In fact, Diego Costa only lasted for 9 minutes. It was more of a waste of a substitution for Atletico Madrid....which proved to be costly as the game continued into extra time eventually.
Atletico Madrid capitalized fully on Iker Casillas' mistake on his positioning and scored the first goal with a brilliant header by Diego Godin. It was a terrible mistake by Casillas. A corner from the right was half cleared by the head of a Real defender, and the defence charged out. It was nodded back into the area and Casillas came into a wrong position, Godin took advantage of that and sent a gentle header towards goal. Casillas ran back desperately and clawed the ball out, but it was behind the line when he did so and Raul Garcia put it back in the net to be doubly sure. This happened in the 37th minute, moment just after Gareth Bale missed a brilliant chance.
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| Diego Godin's goal |
From then on, Atletico continued to be brilliant in their defense and attacked as one. At times, it felt like all has gone wrong for Ronaldo & Co. in Portugal.
Atletico looked to be on for a La Liga and European double, putting in a heroic defensive display after Diego Godin’s scrappy goal had put them ahead in the first half.
But, in the third of five added on minutes, Ramos rose highest to head home a corner past the flat-footed Thibaut Courtois and send the Lisbon showpiece into extra-time.
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| Sergio Ramos |
It was cruel for Atletico because from then on, it was obvious that there will only be one winner.
The tired legs of Atletico Madrid's players were obvious and perhaps it was appropriate that Gareth Bale emerged as the player who scored the goal that killed their hope.
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| Bale's header seal the winner for Real Madrid |
It was obvious that Atletico's players were tired and the game couldn't have gone anywhere else but Atletico still pushed for an opportunity to score when Iker Casillas made another error again in the 114th minute. A ridiculous misjudgement but the goal was not to be found. I wonder what would happened if Atletico scored at that time. Well, just moments after that, Marcelo put the game to bed with a stunning shot. He played a huge part in this game as a substitute, runs to the edge of the area and drives a low shot through the left arm of the plunging Courtois. Curtois could have done better but it was obvious the pressure was too much at that point of time.
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| Marcelo celebrate after scoring the third goal for Real |
Ronaldo places the penalty into the net and takes off his shirt to reveal his six-pack. Nobody is complaining about his muscular abs. Such was the ego of the players of Real Madrid in comparison to Atletico. But the celebration was not necessary to add the pain onto Atletico's players. A dream that was so close into becoming reality was crushed in such a painful way.
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| Ronaldo took off his clothes and showed off his abs |
And to make it worse, Diego Simeone was sent off.
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| Bad ending for Simeone |
A great game by both teams...it was obvious that Atletico had an ambition and big dream...but Real proved to be a deserving winner, especially when Ramos scored a crucial goal at the last minute of the normal playing time. A dramatic win for Real Madrid as they secured their 10th European trophy....their first since 2002.
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