ROAD TO KYIEV: THE PATH OF THE FINALISTS
The path to European glory has never been easy for clubs in Europe competing in the most prestigious club competition on earth, The UEFA Champions League. Each passing year, the competition becomes more and more competitive and this can mainly be attributed to the big money getting splashed into the game every year giving teams the power to build a more resilient side to compete in the competition. This year’s competition provided everything this competition promises. This year’s finalist, Real Madrid and Liverpool have been through the difficult paths and have made the journey to the finals, with a shot at European glory.
Real Madrid, the defending champions and back-to-back history makers are looking to make more history and stake their claim to the competition. Whereas Liverpool, the underdogs in this final are looking to claim their sixth title and announce themselves back into the competition where they belong.
THE GROUP STAGES
Liverpool, before getting into the competition officially had to shatter the dreams of Julian Nagelsmann’s Hoffenheim, who had had a massively fantastic campaign in the Bundesliga, in the play-offs.
After their triumph and qualification into the competition they were drawn into group E with Sevilla, Maribor and Spartak Moskva. Liverpool were eventual group winners of the group with two massive 7-0 score line, the biggest score line an English club recorded in the competition recorded against Maribor on match day three and Spartak Moskva on the final group game of the competition.
Real Madrid, unlike Liverpool had an automatic qualification since they are the defending champions of the competition and also because they were the winners of the Spanish La Liga under the first full season of club legend Zinedine “The King Zizou” Zidane as club manager.
Madrid was drawn into group H with Tottenham, eventual group winners, Dortmund, who had one of the horrid campaigns under then new manager Peter Bosz, and APOEL.
Madrid who were tagged favorites to win the group finished second place after Tottenham Hotspur which didn’t go down well with Madrid fans very much but all the same what do they have to complain for, they have qualified.
THE LAST 16
The Last 16 promised a lot of drama mainly because of the draw that came out and it sure did provide. Real Madrid got matched with PSG, a star-studded side with their latest and secret weapon Neymar Jr., a weapon acquisitioned during the summer transfer window. and Liverpool with FC Porto.
During the first leg of this stage in the competition, Liverpool had to travel to the Estadio Do Dragao in Portugal to face the Dragons of Porto. The game was more or less a handicapped game for the Kopps because of their swift and powerful attack. As expected, the Kopps attack mauled down the defense of the Dragons with the game ending in a five-goal thriller with Sadio Mane, the star of the show scoring a hat trick, Mohammed Salah, revelation of the season got himself on the scoresheet, and then the Brazilian Roberto Firminho got himself on the scoresheet to cap off a wonderful valentine’s day.
Real Madrid had their own problems to figure out against a PSG side with Neymar Jr. their secret weapon, Kylian Mbappe the new kid on the block and Edinson “El Matador” Cavanni forming a deadly trio, the best attack in the group stages of the competition. Real Madrid thrashed out PSG 3-1 at the Bernabeau on valentine’s day, a score line which wasn’t expected after the investment PSG made in the summer with hopes of achieving European glory and also their stellar performance in the group stages scoring a total of 25 goals the highest ever recorded in the competition.
The second leg of the round of 16 for our finalists was full of drama. FC Porto weren’t going down without putting up a fight and PSG trying to revive their hopes and show their fans that their investment wasn’t going down in vain. When the night ended, Liverpool had been able to hold down the fort to a goalless draw and prevented FC Porto from causing any mayhem at their home grounds just like they did at the Estadio Do Dragao. When Liverpool were having a quiet night at the Anfield, PSG were trying to push their way through to the next stage of the competition in their own backyard. So many stakes rested on this game as the career of then PSG boss rested on this particular game’s success. At full time, Madrid had come up on top with a 2-1 win over “Le Parisien” at the Parc de Princes. Goals from Ronaldo and Casemiro fired Madrid past the Parisien
THE QUARTER FINALS
The next stage of the competition, the quarter finals had even more thriller and drama than the last stage because Madrid was drawn against last season’s runner-ups Juventus and it was a revenge for the Old Ladies of Turin and Liverpool against Manchester City, the team of the moment in the premier league. The first leg resulted in Madrid thrashing down Juventus at their own home ground 3-0 wasn’t just what was expected out of the game. A brace from Ronaldo and Marcelo ensured Madrid went into the second leg on a 3-0 advantage. Ronaldo had one of the perfect night of the competition when he scored the best in the competition, and overhead kick which earned him a standing ovation from both sets of fans.
