Following Real Madrid’s 4-1 win over Juventus to clinch a third Champions League crown in four years, we take a look at the winners and losers from Cardiff.
The Frenchman’s limited tactical acumen has been hung around his neck ever since he stepped into the Bernabeu hot seat.
But it cannot be denied now that the great player has become a great coach. Zidane has ended Real’s 59 year wait for a league and European cup double doing so in just his second season in charge.
He’s become the first coach to win the Champions League back-to-back and has achieved the feat having taken charge of just 20 European games.
Zidane has nurtured a sense of unity in this Real Madrid squad and crucially has allowed his star players to take the spotlight.
Talk about their success is never about him and it’s for this exact reason their triumph is because of him.
At a club like Real, one mired in politics and ego, Zidane has engineered a ruthless winning mentality.
It simply cannot be understated what he has achieved at Real in such a short space of time.
Zinedine Zidane.
In the 2014 and 2016 Champions League triumphs Ronaldo had the last word but was barely worth talking about.
He scored at 3-1 three years ago against Atletico and nailed the winning penalty last year but his performances on both occasions were abject.
It was case of third time’s a charm in Cardiff. In the warm-up he was energised by the Real Madrid faithful, releasing a primal roar in response to their motivational cheers.
He carried that mentality after the first whistle, not just shouldering the responsibility but embracing it and rising to the challenge.
The Portuguese superstar evaded Juventus’ much-lauded defence for a deflected opener and then masterfully maneuvered his way in front Giorgio Chiellini to stroke home his side’s third.
Now all the talk is about him.
Ronaldo.
The Croatian scored one of the greatest goals in Champions League final history, yet it means nothing.
Still, it was a strike which will live long in the memory even though Juve’s performance won’t.
Everything about it was sublime. From the touch on the chest to set it up, to the swivel of his hips to position himself to finish.
It wasn’t quite an bicycle kick or a side volley but it was something in between and it was breathtaking.
The timing and precision to loop the ball of Keylor Navas was special on a night when Juve were anything but.
Mario Mandžukić's stunning over-head kick, caught on camera from the stands. Beauty!
— From The Stands (@FromTStands) June 3, 2017
📽 | @Sport360 pic.twitter.com/Lgg4OfAEpb
Bar the fortunatutious deflection for Casemiro’s strike, every other Real Madrid goal could have been avoided from a Juve perspective.
Slack marking, Chiellini in particular a culprit, proved their undoing as Real came alive in the penalty area while Juve slept.
Ultimately, they crumbled after Casemiro made it 2-1 because up until that point they hadn’t defended too badly.
However, even for Ronaldo’s opener they were at fault as they first backed off when Madrid flowed forward before then affording the most predatory player on the planet far too much space in the box to sweep home, albeit with the help of a slight deflection.
For Ronaldo’s second, he simply pre-empted the staticness of Chiellini and his defensive partner Leonardo Bonucci to dart in between them and finish decisively.
The same can be said of Marco Asensio’s finishing touch as Marcelo scampered down the left and easily found the substitute with a cute pull back as Juve’s centre-halves got sucked towards to the goal.
Having conceded once in the entire knockout stage, this was Juve’s worst night to pick their worst performance.
Giorgio Chiellini.
He began the game with plenty of intention and then just completely faded away.
Much has been said of the Argentine when it comes to the big occasion and once again he failed to deliver.
The Juve striker has played in the finals of the World Cup, Copa America, Champions League, Spanish and Italian Cups and has failed to register a single goal.
In Cardiff, he was utterly anonymous and as was rightly pointed out on Twitter, the only thing heavier than Paulo Dybala’s touch was Higuain’s footsteps.
For a €90 million investment, his lack of movement was genuinely astonishing and when you consider he was brought in to help Juve win the Champions League, his non-existence will draw the ire of many.
Gonzalo Higuain.
The Real Madrid captain is the archetypal pantomime villain.
Even when you want to like him, he finds a way to ensure you don’t.
The defender is a well renowned master of the dark arts and but his latest theatrics warrant a place on stage.
He fooled the referee into giving Juan Cuadrado a cheap sending off after collapsing to the ground from the minimalist of touches.
As soon as the red came out of the ref’s pocket, he sprang back up for what was an embarrassing moment to tarnish an otherwise exemplary display.
Sergio Ramos.
