Real Madrid secured a record-extending 15th Champions League title on Saturday with a 2-0 win against Borussia Dortmund at Wembley Stadium, celebrated amid a burst of gold and silver confetti.
The victory marked a familiar scene in European club soccer’s premier competition, yet it felt invigorating after goals from Dani Carvajal and Vinicius Junior sealed the win.
“Getting used to it? Never,” said Carlo Ancelotti, who now holds five wins as a coach. “The dream continues.”
A sea of Madrid fans at one end of the stadium cheered their champions following a match that saw Dortmund dominate the first half but fail to convert their chances.
“It was a very difficult game, much more difficult than we had expected,” Ancelotti remarked. “We changed things because in the first half we were a bit lazy.”
Carvajal broke the deadlock in the 74th minute with a header, and Vinicius secured the win nine minutes later.
Ancelotti’s fifth Champions League title is his third with Madrid and two more than his closest rivals Zinedine Zidane, Pep Guardiola, and Bob Paisley. Carvajal, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, and Nacho matched the record of six trophies held by Madrid icon Paco Gento.
This triumph comes a year after Manchester City’s maiden win, which many thought would herald a new era of dominance. Instead, Ancelotti reaffirmed his status as a top coach in the Champions League. Alongside his three titles with Madrid, he has two with AC Milan and has won league championships in five different countries.
Real Madrid’s dominance is unmatched, with nine titles in the Champions League era and the second in three seasons. Milan is the next most successful club with seven titles.
“This is the love story between Real Madrid and the European Cup. Players come, players go, but we can say that this is our competition,” said Madrid president Florentino Perez.
The team’s future looks bright with Kylian Mbappe expected to join as a free agent from Paris Saint-Germain and Brazil’s rising star Endrick on the way. Perez, however, did not confirm Mbappe’s arrival.
“You can ask me as many times as you want, but I am only going to talk about the players that are on Real Madrid’s team,” he stated. “And above all today, when we just won a European Cup. These are the players who deserve all the praise. The future? We will have to talk about that at some other point.”
Ancelotti is already focused on what’s next.
“In this club there is constant demand. It is never satisfied,” he said. “We will come back with the same eagerness and with the same excitement and anticipation as before.”
Dortmund’s lack of finishing in the first half proved costly, as Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois made several saves and Niclas Fullkrug hit the post.
After the break, Carvajal headed in Kroos’ corner at the near post, and Vinicius fired past Dortmund keeper Gregor Kobel to seal the win, celebrating with rapper Jay-Z among the crowd of 86,000.
This defeat marks Dortmund’s second loss in the final, the first being against Bayern Munich in 2013 at Wembley. Their sole victory in the competition was in 1997.
Coach Edin Terzic tactically outmaneuvered Ancelotti in the first half, with Madrid’s stars kept at bay. Only Courtois and the goalpost kept the scores level after chances from Karim Adeyemi and Fullkrug.
“There was the momentum when the game turned around and you see why they are the champions of this competition,” Terzic said. “We couldn’t manage to score and that was the key why we didn’t manage to win the game.”