Liverpool being the first club to stop Manchester City in the league, everyone wanted to know if their win was just luck or a tactical genius and so it was up to Jurgen Klopp’s men to pull out the magic was once again in this stage of the competition. Jurgen Klopp’s men weren’t tagged favorites to topple this rejuvenated Man City side out of the competition but Liverpool proved everyone wrong and thrashed Guardiola’s men 3-0 at the Anfield.
The second leg was more dramatic than the first because one of the biggest controversial moment in the competition when Juventus travelled to Spain to put up a big fight in order to stay in the competition and things were going on great for Juventus when they began tearing apart the Madrid defense in the first half with a Mario Mandzukic brace. The second half was a chance to for Madrid to pull one out of the bag and it didn’t go down that well when Blaise Matuidi added more to salt to the injury, it seemed all down and out and suddenly it happened in the final moments of the game when Mehdi Benatia performed a clumsy cahllenge on Lucas Vazquez in the dying embers of the game to reward Madrid with a lifeline which also happened to be the most controversial penalty decision in this year’s competition. Gianluigi Buffon out of emotions threw a big tantrum and went on a rant which earned him a kick out of the game. Ronaldo once again broke the heart of the Juve fans when as he did in the first leg when he buried the spot kick in the top corner of the goal post. As this drama was unfolding at the Bernabeau, Liverpool had already defeated Man City 2-1 at the Etihad Sports Stadium a feat which was a surprise because of the tremendous and fantastic season City was having. Goals from Sadio Mane and Georgino Wijnaldum cancelled out Rahim Sterlin’s early strike to destroy the hopes of Guardiola’s Man City.
THE SEMIFINALS
When the semifinals draw came out, once again it wasn’t favorable for Madrid as they were drawn against Bayern Munich, their last campaign’s semifinalist opponent, and it was as if faith had granted Bayern another chance to salvage themselves and prove they are capable of beating the Galacticos. As always, the game drew attention from professionals in the game to the fans. Arturo Vidal for one was thrilled of the draw but unfortunately he picked up an injury just days before game which sidelined him for the rest of the season. Also it was a game for James Rodriguez to prove his worth to his mother club. The first leg ended with Madrid beating Bayern on their own home turf 2-1 in one of the classic encounters football has to offer. Bayern started the show with a Joshua Kimmich from the edge of the box and then Marcelo once again proved his worth with a sublime finish to equalize and finally Marco Asensio sealed the win in a pure Madrid counter attack style beating Bayern three consecutive times at the Allianz Arena.
Liverpool invited Roma at home for the semifinal first leg clash and as always with Liverpool games this season, there were a lot of goals. The match ended in a thrilling 5-2 in favor of the Reds. A stellar performance from the Egyptian climaxed with two goals and two assists for Sadio Mane and Roberto Firminho and to cap a perfect night, a second from Firminho sealed it 5-0 in favor of Liverpool. It seemed all done and dusted until Roma started to crawl out of the ruins and pull 2 back courtesy of Edin Dzeko and Perotti. Apart from the scintillating performance and the win, Liverpool had a big problem to worry about as in-form midfield think-tank Alex “The Ox” Oxlade Chamberlain picked up a gruesome injury ending his world cup hopes and his season.
The second leg, an opportunity to make things right for faulting teams in the competition, Bayern were hell bent on qualifying at the expense of Real Madrid to complete the payback whiles Roma were looking forward to replicate their incredible feat against Barca where they were able to turn around a three goal deficit at the Stadio Olimpico. In Rome, Roma started the game on a high note. They tried everything possible to replicate their incredible against Barca and unfortunately, they were caught on the break and Sadio Mane made sure they paid dearly taking his tally to nine goals out of ten games. Mane’s effort was cancelled by James Milner’s unfortunate own goal. It all seemed lost for Roma but they weren’t going down easily until Giorgino Wijnaldum’s first away goal of his Liverpool career sent Liverpool straight to Kyiev, home of the finals, ending the game 2-1 and 7-3 on aggregate. In this game Mohammed Salah was awfully ineffective mostly because Liverpool weren’t prepared to lose another star man with their spot in the finals already booked and so relieved him of some duties.
