruel way to end your season losing on penalties in the final of the champions league, it is just the way that it is.

Agree with this.

I actually forgot about the penalty incident. I don't think it was a pen either, Torres conned the ref by putting a leg in front of Pepe.

I may have exaggerated and overreacted thus having a bias in my opinion However , you have . sloppy points ameer . Poor arguments .

@dynastian

Very Good points . I can get on board with that argument .

In the end congratulations to Real Madrid . I am honestly more happy for Zidane because he has a chance to stay and he better stay after this trophy . Perhpas he may start a new era and his brilliant career in management .

"There are no lucky wins, for one."

getting a goal that was a clear offside, that seems pretty lucky to me.

getting drawn teams that aren't even champions of their own league, that again seems pretty lucky to me.

Tying a team in a full game, and then winning on penalties. Which everyone knows is the sh.ttiest way to win a game, especially a final of such importance. Seems, again, pretty lucky to me. Penalties and luck go hand in hand.

@Gonzi One could argue that... oh wait...

No one could argue anything to what you just said...

@Gonzi: I agree with Real Madrid being lucky regarding the offside goal and drawn opponents, but this..

Tying a team in a full game, and then winning on penalties. Which everyone knows is the sh.ttiest way to win a game, especially a final of such importance. Seems, again, pretty lucky to me. Penalties and luck go hand in hand.

.. seems a bit far-fetched. Would you have said the same if Atletico had won the penalty shoot-out? Atletico's chances of winning on penalties were exactly the same as those of Real Madrid, nothing lucky about that.

@Marcus: Poor argument? Oh please, you do not get to comment how well my argument was laid out after saying that Atletico were better in 2014. lol.

getting a goal that was a clear offside, that seems pretty lucky to me.

Yeah, that goal was only a 'clear offside' after repeated viewings in slow-motion. Refs do not have that luxury, and considering how close it really was along with just how many players were in the box together at the same time, no. I would not call it a 'clear offside' by any stretch of the imagination.

Do you know why the offside rule was introduced? A forward from the opposing team would usually just wait his team to get the ball and throw it to him. It just made attacking very difficult because you couldn't get forward with numbers at all as you would definitely be caught on counter attack. That is the 'reason' the offside was introduced.

I know football has changed much much since that time, but what I'm trying to say is that it was a very very close call. Could've really gone either way and neither side could really complain. The reason why attackers are given the benefit of the doubt was the reason the offside was created. It was to avoid that scenario, not to look at millimeters, and centimeters to decide whether it's offside or not. It was close enough.

There were many calls over this season as well where an offside was called against us when it really wasn't simply because it 'looked' that way at first with us having such pacy forwards. We complained of course, but not to this extent. This is just looking for an excuse to label Real Madrid inferior, in any way possible. And that's just pathetic.

If Atletico was worthy, they would've won over the course of 120 minutes. In fact, Real Madrid had way - way many more chances and 100% opportunities than Atletico. They had none, except for the goal itself. The penalty was also a questionable call that went the other way, but Real Madrid fans aren't complaining. These things happen.

At the end of the day, the better team won. You can't make a case that Atletico deserved any more than Real because they had a more difficult route to the final. Real Madrid did not choose their opponents, they were drawn against them randomly. Don't forget, the same week that we were playing against Wolfsburg - we had beaten Barcelona at Camp Nou. So who's to say that we wouldn't have eliminated them?

Who's to say that we wouldn't have eliminated Bayern Munich? The last time we played in CL, we beat them with an aggregate score of 5-0.

In fact, I think Real Madrid has been unlucky to be given such draws. Because of that, there are people like you who consider them unworthy, which is simply unfair.

Real was NOT in control of any of these things that people are blaming Real Madrid for. Luck, ref calls, and etc.

We beat anyone that was in our way. Who's to say we wouldn't if we were given different opponents?

If anything, I consider the draw as being terrible to Real Madrid.

To be sincere, I don't really care that Real Madrid got lucky in any case, for me, it was an good match and both team played about at the same level and worked both as hard to reach the final. I think at this point both team could have win and would have deserved it. It just happen that it was Real, I don' think it really deserve such an huge argument. But if you really want to turn this into an argument, you could make another thread that is made specifically to debate whether or not they got lucky.