There was no fairy tale win for Buffon at long last.
It was supposed to be different this time. Juventus were supposed to win this time. They didn’t. They lost. Again. The seventh time in nine European Cup finals. The fifth in a row.
Ruthless Ronaldo scored two in that 4 – 1 win for Real Madrid making them the first team to make a successful defence of the UEFA Champions League title. Milan (1989, 1990) were the last club to pick up consecutive European Champion Clubs’ Cups.
Ronaldo himself picked up a slew of new records .
He is the first player to score in three UEFA Champions League finals, moving clear of Sergio Ramos (the only defender who has scored in two finals), Raúl González, Samuel Eto’o and Lionel Messi.
He become the sixth man to score two in a final, joining: Daniele Massaro (Milan 1994), Karl-Heinz Riedle (Borussia Dortmund 1997), Hernán Crespo (Milan 2005), Filippo Inzaghi (Milan 2007) and Diego Milito (Internazionale 2010). No player has hit a hat-trick in a UEFA Champions League final.
He joined Andrés Iniesta and Clarence Seedorf as one of only three players to have taken part in four UEFA Champions League final victories.
And he finished on top of the UEFA Champions League scorers’ table for the fifth year running.
But for Juventus it was yet another time when they were so close and yet so far.
Highlights …