With one spot already booked, it all came down to the one remaining spot up for grabs, Bayern weren’t prepared to go lose that spot to Madrid once again to Madrid. The game started with Bayern dictating the play as expected and Madrid were trying to control and maintain the game in order not to lose it this time at this stage but unfortunately Joshua Kimmich once again opened up the scoring and put Bayern 1-0 up and level 2-2 on aggregates. A brace from Karim Benzema, one being one of the biggest goalkeeping mistakes, put Madrid in the driving seat once and it all seemed done for Madrid but James Rodriguez will have none of that. He began a to torment his parent club up and down the pitch causing commotions around the Madrid and his hard work resulted to a goal on his name. Now Bayern just needed a goal to send the game into extra time and two to win the game. Madrid now had to defend with their lives and they were able to hold the fort till the full time whistle booking their place in the finals of the competition just again away from making history as the first club to win the champions league three times on a row after being the first club to win the competition twice on a row.
THE FINALS
The two spots for the finals were now filled and out of the 32 teams that started the journey, Real Madrid and Liverpool were the last two standing with a chance to actually win the trophy in Kyiev. This final had so many people talking with some actually connecting this meeting to the 1981 finals where Liverpool met Real Madrid in the finals and won with a narrow score line of 1 nil. It all seemed like history was on the side of Liverpool and their fantastic three attacking line were on fire with 29 goals among them. Mohammed Salah having the season of his life with 10 goals just five behind Christiano Ronaldo’s 15 goal haul.
Real Madrid were also prepared for everything that was going to be thrown at them by the Liverpool attack because of their solid defense of Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane, Carvajal and Diego Marcelo.
The game started with Liverpool pressuring Madrid in the first 25 minutes. The Madrid team were just disorganized and didn’t know where the pressure was coming from with Sadio Mane on the right and Mohammed Salah on the left stretching the back line of Madrid. The unfortunate event occurred when Salah and Ramos went in to challenge for a ball which resulted in both of them falling to the ground. It looked like a normal incident but effect was catastrophic on the Liverpool man as he suffered the most when both fell to the ground. He came on later to continue but after a while, he was substituted because the injury was really affecting the Egyptian with Adam Lallana coming on to replace him.
The intensity of the game changed completely and Madrid gained control of the game for the remainder of the first half.
The second half started just as the first half ended, with Madrid pilling pressure on Liverpool and it actually paid off when Lori Kariu, the Liverpool Keeper gifted Benzema with a goal. He saved a ball from a Madrid attack and immediately tried to initiate attack but unfortunately the ball he threw hit Karim Benzema on his stretched leg and into the goal.
Sadio Mane responded minutes after the goal by equalizing by taking his chance in a dead ball situation from a set piece.
Now parity was restored in the game but Madrid kept on pressuring the Liverpool defense and in the course of the game, Dani Carvajal picked up an injury resulting in him being subbed for Nacho.
Times went bad for Liverpool when Zidane decided to bring on Gareth Bale to replace Isco in the second half. Minutes into the game, the welsh man scored a stunning bicycle kick from a Marcelo cross putting his side up ahead again. The pressure was still on Liverpool with sometimes some moment of brilliance from Liverpool when they go on attack but it still couldn’t result in anything. Bale sealed of the game with a thunderous strike which seemed like an ambitious strike and a simple ball for the keeper but there again Loris Karius who was already having a terrible night pulled out another howler from his bag and bang the ball was at the back of the after his failed attempt to stop the ball.
From there, Bale terrorized the Liverpool defense with Ronaldo occasionally coming on cause more harm as if the harm initially done wasn’t enough.
The game ended 3-1 in favor of Madrid and there again the history had been made. 13 times champions and three time champions consecutively, and also 4 time champions in the space of 5 years.
The competition ended with Real Madrid’s Christiano Ronaldo picking up the golden boot as the top goal scorer with a total of 15 goals while Liverpool’s James Milner with an incredible 9 assists to his name swooped the assist king award.
