Real Madrid win 2016 Champions League final

Champions League Final 2016: Real Madrid 1-1 Atletico Madrid (5-3 on penalties)

Cristiano Ronaldo sealed victory for Real Madrid over Atletico Madrid in a 5-3 penalty shoot-out at the San Siro in Milan, Italy. Five UEFA Champions League final wins out of five have moved Real Madrid in front of FC Barcelona as the titans of the UEFA Champions League. Ronaldo became a hero for Zinedine Zidane’s Real Madrid again after CR7 scored the winning penalty shot against Atletico Madrid, giving Real Madrid the 2015 – 2016 Champions League trophy 5-3 on penalties to win their 11th CL title after the hard-fought battle to be named “Kings of Europe” resulted in a 1-1 draw at full time and also at the end of extra time at the San Siro in Milan, Italy on Saturday. Real Madrid’s last eight titles have come in seasons when they redeemed themselves after not winning the Spanish La Liga championship.

Legendary superstar footballer Ronaldo has scored massive goals for both Manchester United and Real Madrid, and has also scored two Champions League final goals. Internationally, Ronaldo’s hat trick against Sweden in the 2014 World Cup playoff was stunning. To date, CR7 has scored 365 goals in 348 Real Madrid games in his brilliant career. Typically, the vast majority of CR7’s goals are struck from close-range, inside-left positions. Ronaldo’s single stunning goal against Atletico Madrid in the 2016 Champions League final may be the highlight of the 31 year-olds career. In his 2007-08 season with Man United, Ronaldo scored 42 times. "I don't doubt that I will go down in footballing history," Cristiano Ronaldo said earlier in May. "Whether people like it or not, the numbers speak for themselves."

Atletico Madrid’s Road to Milan

On the road to Milan, Atletico defeated titan clubs Bayern Munich and FC Barcelona with a solid side managed by their dramatic boss, Diego Simeone. Prior to the CL final, Simeone’s side had lost just one of the last 10 games between the two sides. Sadly, Atletico now have been defeated three times in a row in the European Cup. Many fans believed this was Atletico’s year to take home the European Cup silverware.

Galatasaray 0-2 Atletico (group stage)
Atletico 1-2 Benfica (group stage)
Atletico 4-0 Astana (group stage)
Astana 0-0 Atletico (group stage)
Atletico 2-0 Galatasaray (group stage)
Benfica 1-2 Atletico (group stage)
PSV 0-0 Atletico (last 16)
Atletico 0-0 PSV - 8-7 pens (last 16)
Barcelona 2-1 Atletico (quarter-final)
Atletico 2-0 Barcelona (quarter-final)
Atletico 1-0 Bayern Munich (semi-final)
Bayern Munich 2-1 Atletico (semi-final)

Real Madrid’s Road to Milan

Real Madrid 4-0 Shakhtar (group stage)
Malmo 0-2 Real Madrid (group stage)
PSG 0-0 Real Madrid (group stage)
Real Madrid 1-0 PSG (group stage)
Shakhtar 3-4 Real Madrid (group stage)
Real Madrid 8-0 Malmo (group stage)
Roma 0-2 Real Madrid (last 16)
Real Madrid 2-0 Roma (last 16)
Wolfsburg 2-0 Real Madrid (quarter-final)
Real Madrid 3-0 Wolfsburg (quarter-final)
Manchester City 0-0 Real Madrid (semi-final)
Real Madrid 1-0 Manchester City (semi-final)

After only five months on the job, Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane became the second football player in history to have won the UEFA Champions League both as a player and coach. He is the first player to have scored in a UEFA Champions League final and won the European Cup as manager. Zidane is the first French coach in history to win the UEFA Champions League trophy. Zidane's Madrid side opened the scoring for Real Madrid at 15 minutes against their crosstown rivals Real Madrid with a close range goal from Captain Sergio Ramos. Ramos scored the crucial goal that gave Real the important early opener and dominance. Ramos is the fifth player to have scored in two UEFA Champions League finals.

But Atlético fought back against that opener, despite the set-back of Antoine Griezmann’s penalty miss. Yannick Carrasco a substitute, came on at half-time for Atletico, and scored the equalizer. Carrasco is the first Belgian player in history to have scored in a UEFA Champions League final. In the 93rd minute Ramos brought down Carrasco as he surged past two men and threatened to score a second – the winner. But thanks to Ramos no goal was scored and the all-Madrid final went to extra time, then a shoot-out.

