• Juventus goalkeeper lets fly at English referee Michael Oliver• ‘It was one tenth of a penalty,’ claims sent-off BuffonThe Juventus goalkeeper Gigi Buffon criticised the English referee Michael Oliver, saying he has a “rubbish bin” where his heart sh…
The 3-0 away victory against Juventus in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final included a masterclass from Isco as the holders underlined their superiorityOf all the masterpieces that Zinedine Zidane created during his playing career, t…
Zinedine Zidane described Cristiano Ronaldo’s overhead kick against Juventus as ‘one of the most beautiful goals in history’ as Real Madrid eased to a 3-0 win in the first leg of their Champions League quarter final. But the former French international…
In dragging France to the 2006 World Cup final Zidane hinted at immortality and, once they got there, he proved his mortalityThe crowd are whistling. Something has happened. Marco Materazzi is on the ground. The match commentators are confused. They th…
Cédric Anselin played alongside Zinedine Zidane in a European final aged 18 but his career faltered and his life spun out of control – until he called an old friendBy Jonathan Drennan for Behind the Lines, part of the Guardian Sport NetworkLast year, t…
• Zinedine Zidane under pressure after Champions League loss• Marcelo and Toni Kroos among players singled out for criticisedIf Zinedine Zidane was in any doubt that Real Madrid are in crisis after the Champions League group stage defeat to Tottenham a…
• ‘To get to the next level Tottenham have to win things,’ says manager• Real’s Zinedine Zidane says Spurs ‘superior in all aspects’Mauricio Pochettino challenged his Tottenham Hotspur players to take the club to “the next level” and start winning trop…
Following his Tottenham side’s 1-1 draw away at champions Real Madrid, manager Mauricio Pochettino congratulated his team on the result, saying: ‘I’m so proud of the effort.’ Harry Kane, whose deflected effort provided the first goal, said that he thou…
Zinedine Zidane has hailed Harry Kane as a complete footballer before Real Madrid’s Champions League match against Tottenham at the Bernabéu. Kane is in superb form, having scored 15 goals in his last 11 games for club and countryHarry Kane threatens t…
• Portuguese on target twice in 150th European club match in 3-1 win
• Wissam Ben Yedder is first Sevilla player to hit hat-trick in European game
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice in his 150th European club match as Real Madrid beat Borussia Dortmund for the first time in Germany. His goals wrapped up a 3-1 win after Gareth Bale had put them ahead with a superb volley in the 18th minute.
Ronaldo doubled Real’s lead before Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang pulled a goal back in the 54th minute but the Portuguese international confirmed the holders’ victory when he fired past Dortmund’s keeper Roman Buerki in the 79th minute.
Harmony has broken out on and off the pitch, so much so that their coach referred to Sunday’s 2-2 draw at the Bernabéu as a ‘lovely spectacle’
“Every time you looked left and the men in white attacked, you thought: ‘We could lose this,’” said the Valencia coach, Marcelino García Toral. “But every time you looked right, my good side, and we attacked, there were real chances to score.” So Marcelino looked left, right and back again while behind him everyone in the Santiago Bernabéu stand did the same, accelerating to the end. Left, where Neto pushed Karim Benzema’s header against the post on 92.38; right, where Simone Zaza wriggled into the area on 93.22, the winner there before him until, suddenly, Casemiro was too; and left again, where the was one last attack in a game full of them, Real Madrid v Valencia had become next goal wins but somehow the next goal never came. They played on past midnight until, eventually, it ended 2-2.
Related: Asensio stunner helps Real Madrid brush aside Barça for Super Cup success
We bring you the best images from Cardiff after Real Madrid’s 4-1 win over Juventus gave the Spanish club their 12th European Cup win and meant they became the first side to retain the trophy in the Champions League era
The Real Madrid coach does not say much but when he does people listen and the Champions League triumph underlines how attuned he is to his players
On his 20th Champions League night, Zinedine Zidane left with his second European Cup – as many as Pep Guardiola, José Mourinho or Alex Ferguson. It was way after midnight by the time Sergio Ramos carried it out of Cardiff and Zidane had already departed, slipping away quietly, pausing only to embrace the Juventus manager, Max Allegri, as he went. As the Real Madrid players paraded the trophy around the pitch Zidane had stood aside with his wife, watching them, a fond look on his face. “The key is that they get on bloody brilliantly,” he insisted. Ronaldo said: “He believes in us.”