@BonneyMcdona_1 on twitter
The path to European glory has never been easy for clubs in Europe competing in the most prestigious club competition on earth, The UEFA Champions League. Each passing year, the competition becomes more and more competitive and this can mainly be attributed to the big money getting splashed into the game every year giving teams the power to build a more resilient side to compete in the competition. This year’s competition provided everything this competition promises. This year’s finalist, Real Madrid and Liverpool have been through the difficult paths and have made the journey to the finals, with a shot at European glory.
Real Madrid, the defending champions and back-to-back history makers are looking to make more history and stake their claim to the competition. Whereas Liverpool, the underdogs in this final are looking to claim their sixth title and announce themselves back into the competition where they belong.
THE GROUP STAGES
Liverpool, before getting into the competition officially had to shatter the dreams of Julian Nagelsmann’s Hoffenheim, who had had a massively fantastic campaign in the Bundesliga, in the play-offs.
After their triumph and qualification into the competition they were drawn into group E with Sevilla, Maribor and Spartak Moskva. Liverpool were eventual group winners of the group with two massive 7-0 score line, the biggest score line an English club recorded in the competition recorded against Maribor on match day three and Spartak Moskva on the final group game of the competition.
Real Madrid, unlike Liverpool had an automatic qualification since they are the defending champions of the competition and also because they were the winners of the Spanish La Liga under the first full season of club legend Zinedine “The King Zizou” Zidane as club manager.
Madrid was drawn into group H with Tottenham, eventual group winners, Dortmund, who had one of the horrid campaigns under then new manager Peter Bosz, and APOEL.
Madrid who were tagged favorites to win the group finished second place after Tottenham Hotspur which didn’t go down well with Madrid fans very much but all the same what do they have to complain for, they have qualified.
THE LAST 16
The Last 16 promised a lot of drama mainly because of the draw that came out and it sure did provide. Real Madrid got matched with PSG, a star-studded side with their latest and secret weapon Neymar Jr., a weapon acquisitioned during the summer transfer window. and Liverpool with FC Porto.
During the first leg of this stage in the competition, Liverpool had to travel to the Estadio Do Dragao in Portugal to face the Dragons of Porto. The game was more or less a handicapped game for the Kopps because of their swift and powerful attack. As expected, the Kopps attack mauled down the defense of the Dragons with the game ending in a five-goal thriller with Sadio Mane, the star of the show scoring a hat trick, Mohammed Salah, revelation of the season got himself on the scoresheet, and then the Brazilian Roberto Firminho got himself on the scoresheet to cap off a wonderful valentine’s day.
Real Madrid had their own problems to figure out against a PSG side with Neymar Jr. their secret weapon, Kylian Mbappe the new kid on the block and Edinson “El Matador” Cavanni forming a deadly trio, the best attack in the group stages of the competition. Real Madrid thrashed out PSG 3-1 at the Bernabeau on valentine’s day, a score line which wasn’t expected after the investment PSG made in the summer with hopes of achieving European glory and also their stellar performance in the group stages scoring a total of 25 goals the highest ever recorded in the competition.
The second leg of the round of 16 for our finalists was full of drama. FC Porto weren’t going down without putting up a fight and PSG trying to revive their hopes and show their fans that their investment wasn’t going down in vain. When the night ended, Liverpool had been able to hold down the fort to a goalless draw and prevented FC Porto from causing any mayhem at their home grounds just like they did at the Estadio Do Dragao. When Liverpool were having a quiet night at the Anfield, PSG were trying to push their way through to the next stage of the competition in their own backyard. So many stakes rested on this game as the career of then PSG boss rested on this particular game’s success. At full time, Madrid had come up on top with a 2-1 win over “Le Parisien” at the Parc de Princes. Goals from Ronaldo and Casemiro fired Madrid past the Parisien
THE QUARTER FINALS
The next stage of the competition, the quarter finals had even more thriller and drama than the last stage because Madrid was drawn against last season’s runner-ups Juventus and it was a revenge for the Old Ladies of Turin and Liverpool against Manchester City, the team of the moment in the premier league. The first leg resulted in Madrid thrashing down Juventus at their own home ground 3-0 wasn’t just what was expected out of the game. A brace from Ronaldo and Marcelo ensured Madrid went into the second leg on a 3-0 advantage. Ronaldo had one of the perfect night of the competition when he scored the best in the competition, and overhead kick which earned him a standing ovation from both sets of fans.
