Live Real Madrid vs Juventus, UEFA Champions League final: Catch all the updates as the two European giants clash at Cardiff. (Source: AP)
The 2017 UEFA Champions League final is upon us. On Sunday, June 4, 2017, 22 players will draw the envy of footballers from around the globe as they line up at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff with the Champions League anthem and the screams 66,000 fans filling the air. Both Real Madrid and Juventus dominated their opponents in the semi-final and that makes predicting the outcome of this match nearly impossible. While Juventus are chasing their first ever treble of domestic league, cup and continental titles. Real are chasing a double of domestic league and continental titles and could also be the first ever team to defend their Champions League title since the tournament has been rechristened. Catch live scores and updates of the UEFA Champions League final between Real Madrid and Juventus.
Real Madrid vs Juventus, Live football score, 2017 UEFA Champions League final:
0128 hrs IST: A bit of a stalemate between the two sides. Juventus put a spoke in Real’s wheel whenver they look to threatening but they are unable to piece together an attack themselves. Gareth Bale, meanwhile, warms up on the touch-line
0126 hrs IST: Modric puts the ball past a Juve player and takes the shot from the edge of the D. It has pace but the height and direction makes it easy for Buffon to collect
0124 hrs IST: Toni Kroos receives a yellow card for a challenge on his German team mate Sami Khedira. He is the second Real man after Sergio Ramos to be booked today.
0119 hrs IST: Real Madrid kick off the second half and have been on the attack from the word go. Isco makes his way into the box but Andrea Barzagli takes the ball away from him brilliantly. Leonardo Bonucci takes a knock in the following corner kick routine and has to be taken off
0112 hrs IST: We have been talking about it, now see it:
This Mario Mandzukic #UCLFinal Goal will be replayed for years to come pic.twitter.com/qPvE4wfZg7
— Lazy Media (@LazyWrita) 3 June 2017
0104 hrs IST: HALF TIME! It’s Real Madrid 1-1 Juventus at Cardiff. Mario Mandzukic scored what has to be one of the goals of the season to cancel out Real’s lead that came off the foot of Cristiano Ronaldo. Overall, Juventus have been the better team. They have been in control of the proceedings for the better part of the match and Ronaldo’s goal was against the run of play. But the goal scored by Mandzukic is one for the ages, not just for the sheer audacity of the shot but the way the ball came to the Croat through Alex Sandro first and then Higuain
0100 hrs IST: Real Madrid try to push for a goal late in the first half and passed the ball in front of the Juventus defence. The move breaks down when Alex Sandro intercepts Isco’s attempted pass to Carvajal.
0057 hrs IST: Dani Carvajal sends in a ball into the box cross the field from the right. Ronaldo runs and jumps in an attempt to get there but Buffon is first to the ball. Just over a couple of minutes of regulation time remaining in the first half
0055 hrs IST:
That was how Mandzukic put Juve on level terms. Go figure. (Source: Reuters)
0051 hrs IST: Juve’s goal scorer Mario Mandzukic needs some treatment after colliding with Dani Carvajal.
0049 hrs IST: Dybala takes the free kick and it is stopped at the wall. He screams for a hand-ball but the referee is not interested. Replays show that the ball did indeed bounce of Ronaldo’s hand.
0047 hrs IST: Paulo Dybala kicks the ball past a Madrid player and sprints into space, Modric comes in for the challenge but Dybala gets to it first and draws a foul. The Argentine sensation has been quite a menace to Real Madrid so far.
0042 hrs IST: GOAL!! Mandzukic with an absolute peach of an overhead kick that floats above Navas into goal. It came at the end of a lovely Juve move and he had to chest it down with his back to goal and takes the overhead kick. That is something Zinedine Zidane would have done in his prime. What a final this is turning out to be.
0038 hrs IST: Juventus looked like they were in control of the game. Real may have been hogging possession but they were being pressed to the limit by Juve whenever they entered the final third. But that was untill Ronaldo opened up space for himself by putting it out wide to Carvajal.
0033 hrs IST: GOAL!! It had to be Ronaldo, Real lead in the 19th minute. His 104th goal in the Champions League and what a goal it was. 20 yards out, a driven shot that takes a slight deflection off Leonardo Bonucci and goes beyond the reach of Buffon into the bottom corner.
0031 hrs IST: Casemiro is given a warning by the referee after crashing into Pjanic. Many might have got a yellow card for that
0027 hrs IST:
Gareth Bale may not be starting but Zidane will be seeing him as an important option off the bench. (Source: AP)
0023 hrs IST: Some visuals of the pre-match extravaganza:
Plenty of fireworks before kick-off, who’ll provide them during the match? #UCLfinal pic.twitter.com/xvTOFVBx6r
— Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) 3 June 2017
0020 hrs IST: Juventus have been on top in what has been a very high level of football exhibited from both sides. Gonzalo Higuain came closest to goal when he skipped past Casemiro and took the shot. Navas could hold on to it.
0010 hrs IST: So here we are, after a performance from the Black Eyed Peas and the trophy being walked out by Welsh and Liverpool great Ian Rush, Juventus kick off the match.
2327 hrs IST: Bale is in the subs and so could be a bit of a card up Zidane’s sleeves. It would have been one of the surprises of the season if he was in the first team though. But anyway, Isco has got his deserved place in the starting XI.
2324 hrs IST: Team News;
Juventus: Buffon, Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini, Alex Sandro, Khedira, Pjanic, Dani Alves, Dybala, Mandzukic, Higuain
Real Madrid: Navas, Carvajal, Varane, Marcelo, Modric, Casemiro, Kroos, Isco, Benzema, Ronaldo
2311 hrs IST: Rumours were emanating from Cardiff that Gareth Bale might start the match. A few other whispers then came that bale will not be in the Real starting line up. Whatever it may be, we await the official squads for the two teams.
2245 hrs IST: One of the lasting images of the 2009 Champions League final between Manchester United and Barcelona is Cristiano Ronaldo chasing the ball as it is passed in almost nonchalance between Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Carles Puyol. An exasperated Ronaldo, then the reigning World Player of the Year kicks the air when Iniesta finally puts the ball forward. It was the first time that Ronaldo was playing in a second consecutive Champions League final. United were undone that day by a magnificent Barcelona led by the diminutive Lionel Messi and Ronaldo moved to Real for a record fee that summer.
Eight years later, he faces another chance to be part of a team that have won two consecutive Champions League titles. He has been at the centre of Zinedine Zidane’s revolution at the Santiago Bernabeu and his mind numbing ability to find the back of the net more often than not have helped Real dominate Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid on the road to Cardiff. But in the context of the match itself, Ronaldo is not the sole protagonist. There is also the venerable Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon who hasn’t been able to win the title since making his debut in 1995. At the time, Ronaldo was a promising 10-year-old playing in Portuguese club Nacional’s youth squad. There is also the Juventus back line of Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci and Andrea Barzagli who have formed what has to be one of the strongest defences in the world this season.
There is Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane, who has played for Juventus in two Champions League finals and lost both of them. He has then won the trophy with Real Madrid, scoring the winner against Bayer Leverkusen in 2002. The goal is rated as the greatest in the history of the tournament. He has then won the trophy a second time in his first season, in fact half season, as manager. Multiple storylines will be drawing to a climax at Cardiff, pick your poison.