“Hasta el final, vamos Real,” said Real fans. “Right to the end, let’s go Real.” Gareth Bale calmly scored his shoot-out spot-kick as Real Madrid put five out of five past Atletico Madrid goal-keeper Jan Oblak. Juanfran hit the post with Atletico’s fourth penalty and Zindane’s side had won the final. At the end of the extraordinary match, Ronaldo celebrated Real’s victory with his shirt off after his winner, and Sergio Ramos was clutching the trophy as he walked out of the San Siro. Exhausted fans and supporters for both clubs applauded. And Atletico’s side stood motionless on the pitch in disbelief, in tears after coming so close to winning their first European Cup for the third time.

UEFA Champions League 2016 Final Squads

Real Madrid
Navas; Carvajal (Danilo), Ramos, Pepe, Marcelo; Casemiro, Kroos (Isco), Modric; Bale, Ronaldo, Benzema (Lucas).
Subs not used: Nacho, Rodriguez, Casilla, Jese
Goal: Ramos 15
Booked: Carvajal, Navas, Casemiro, Ramos, Danilo, Pepe
Manager: Zinedine Zidane

Atletico Madrid

Oblak; Juanfran, Savic, Godin, Filipe Luis (Gomez); Saul, Gabi, Augusto (Carrasco), Koke (Thomas); Griezmann, Torres.
Subs not used: Moya, Mendes, Correa, Gimenez
Goal: Carrasco 79
Booked: Torres, Gabi
Manager: Diego Simeone
Attendance: 75,000
Referee: Mark Clattenburg

Hundreds of thousands of Real Madrid fans lined the streets on Sunday to celebrate their European Cup triumph as the champs returned home with glory from Milan. The Merengues headed to Plaza de Cibeles to celebrate their victory with fans. "Thank you for all the love you have shown," said an emotional Sergio Ramon to the adoring crowd of thousands, upon returning to Madrid with the trophy. "This is the fruit of a lot of work, from the players, coaches and staff. It has been a season of ups and down and we've seen that when you set yourself a goal, you can reach it. This is fruit of that effort. Both we and Atlético represent football all over the world and that's a sense of pride for us.”

Both superb Spanish clubs, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, will be back next season, again battling for the Champions League title in 2017.

2016 – 2017 Champions League Tickets

The 2016-17 UEFA Champions League season is just around the corner. Twenty-two teams have already booked spots in the 32-team group stage for the 2016-17 Champions League season including Spain’s biggest clubs Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, and FC Barcelona. The champions of the top seven domestic leagues are already determined using UEFA coefficients, plus the current titleholders. The following clubs will make up pot 1 for the round-robin stage: FC Barcelona (Spain), Bayern Munich (Germany), Benfica (Portugal), Paris Saint-Germain (France), Juventus (Italy), Leicester City (England), and CSKA Moscow (Russia), as well as defending champions Real Madrid.

The rest of the teams will be drawn into groups from pots 2, 3, and 4, based on UEFA club coefficients. Pot 2 will contain the names of Atlético Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal, Sevilla, Napoli, and Bayer Leverkusen, with two more clubs to be determined. Pot 3 will contain the names of Basel, Tottenham, Dinamo Kiev, and Olympique Lyon, with four more teams to be added. Pot 4 will contain the names of PSV Eindhoven, Sporting of Portugal, Bruges, and Besiktas, with four more teams to be named as well.

2016 – 2017 Champions League Play-off Round

Up to 10 teams may enter the CL group stage next season via a play-off. Five slots go to the winners of domestic leagues with lower UEFA coefficients (Champions Route), and another five clubs from those finishing near the top in the three or four best major European leagues (League Route). Clubs with a chance of making it into the Champions League group stage include Pep Guardiola's new side Manchester City, Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Olympiakos, Villarreal, Ajax, Roma, Borussia Mönchengladbach, and Celtic.

2016 – 2017 Spanish Football Tickets

Attend popular Spanish football matches live and enjoy sitting in the very best seats available – even at the last minute! Watch titan Spanish La Liga clubs in action in the upcoming 2016 – 2017 clashes! Buy cheap, authentic, legal Spanish Primera Division tickets and Champions League tickets including Real Madrid tickets, Atletico Madrid tickets, and Barcelona tickets now from the LiveFootballTickets.com online football ticket marketplace.