Liverpool being the first club to stop Manchester City in the league, everyone wanted to know if their win was just luck or a tactical genius and so it was up to Jurgen Klopp’s men to pull out the magic was once again in this stage of the competition. Jurgen Klopp’s men weren’t tagged favorites to topple this rejuvenated Man City side out of the competition but Liverpool proved everyone wrong and thrashed Guardiola’s men 3-0 at the Anfield.
The second leg was more dramatic than the first because one of the biggest controversial moment in the competition when Juventus travelled to Spain to put up a big fight in order to stay in the competition and things were going on great for Juventus when they began tearing apart the Madrid defense in the first half with a Mario Mandzukic brace. The second half was a chance to for Madrid to pull one out of the bag and it didn’t go down that well when Blaise Matuidi added more to salt to the injury, it seemed all down and out and suddenly it happened in the final moments of the game when Mehdi Benatia performed a clumsy cahllenge on Lucas Vazquez in the dying embers of the game to reward Madrid with a lifeline which also happened to be the most controversial penalty decision in this year’s competition. Gianluigi Buffon out of emotions threw a big tantrum and went on a rant which earned him a kick out of the game. Ronaldo once again broke the heart of the Juve fans when as he did in the first leg when he buried the spot kick in the top corner of the goal post. As this drama was unfolding at the Bernabeau, Liverpool had already defeated Man City 2-1 at the Etihad Sports Stadium a feat which was a surprise because of the tremendous and fantastic season City was having. Goals from Sadio Mane and Georgino Wijnaldum cancelled out Rahim Sterlin’s early strike to destroy the hopes of Guardiola’s Man City.
THE SEMIFINALS
When the semifinals draw came out, once again it wasn’t favorable for Madrid as they were drawn against Bayern Munich, their last campaign’s semifinalist opponent, and it was as if faith had granted Bayern another chance to salvage themselves and prove they are capable of beating the Galacticos. As always, the game drew attention from professionals in the game to the fans. Arturo Vidal for one was thrilled of the draw but unfortunately he picked up an injury just days before game which sidelined him for the rest of the season. Also it was a game for James Rodriguez to prove his worth to his mother club. The first leg ended with Madrid beating Bayern on their own home turf 2-1 in one of the classic encounters football has to offer. Bayern started the show with a Joshua Kimmich from the edge of the box and then Marcelo once again proved his worth with a sublime finish to equalize and finally Marco Asensio sealed the win in a pure Madrid counter attack style beating Bayern three consecutive times at the Allianz Arena.
Liverpool invited Roma at home for the semifinal first leg clash and as always with Liverpool games this season, there were a lot of goals. The match ended in a thrilling 5-2 in favor of the Reds. A stellar performance from the Egyptian climaxed with two goals and two assists for Sadio Mane and Roberto Firminho and to cap a perfect night, a second from Firminho sealed it 5-0 in favor of Liverpool. It seemed all done and dusted until Roma started to crawl out of the ruins and pull 2 back courtesy of Edin Dzeko and Perotti. Apart from the scintillating performance and the win, Liverpool had a big problem to worry about as in-form midfield think-tank Alex “The Ox” Oxlade Chamberlain picked up a gruesome injury ending his world cup hopes and his season.
The second leg, an opportunity to make things right for faulting teams in the competition, Bayern were hell bent on qualifying at the expense of Real Madrid to complete the payback whiles Roma were looking forward to replicate their incredible feat against Barca where they were able to turn around a three goal deficit at the Stadio Olimpico. In Rome, Roma started the game on a high note. They tried everything possible to replicate their incredible against Barca and unfortunately, they were caught on the break and Sadio Mane made sure they paid dearly taking his tally to nine goals out of ten games. Mane’s effort was cancelled by James Milner’s unfortunate own goal. It all seemed lost for Roma but they weren’t going down easily until Giorgino Wijnaldum’s first away goal of his Liverpool career sent Liverpool straight to Kyiev, home of the finals, ending the game 2-1 and 7-3 on aggregate. In this game Mohammed Salah was awfully ineffective mostly because Liverpool weren’t prepared to lose another star man with their spot in the finals already booked and so relieved him of some duties.
