KIEV – In an extraordinary final, Liverpool lost this year’s UEFA Champions League Final to Spain’s Real Madrid in Ukraine’s capital city Kiev on Saturday.
Gareth Bale’s two goals off the bench — one a wonder, the other a blunder — gave Real Madrid a 3-1 victory in the final match.
The victory was Madrid’s third in a row in the tournament, a feat unseen in the competition since Bayern Munich won three consecutive European Cups from 1974-76. It gave Madrid 13 titles over all, extending its Champions League record, and four in the past five years.
? CHAMPIONS! ?
Congratulations, Real Madrid! ?
?13 pic.twitter.com/81KJLW0IGh
— #UCLfinal (@ChampionsLeague) May 26, 2018
Liverpool, playing in the final for the first time since 2007, lost its star striker Mohamed Salah to a shoulder injury in the first half hour, and while it gave a game effort — tying the score at 1-1 early in the second half — Real Madrid’s relentlessness and unmatched depth simply wore them down.
The UEFA Champions League is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs.
The tournament began with a group stage of 32 teams, divided into eight groups.
The UEFA Champions League final is one of the most watched annual sporting events worldwide after FIFA world cup.
