Roving Journalist
JF Roving Journalist
- Apr 18, 2017
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Vikosi vya Real Madrid na Liverpool vinavyoanza leo katika fainali ya UEFA 2018
The players are in the tunnel. There’s a storming atmosphere in Kiev. Jurgen Klopp is smiling broadly, as are Sadio Mane and Mo Salah. Some of the other Liverpool players look a little more taut, notably Jordan Henderson and Andy Robertson.
1 min Peep peep! James Milner, for it is he, gets the Champions League final under way.
2 min Madrid’s first attack. Carvajal lofts a cross towards Isco, and Karius flies from his line to punch clear. Isco was offside but Karius didn’t know that.
3 min It’s been a fast, confident start by Liverpool. Salah finds Wijnaldum, whose stinging low shot from 25 yards is blocked by Varane
4 min This is terrific from Liverpool. Alexander-Arnold surges forward and hits a dangerous low cross that is booted clear by Varane on the six-yard line.
5 min Real are struggling to deal with Liverpool’s tempo. Marcelo fouls Salah 20 yards from goal, in line with the right edge of the box...
6 min ... Salah runs over the free-kick and leaves it to Milner. He clips it square to Salah, who hits a low shot that is blocked. Not sure they needed anything quite so fancy at this stage.
7 min Madrid tried to slow the game down with some possession football. When they lose it, Liverpool slice then open again. Firmino plays a marvellous angled through pass towards Mane. Navas charges out of his area to meet him but Varane gets there first to clear. Moments later, Firmino’s deflected header bounces towards Alexander-Arnold, who is just beaten to the ball by Navas
8 min It’s all Liverpool. Robertson’s cross is headed over by the stooping Firmino in front of the near post. Salah has rightly had all the attention this season but I can’t remember a No9 with Firmino’s range of ability. He is a glorious footballer.
10 min We thought Madrid might struggle with Liverpool’s tempo but they are also struggling to keep the ball. Liverpool could barely have started better.
11 min Marcelo turns smartly away from Milner before dragging a tame shot well wide from 25 yards. Benzema looks like he might be struggling with an injury.
12 min Real keep the ball for a minute or so. Liverpool are waiting for their moment to strike, and as soon as they win the ball they break at, well, breakneck speed.
13 min Ronaldo has pulled on Alexander-Arnold quite a lot, though he hasn’t seen much of the ball. Kroos, meanwhile, is maybe a bit lucky not to be booked for a foul on the breaking Mane.
14 min Milner, Salah and Mane all have shots blocked in quick succession, with the last of those deflecting to Firmino in the box. He tries to wriggle past Carvajal, who makes a vital tackle.
15 min The first chance for Ronaldo. Robertson sells himself on the halfway line and is beaten by Carvajal. He moves forwards and finds Ronaldo, who marches into the area from the right and screams a shot wide of the near post from a tight angle.
18 min An abysmal pass across defence by Carvajal gives Liverpool a corner. Salah’s deep inswinger is headed over by Van Dijk, with Navas in no man’s land. Van Dijk just couldn’t get over the ball, which meant it looped gently over the bar.
20 min The game has settled down a touch after that frenetic start but Liverpool are still the better side. Madrid look really stretched in defence.
22 min Another opening for Liverpool. A long ball is allowed to bounce through to Firmino, who misjudges the weight of a header through to Mane. Ramos comes across to make another vital interception.
23 min: Good save from Navas! Milner’s cutback from the left reached Firmino, whose shot on the turn was blocked by Ramos. The ball came to Alexander-Arnold, who whistled an excellent low shot through the legs of a defender. Navas, who must have seen it later, plunged to his right to beat the ball away. That’s a fine save.
25 min Salah is down after a challenge from Ramos. He fell heavily on his left shoulder, and this looks pretty worrying for Liverpool.
27 min Salah is up and looks likely to continue, though he is still in a lot of pain.
28 min An intrepid run from Mane leads to a corner for Liverpool. He’s been very lively so far.Nothing comes of the corner.
29 min Mo Salah is down again, and I think he’s going to have to go off. He’s almost in tears.
30 min This is horrible. The poor guy is in tears, and Cristiano Ronaldo - who had similar heartbreak in the Euro 2016 final - comes over to console him. That’s desperately sad. Adam Lallana is going to replace him.
31 min The injury occurred when Ramos nicked the ball away from Salah. As Ramos’s momentum forced him to fall forward, he dragged Salah with him. Salah then landed heavily on his left shoulder.
Lallana replaces Salah. He has gone to the left, with Mane moving to the right.
