Ancelotti weaves his magic spell once again as Real win Champions League

On Saturday, Real Madrid were crowned champions of Europe for an amazing 14^th time- twice as many as any other club- after beating Liverpool 1-0 in Paris.

Real Madrid’s latest European triumph has been built on box office drama along with some incredible come backs along a very rocky road.

Manager Carlo Ancelotti has now become the first manager to win the Champions League four times. In 2014 he won it with Madrid and in 2003 and 2007 with AC Milan.

An incredible eight months has seen Ancelotti turn Madrid around from a side that lost at home to Moldova’s Sheriff Tiraspol in the group stage of the competition to a unit that has also won La Liga for a 35^th time. All this after a disappointing spell managing Everton came to an end in June 2021.

What makes Real Madrid’s Champions League campaign even more special this season has been their route to winning the trophy, after all it hasn’t been easy.

An extraordinary campaign has seen the Spanish giants loose four times in 12 Champions League matches on their way to the final.

In most games they have had to come from behind in positions where they have looked dead and gone, but somehow have found the belief to go on and win the tie when it seemed they were down and out.

Trailing 2-0 to PSG on aggregate in the last 16, Real scored three times in the space of 17 second half minutes to scrape through.

They looked down and out against holders Chelsea 4-3 on aggregate heading into the closing stages of their quarter-final before Rodrygo scored in the 80^th minute to force extra-time. They eventually went through 5-4 on aggregate thanks to Karim Benzema’s 96^th minute goal.

Before they produced an astonishing comeback to defeat the Premier League champions Manchester City. Trailing 5-3 on aggregate with only a minute of normal time remaining in the second leg, up popped that man again Rodrygo to bag a brace to force the game into extra time where Benzema’s spot kick was enough to send Real through to the final.

Despite having only two shots on goal, Real managed to grind out a performance to lift the trophy. The Spanish giants were indebted to goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois who single handily kept Madrid in the game by producing a masterclass in keeping.

Although not scoring in the final, Benzema has been the key to Madrid’s success in Europe. The 34-year-old French forward, who has struck 15 goals in Europe this campaign- including two hat tricks- is thriving under Ancelotti.

Surely now is the time to hand him the Ballon d’Or award, or will it be yet again another year where he fails to claim the prize.

The facts are this with Real, when they get to a major final they normally go on and win it, and to win it five times in eight seasons is a wonderful achievement in anybody’s books.

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