With one spot already booked, it all came down to the one remaining spot up for grabs, Bayern weren’t prepared to go lose that spot to Madrid once again to Madrid. The game started with Bayern dictating the play as expected and Madrid were trying to control and maintain the game in order not to lose it this time at this stage but unfortunately Joshua Kimmich once again opened up the scoring and put Bayern 1-0 up and level 2-2 on aggregates. A brace from Karim Benzema, one being one of the biggest goalkeeping mistakes, put Madrid in the driving seat once and it all seemed done for Madrid but James Rodriguez will have none of that. He began a to torment his parent club up and down the pitch causing commotions around the Madrid and his hard work resulted to a goal on his name. Now Bayern just needed a goal to send the game into extra time and two to win the game. Madrid now had to defend with their lives and they were able to hold the fort till the full time whistle booking their place in the finals of the competition just again away from making history as the first club to win the champions league three times on a row after being the first club to win the competition twice on a row.
THE FINALS
The two spots for the finals were now filled and out of the 32 teams that started the journey, Real Madrid and Liverpool were the last two standing with a chance to actually win the trophy in Kyiev. This final had so many people talking with some actually connecting this meeting to the 1981 finals where Liverpool met Real Madrid in the finals and won with a narrow score line of 1 nil. It all seemed like history was on the side of Liverpool and their fantastic three attacking line were on fire with 29 goals among them. Mohammed Salah having the season of his life with 10 goals just five behind Christiano Ronaldo’s 15 goal haul.
Real Madrid were also prepared for everything that was going to be thrown at them by the Liverpool attack because of their solid defense of Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane, Carvajal and Diego Marcelo.
The game started with Liverpool pressuring Madrid in the first 25 minutes. The Madrid team were just disorganized and didn’t know where the pressure was coming from with Sadio Mane on the right and Mohammed Salah on the left stretching the back line of Madrid. The unfortunate event occurred when Salah and Ramos went in to challenge for a ball which resulted in both of them falling to the ground. It looked like a normal incident but effect was catastrophic on the Liverpool man as he suffered the most when both fell to the ground. He came on later to continue but after a while, he was substituted because the injury was really affecting the Egyptian with Adam Lallana coming on to replace him.
The intensity of the game changed completely and Madrid gained control of the game for the remainder of the first half.
The second half started just as the first half ended, with Madrid pilling pressure on Liverpool and it actually paid off when Lori Kariu, the Liverpool Keeper gifted Benzema with a goal. He saved a ball from a Madrid attack and immediately tried to initiate attack but unfortunately the ball he threw hit Karim Benzema on his stretched leg and into the goal.
Sadio Mane responded minutes after the goal by equalizing by taking his chance in a dead ball situation from a set piece.
Now parity was restored in the game but Madrid kept on pressuring the Liverpool defense and in the course of the game, Dani Carvajal picked up an injury resulting in him being subbed for Nacho.
Times went bad for Liverpool when Zidane decided to bring on Gareth Bale to replace Isco in the second half. Minutes into the game, the welsh man scored a stunning bicycle kick from a Marcelo cross putting his side up ahead again. The pressure was still on Liverpool with sometimes some moment of brilliance from Liverpool when they go on attack but it still couldn’t result in anything. Bale sealed of the game with a thunderous strike which seemed like an ambitious strike and a simple ball for the keeper but there again Loris Karius who was already having a terrible night pulled out another howler from his bag and bang the ball was at the back of the after his failed attempt to stop the ball.
From there, Bale terrorized the Liverpool defense with Ronaldo occasionally coming on cause more harm as if the harm initially done wasn’t enough.
The game ended 3-1 in favor of Madrid and there again the history had been made. 13 times champions and three time champions consecutively, and also 4 time champions in the space of 5 years.
The competition ended with Real Madrid’s Christiano Ronaldo picking up the golden boot as the top goal scorer with a total of 15 goals while Liverpool’s James Milner with an incredible 9 assists to his name swooped the assist king award.
@BonneyMcdona_1 on twitter
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