Zidane had believed himself, too, quietly. Now everyone does. It has all happened so fast, history made swiftly. At the side of the pitch, he was asked if he was the best manager in the world. Once that question might have been laughed at but in Cardiff it was legitimate. It will be asked again, too, even as there are those who resist, clinging to his own line that it is all about the players. “No,” Zidane said here. “Not that, no.”
The Real Madrid coach does not say much but when he does people listen and the Champions League triumph underlines how attuned he is to his players
On his 20th Champions League night, Zinedine Zidane left with his second European Cup – as many as Pep Guardiola, José Mourinho or Alex Ferguson. It was way after midnight by the time Sergio Ramos carried it out of Cardiff and Zidane had already departed, slipping away quietly, pausing only to embrace the Juventus manager, Max Allegri, as he went. As the Real Madrid players paraded the trophy around the pitch Zidane had stood aside with his wife, watching them, a fond look on his face. “The key is that they get on bloody brilliantly,” he insisted. Ronaldo said: “He believes in us.”
Zidane had believed himself, too, quietly. Now everyone does. It has all happened so fast, history made swiftly. At the side of the pitch, he was asked if he was the best manager in the world. Once that question might have been laughed at but in Cardiff it was legitimate. It will be asked again, too, even as there are those who resist, clinging to his own line that it is all about the players. “No,” Zidane said here. “Not that, no.”
Real Madrid became the first club in the modern era of the Champions League to successfully defend the title with a 4-1 win over Juventus in Saturday’s final. Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice in Cardiff to give Madrid their first Liga and European Cup double since 1958 and their third Champions League title in the last four years. After the game, Ronaldo, team-mate Gareth Bale and Real manager Zinedine Zidane hailed the historic victory
• Zinedine Zidane revels in ‘historic day for all Madrid fans’
• Massimiliano Allegri admits Juventus failed to respond mentally
Zinedine Zidane hailed an historic day for Real Madrid as the Spanish champions became the first club to retain the Champions League with an emphatic 4-1 victory over Juventus, on a night when Cristiano Ronaldo wrote his name into the record books with another two goals.
Ronaldo became the first player to score in three Champions League finals and took his tally of career goals to 600 with a man-of-the-match performance against a Juventus side that started brightly but badly lost their way in the second half. Mario Mandzukic equalised for the Italian side with a spectacular overhead kick after Ronaldo had put Madrid ahead but the complexion of the game changed after the interval.
Zinedine Zidane came up with a plan in August to protect his star man for the vital games and Ronaldo delivered with two goals in the Champions League final
Just when you thought it might be all about the man it’s never about, it was about the man it’s always about. In the buildup to this final, Casemiro had insisted that he’s there to “plug holes”, claiming that it is robbing the ball, not scoring goals, that brings him pleasure, and yet he had just reached a higher plane, thumping in the shot that put Real Madrid back into the lead and looked set to bring the night in Cardiff to a close. Three minutes later, though, another man stepped centre-stage. Him, again. Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro.
Never write him off, never say it’s over. Don’t even laugh when he says he wants to play beyond 40; listen instead. He decides when it ends. This season, more than any other season, well past 30, he has decided how it ends too. In Cardiff, it ended in a way it has not for 59 years: with Real Madrid champions of Spain and Europe. Although Marco Asensio added a late fourth, Ronaldo’s second was the moment Madrid knew they were the first team to defend the Champions League.
Real Madrid can become the first team to successfully defend the Champions League when they take on Juventus in this season’s final on Saturday. A win would hand Real their 12th European Cup. Juve meanwhile are aiming to conquer Europe for a third time in the club’s history
• Real Madrid striker praised after Champions League hat-trick
• Zidane: ‘He knows himself that sometimes he has to not play’
Zinedine Zidane descried Cristiano Ronaldo as “unique” while Toni Kroos called him “incredible” after the striker hit a hat-trick in the 3-0 defeat of Atlético Madrid to carry Real to the verge of a third Champions League final in four years.
Related: Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick ensures Real Madrid turn the screw on Atlético
