Carlo Ancelotti had said there was no need to go mad but no one was listening and why would they now? Suddenly dozens of men were sprinting down the touchline chasing Karim Benzema, the Frenchman disappearing under a pile of bodies in the corner while around them 60,000 people completely lost their heads. The noise was so loud ears bled and a chant went up. “Así gana el Madrí”, it ran: “that’s how Madrid win!”
How they won was barely believable, maybe even the most remarkable of an entire library of implausible tales at a club that specialises in astonishing comebacks, another epic European story written. “A club that has 13 European Cups doesn’t win by chance; it’s something deep in their guts,” Mauricio Pochettino had said and how appropriate that felt here. This is cannot be bought.