33 min Marcelo’s cross pinballs to Benzema, whose snapshot is blocked by Van Dijk. Liverpool could use a timeout to clear their heads.
35 min Poor Dani Carvajal, who went off injured in last year’s final, is struggling again. He’s face down and looks like he’s in tears as well. He hurt his hamstring when he tried a backheel to Ronaldo.
36 min “Ramos’ quick pin of Salah’s arm before they both fell - did that look dirty or was it a masterful use of the dark arts?” wonders Ted.
He knew what he was doing, though I’m sure all he wanted to do was make Salah visit the canvas. A shoulder injury was a happy bonus.
37 min Dani Carvajal is replaced by Nacho. Jurgen Klopp took advantage of the break to get his team over for that aforementioned timeout.
38 min Real have dominated completely since Salah went off, albeit without much penetration. Liverpool need half-time.
40 min “I’m livid,” says Oliver Lind, in reference to Ramos’s wrestling move on Salah. “Such a dirty, dirty player. Has been for years. He is almost as bad as Pepe was, only far cleverer.”
DISALLOWED GOAL FOR REAL!
43 min Real should be ahead, sort of. Ronaldo’s header is beaten away by the flying Karius and put in by Benzema, who is flagged offside. As it turned out, Ronaldo was offside and Benzema wasn’t (I don’t think). But Ronaldo, who wasn’t given offside, should have scored. Though it was a fine save from Karius, Ronaldo should have given him no chance.
45 min Benzema is starting to influence the game. He comes infield from the left and drives a superb crossfield pass to Nacho, who volleys into the side netting at the near post. Karius had it covered.
45+1 min There will be three minutes of injury time.
45+2 min Liverpool are almost mourning the loss of Salah. They were superb for the first half hour but now they look distracted and nervous. That said, they are defending pretty well, with Van Dijk organising everyone as usual. He has had such an influence on the other defenders. Alexander-Arnold has also played extremely well.
45+3 min More good play from Benzaema, who dances infield from the left and whips a good shot just wide of the near post. Again, I think Karius had it covered. Incidentally, replays show Benzema was just offside when he scored that disallowed goal. Ronaldo’s header would have counted, even though he should have been given offside.
Half time: Real Madrid 0-0 Liverpool
Phew. As goalless halves go, that was pretty eventful. Mo Salah and Dani Carvajal both left the field injured and in tears, Salah after a dubious wrestling manoeuvre from Sergio Ramos. Liverpool started brilliantly, albeit without creating many clear chances, but lost their way after Salah’s injury and were under a lot of pressure as half-time approached.
Mo Salah has a dislocated shoulder, according to Liverpool’s early diagnosis. That means he will probably miss the World Cup as well. Sometimes, hideous things happen to good people.
46 min Real Madrid begin the second half. The first five minutes should tell us whether Liverpool have cleared their heads.
47 min Liverpool need a bit more from the usually brilliant Firmino, who has been quiet for most of the game. At the moment, Mane looks their most likely source of a goal.
The second half has started as the first finished, with Real dominating possession. Liverpool aren’t exactly hanging on but these are ominous signs.
ISCO HITS THE BAR!
48 min Madrid should be ahead. Lallana’s attempted interception falls perfectly for Isco, 15 yards from goal. He shins it over the outrushing Karius and onto the bar. That was a great chance.
GOAL! Real Madrid 1-0 Liverpool (Benzema 51)
Lorus Karius has had the mother of all shockers.
Karius collected a through pass from Kroos and tried to start a counter-attack but underarming a throw to Lovren. It hit the outstretched leg of Benzema and dribbled miserably into the corner of the net. That’s an astonishing mistake.
52 min It’s excellent play from Benzema, who read the throw and instinctively stuck his foot out to block the throw. But we are talking about one of the all-time great goalkeeping errors. Karius wanted a foul but it wasn’t.
54 min In a very perverse way, that goal might help Liverpool, because to be honest they looked like a team who were waiting to concede. Now they will have to do what they best – attack. Milner’s brilliant cross from the left skims off the head of Varane and just over the leaping Firmino.
GOAL! Real Madrid 1-1 Liverpool (Mane 55)
Liverpool are level! Look at the size of their balls!
That Varane header led to the corner which led to the goal. It was lofted very slowly towards the far post, where Lovren beasted Ramos to head the ball down into the six-yard box. Mane reacted quicker than anyone to poke it past Navas from close range.
