Champions League Final: Is Anyone Close to Matching Real Madrid?

Local Editor

Real Madrid underlined their dominance of the European Cup and Champions League by claiming their 13th title in Kiev.

Saturday's 3-1 final victory over Liverpool will be remembered for Welshman Gareth Bale's spectacular overhead kick and two howlers made by goalkeeper Loris Karius.

Real's players wrote their names in European football folklore by winning the Champions League for the fourth time in five years - and it was manager Zinedine Zidane's third in a row.

The Spanish giants have claimed more trophies, won more matches and scored more goals than any other side, but how do the numbers stack up compared with the rest of the continent?

Real Madrid won the first five European Cup finals, between 1956 and 1960, and had three players - Alfredo di Stefano, Francisco Gento and Jose Maria Zarraga - starting in all of them.

They have won the past three finals too, naming the same starting XI in 2017 and 2018, a line-up that showed just two changes from 2016, when Gareth Bale and Pepe started instead of Isco and Raphael Varane.

They have won their past nine European finals across all competitions, last losing in the 1983 Cup Winners' Cup to Sir Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen.

"It is something unbelievable, something historic," said Croatia midfielder Luka Modric. "I don't know if anyone will repeat this in the future. Twice was amazing, this is historic.

"They can call us a dynasty. It seems so easy to come here and win it but it's so much hard work day in and day out. I don't think anyone will repeat this."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team