Tuesday, June 4, 2024

2024 Champions League Final

Real Madrid 2-0 Borussia Dortmund

Dortmund came in as the mighty underdog, the pluckiest team in this year's competition if not the best; Real came in as the overlord, the faves, the ones everyone just expected to win. Well, they did.

I thought Dortmund pretty well dominated the offense for the first 70 or so minutes of the game. They pushed forward effectively numerous times, never finding the back of the net but generally looking more dangerous than Madrid. 

Then in the 71st minute, Dortmund gave up a corner, parried it away rather easily, but they failed to properly clear and Madrid got an extra rip at the goal, resulting in another corner. Not a big deal, really, but something felt off about that play. Even the commentator suggests that it was a bad giveaway by the Dortmund defense. 

Sure enough, seconds later, Carvajal connects on a header, skips past the keeper to the wide open far net. Just like that...

But because Dortmund's attack had been better than Madrid's, it still felt like there was time to reach the draw. Then in 82nd minute, Vini struck off a bad giveaway by the Dortmund defense (check it out: Bellingham is celebrating before Vini even takes the shot). That was ball game, just 10 more minutes of watching the clock run out after that. 

For the most part Dortmund really was the better team on this day, but two bad moments in the backfield is all it takes. Hell of a run by Borussia Dortmund but Real Madrid struck like champions and took home the trophy (and they've already announced that Kylian MBappe is joining the roster). 

No comments: