Already this evening at 21:45 in Milan, the long-awaited Champions League final will begin. In the culmination of the club season, two teams from Madrid - "Atletico" and "Real" will compete for the title. The review of the Champions League final is brought to you by Eurofootball.com.
"Atletico" - "Real"
Path to the final:
"Atletico":
In the C group of the Champions League, they finished in first place with 13 points.
Round of 16: against PSV - 0-0, 0-0, after a penalty shootout 8-7;
Quarterfinals: against "Barcelona" - 1-2, 2-0;
Semifinals: against "Bayern" - 1-0, 1-2.
"Real":
In the A group of the Champions League, they finished in first place with 16 points.
Round of 16: against "Roma" - 2-0, 2-0;
Quarterfinals: against "Wolfsburg" - 0-2, 3-0;
Semifinals: against "Manchester City" - 0-0, 1-0.
Head-to-head history:
"Real" - 107 victories;
Draws - 51 times;
"Atletico" - 54 victories.
Last three head-to-head matches:
2015-04-22 "Real" 1 - 0 "Atletico" (Champions League quarterfinals)
2015-10-04 "Atletico" 1 - 1 "Real" ("La Liga")
2016-02-27 "Real" 0 - 1 "Atletico" ("La Liga")
Team form:
After the last league matches, both teams had two weeks off to prepare for the Champions League final. From the end of February loss against "Atletico", "Real" performed exceptionally well, winning twelve consecutive matches and securing the second place in the Spanish championship.
"Atletico" had a less successful end to the season - a draw against the last-placed "Levante" team in the penultimate round eliminated their title chances, leaving them behind "Barca" and "Real" in the final table.
Team losses and returns:
Despite recent minor injuries, Cristiano Ronaldo, the offensive leader of the team, is ready for the match. Only two injured defenders - Raphael Varane and Alvaro Arbeloa - will be absent.
Good news from the "Atletico" camp - all players are healthy, and the coach will be able to pick the best squad. In preparation for this final, they tried to change everything that associated the team with the unsuccessful final from two years ago. Unlike in 2014, "Atletico" not only used slightly different training methods but also changed the location of training camp and wanted to play the final in different colors - blue. However, this request was denied, so today "Atletico" will be seen in their traditional red and white kit.
What coaches said before the match:
"Playing in the final is something fantastic, but winning it now is the most important thing. Everything on the way to the final is a great experience. The best quality of these teams is persistence. They continue their work, they help each other rise without changing what they are and their determination to play. When you don't stop and insistently strive for something - everything is possible. Right now there are only a few better teams - 'Barcelona', 'Bayern', 'Real'. We have to maintain this position we've earned, and the only way to do it is through victories. That's the only thing that makes me happy," said "Atletico" coach Diego Simeone.
"Atletico" plays well against everyone, not just us. Three months have passed since the last derby, and we are now much better. I'm happy to see how hard my team has worked. There will be no favorite in the final, and the chances are equal - 50-50. It's normal to suffer and have problems in the final, and we will have to overcome them if we want to win. No one can take away from us what we have already achieved. Failure would be if we had a bad attitude and stopped doing what we've done so far. In football, you won't reach the final without any difficulties. However, in the final, you never know what might happen. All I can say is that we are ready, completely ready," said "Real" coach Zinedine Zidane.
Predicted lineups:
"Atletico": Oblak; Juanfran, Gimenez, Godin, Filipe Luis; Saul, Gabi, Augusto, Koke; Griezmann, Torres.
"Real": Navas; Carvajal, Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo; Modric, Casemiro, Kroos; Bale, Benzema, Ronaldo.
Key facts before the match:
"Real" reached the Champions League final for the fourteenth time, winning it ten times. Both achievements are records for this tournament;
"Real" has won the last four Champions League finals they played in;
"Atletico" reached the final of these competitions for the third time. They lost the previous two finals;
This is the third consecutive final that brings together two teams from the same country;
Calculating the achievements of this year, Madrid clubs have already reached 17 Champions League finals - more than any other European city. The previous record belonged to Milan, where the final will take place (16 appearances in the finals);
These years will mark the third consecutive year when a team from Spain wins the Champions League final. This is the longest such achievement since 1982 when English teams won six titles in a row;
In the last 16 matches against "Real", "Atletico" won seven times (5 draws, 4 losses). Before that, they had not won against this team in 25 consecutive matches (6 draws, 19 losses);
In the last 12 matches against "Atletico", "Real" won only two times, but both victories were in the Champions League (2014 final and last year's quarterfinal second leg match);
"Atletico" has never defeated their arch-rivals from Madrid in the Champions League;
In the current season of the Champions League, "Real" kept a clean sheet in their goal 10 times. This is a tournament record, which they share with "Arsenal", who demonstrated the same achievement in the 2005-2006 season;
"Real" scored 27 goals in this season's Champions League and ranks second in this statistic, behind only the "Bayern" team (30 goals). They also conceded only five goals - the best result in the tournament. Meanwhile, "Atletico" scored 16 goals this season, conceding 7;
"Atletico" has not conceded a goal in 15 of the last 21 Champions League matches;
Cristiano Ronaldo directly contributed to 74% of "Real's" goals in this season's Champions League (16 goals, 4 assists). He is only one goal away from equaling the Champions League scoring record, which he holds;
If Ronaldo scores in today's match, he will become only the second player to score in three different Champions League finals. Only Alfredo Di Stefano has achieved this feat with five goals;
Karim Benzema has not scored in four consecutive Champions League matches. He has not had such a lengthy goalless streak in these competitions since a five-game goalless run from December 2009 to November 2010;
Keylor Navas has kept a clean sheet in 11 out of 12 Champions League matches in his career. He also withstood 31 out of 33 shots on target;
Jan Oblak repelled 37 shots in this season's Champions League, sharing the lead with Manuel Neuer in this statistic. Even 23 of those shots came in the last four "Atletico" matches;
Antoine Griezmann directly contributed to every other goal for his team in this season's Champions League (7 goals, 1 assist);
Diego Godin has intercepted the ball the most times (37) and is the player who dispossessed the ball the most times from the defensive zone (71) in these competitions;
This is the third consecutive season where a debutant coach reaches the final in these competitions (Diego Simeone in 2014, Luis Enrique in 2015, Zinedine Zidane in 2016);
Zidane could become the seventh person to win the Champions League both as a player and as a coach. So far, only Miguel Munoz, Giovanni Trapattoni, Johan Cruyff, Carlo Ancelotti, Frank Rijkaard, and Pep Guardiola have achieved this.
Tautvydas Sakalauskas
