Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti proved that he is the undisputed master of the Champions League competition after raising the number of his titles to five, enhancing his record after leading his Spanish team Real Madrid to a record fifteenth title as well, by defeating German Borussia Dortmund 2-0 at Wembley Stadium in London in the final. Ancelotti won the most important continental title with Italian Milan twice, in 2003 and 2007, before winning three additional titles with Real Madrid in 2014 in his first season, 2022 in his second season, and then in 2024.
Real Madrid has built an exceptional relationship with the Continental Cup since its inception in 1956, when it won the title of the first five editions with star players in its ranks, such as Hungarian Ferenc Puskas, the Argentine-Spanish Alfred Di Stefano, and the Frenchman Raymond Kopa. He had tours and tours in it, most notably his broad victory over the German Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3. In 1960, in a historic match that is still the highest-scoring match in the history of continental finals, during which Puskas scored a quadruple and Di Stefano scored a hat-trick at Hampdon Park in the Scottish city of Glasgow, in front of a record audience in the history of the competition, amounting to 121,621 spectators.
Thanks to its fifteenth title, Real Madrid is far ahead of its closest competitor, the Italian Milan, with seven titles, then both the German Bayern Munich and the English Liverpool, with six titles.
Real Madrid never gives up in the finals, as it was on the verge of losing in the 2014 final to its neighbor in the capital, Atletico Madrid, which led until the last minute before its defenseman, Sergio Ramos, equalized in the last breath and imposed an extension, which Real Madrid decided 4- 1.
In the last two final matches, Real Madrid was not the best for long periods of time, as Liverpool outperformed them in 2022 for about an hour before Brazilian Vinicius Junior scored the only goal of the match.
In the match against Dortmund yesterday, the German team was the better side, especially in the first half, and its players missed a huge number of opportunities, but Real Madrid maintained its calm and succeeded in settling the result in the last quarter of an hour with two goals from its defender Dani Carvajal and Vinicius Junior. Real Madrid’s Italian coach, Carlo Ancelotti, summarized his team’s ability to always overcome difficulties by saying, “Resistance and then victory. It is a history and a tradition that has accompanied the club for a long time.”
He explained, “Of course, there is the quality of the players. The club is like a family. We have a wonderful atmosphere. We work together without any problems.”
He explained, “It is easy to lead a group of humble players.”
One of the team’s supporters, named Fran, said after watching the match on a giant screen inside the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, saying to Agence France-Presse: “Win, then win, this is Real Madrid.”
He added, “We did it again. It’s hard to believe what happened. We suffered in all the rounds to get here.”
He concluded, “We will not tire of achieving victories. This is a duty, as we are Real Madrid.”
Real Madrid will not be satisfied with the fifteenth title, and this was embodied in the words of its president, Florentino Pires, who said, “It (the coronation) is a starting point towards winning the sixteenth title.”
