Real Wins 3rd Consecutive EUFA Champions League Title

A sensational overhead strike from Real Madrid substitute Gareth Bale and two calamitous errors by Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius gave the Spanish side a third straight Champions League title with a 3-1 win in an incident-packed final on Saturday in Kiev, Ukraine.

Welshman Bale came on just past the hour with the score at 1-1 and after three minutes produced an astonishing bicycle kick finish and then netted with a speculative long-range effort that somehow went through the hands of the unfortunate Karius, Reuters reported.

The German keeper had earlier handed Real a 51st minute lead when he threw the ball straight at striker Karim Benzema and the ball rolled into the unguarded net off the Frenchman’s leg.

Liverpool, which crucially lost its leading scorer Mohamed Salah to a suspected dislocated shoulder in the 31st minute, had equalized in the 55th minute when Sadio Mane found the net from close range after Dejan Lovren headed the ball into the area.

In truth, though, despite its best efforts Liverpool never looked as much of a threat once Egyptian international Salah went down under a challenge from Real captain Sergio Ramos.

Bale, who has not been first-choice at Real this season and whose future has been the subject of much speculation, was man of the match while 24-year-old Karius ended the night in tears as he lay flat out on the turf of the NSC Olympic Stadium.

 Fully Deserving

Real has become the first team since Bayern Munich in 1976 to win Europe’s elite club trophy three years in a row. The Spaniards won five straight European Cup trophies in the 1950s.

Real’s fourth Champions League triumph in five years, and 13th European Cup success in total, was fully deserved despite Liverpool, the competition’s top scorer this season, making an aggressive start to the game in an electric atmosphere.

Real had their own injury blow with right-back Dani Carvajal having to go off, replaced by Nacho in the 37th, and ended the half with Benzema’s effort being disallowed for offside after Cristiano Ronaldo’s header was saved by Karius.

Ronaldo, who now has five Champions League winners medals, could have added a fourth goal for Real near the end but the Portugal forward was distracted as he burst goalwards when a fan ran onto the pitch before being stopped by security. This time it was Bale who had grabbed all the headlines as Real and Zidane continued their continental dominance.