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Champions League Final Diary: Ronaldo stars as Cardiff treated to one of the great finals

SoccerNews in Serie A 3 Jun 2017

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After a muggy Cardiff day when a storm seemed imminent, Cristiano Ronaldo delivered the moments of calm to keep the Champions League trophy in the Spanish capital.

The Portugal star scored twice as Real Madrid defended their European crown with a 4-1 win over Juventus.

Our reporter Matthew Scott brings you the sights and sounds of Champions League final day at the Principality Stadium.

 

FOLLICLY-BAFFLING FANDOM

The hair-raising moments are supposed to come during the game, rather than the hours leading up to it.

A fan-zone initiative to get Juventus and Real Madrid fans on stage and give them club-themed haircuts bucked the trend though.

Luckily for the chap pictured here, he didn’t have much hair to begin with so one imagines he could quickly slip into baldness and hide his questionable ‘do’.

MARCEL DOH!-SAILLY

Twice a Champions League winner in his career, Marcel Desailly gave rock-solid foundations to Marseille and AC Milan sides that managed to go all the way in the competition.

Perhaps, then, you can forgive the former France captain a couple of shonky efforts at goal, in which he found ‘RoboKeeper’ impossible to beat.

BLANCOS AND BIANCONERI BRING THE NOISE

Though security fears led to a second fan park at Cardiff Castle remaining closed on Saturday, fans from both clubs made their voices heard.

Just over the road from the ghostly ‘Football Village’, Madridistas had a partisan pub to call home in the Gareth Bale-owned Elevens, with Bale Ale on tap and a Spanish friendly door policy.

Juventus’ fans were
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no shrinking violets, however, with the fan park at Cardiff Bay dominated by Bianconeri fanatics.

Those who had travelled from Turin were greeted by giant versions of Gianluigi Buffon and Gonzalo Higuain, as well as the Juventus Stadium’s resident DJ who delivered a pulsating lunchtime techno show.

JUVENTUS WILT AT RONALDO’S FEET

Juve had not conceded a goal from open play in the entire tournament, here they conceded four.

Ronaldo opened the scoring thanks to a rare error from Giorgio Chiellini and that mistake seemed to strike fear in the whole Juventus side in the second half.

Mario Mandzukic’s first-half equaliser goes down as one of the very best final goals, but ultimately counts for naught.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SoccerNews

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