57 min This is more like it. The gloves are off; conceding that goal seemed to wake Liverpool from their slumber. As Glenn Hoddle says, “both teams are playing with emotion”. That suits Liverpool I think.
61 min Gareth Bale is getting ready to come on. Real are having loads of the ball now. Nacho’s sharp clow cross finds Isco, whose shot on the turn is pushed behind by the diving Karius. It was going wide anyway but Karius probably didn’t know that. That’s Isco’s last touch: Bale replaces him.
62 min Real have switched to 4-3-3, which means the BBC attack are back together. Liverpool’s sexy MFS, alas, were split up after half an hour.
ASTONISHING GOAL! Real Madrid 2-1 Liverpool (Bale 64)
Oh my goodness, this is a stunning overhead kick!
Marcelo came onto his right foot and lofted a generic cross into the box. It came at chest height to Bale, who was facing away from goal on the edge of the box. He launched into a crazily athletic overhead kick that flew over Karius and into the net. What the hell was that! Even Zidane, who scored the greatest ever Champions League final goal in 2002, reacted with disbelief.
65 min That might even have been Bale’s first touch of the game. It’s certainly the defining touch of his career. It was an outrageous goal.
Bale akiifungia Real Madrid goli la pili
69 min Great defending from Ramos! Robertson’s long angled pass from inside his own half bounces dangerously behind Ramos, allowing Mane to burst through on goal. Ramos recovers magnificently to stretch and boot the ball away.
MANE HITS THE POST!
70 min He has been Liverpool’s best attacker by a mile and he almost made it 2-2. He danced across the face of the box and hit a low left-footed drive from 20 yards that skimmed across the turf and clattered off the outside of the post.
71 min Thanks for all the emails, even though I haven’t had chance to read most of them. I swear MBMs weren’t always this manic.
73 min Firmino appeals for a penalty when his cross hits the elbow of Varane. I don’t think it was. Real break and Robertson makes a glorious last-ditch challenge to deny Ronaldo, who was put through by Casemiro.
75 min What do Liverpool do from the bench? Their only realistic options are Solanke and Emre Can. I never thought I’d type this in a European Cup final MBM, but I wonder if Jurgen Klopp will regret not having Danny Ings among the subs.
77 min Liverpool have respondly excellently both times to going behind. If it stays 2-1 they will get another chance.
80 min The good news for Liverpool is that they still look dangerous when they have the ball. The bad news is that they are seeing less and less of the ball. Real’s experience is winning at the moment.
81 min “These nuclear takes on Bale’s being best final goal ever have clearly forgotten McManaman’s beautiful shinner vs Valencia and Paul Rideout’s header in 1995,” sniffs Lee Calvert of hit podcast Nessun Dorma.
82 min Bale waves a majestic pass to Benzema, whose furious volley from 18 yards is beaten away by the flying Karius. It was a good rather than great save. Liverpool can’t get the ball.
Mane is booked for a foul on popular entertainer Sergio Ramos. That was harsh; Ramos knew what he was doing.
83 min A Liverpool substation: Emre Can replaces James Milner.
GOAL! Real Madrid 3-1 Liverpool (Bale 83)
Lorus Karius has made another hideous mistake and Real Madrid are European champions!
Bale cut inside from the right and hit a dipping shot from 30 yards that was straight down the throat of Karius, who spilled it over his shoulder into the net. It’s an awful mistake. Dear me, this has become the Lorus Karius final.
85 min Bale, on a hat-trick as a substitute, surges thrillingly clear from the halfway line and is denied by a wonderful last-man tackle from Lovren.
86 min We usually get lost in the moment, which leads to hyperbole, but this really does feel like one of the most infamous goalkeeping performances of all time. Jurgen Klopp’s faith in Lorus Karius has cost him in ways neither of them could ever have imagined.
88 min Real make another change, with Marco Asensio replacing Karim Benzema.
90 min For much of the season, Real Madrid have been a bit of a shambles. They’re about to win the Champions League for the third consecutive season. And actually, they have been much the better team overall tonight. Liverpool were superb until Salah’s injury shattered their morale.
90+3 min Ronaldo breaks through on goal, at which point a fan charges onto the field and is wrestled to the ground in the penalty area by two stewards. That was was astonishing.
REAL MADRID ARE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS FOR THE 13TH TIME!
Full time: Real Madrid 3-1 Liverpool That’s it! Real retain their trophy with an ultimately comfortable victory in a bizarre final that will be remembered for many things: Mo Salah’s heartbreaking injury, Gareth Bale’s outrageous overhead kick, and most of all two unthinkable howlers from Lorus Karius.
