The most chaotic and unpredictable of runs ends the only way it could – with the team that almost always wins the European Cup, winning with total certainty. There was always a sense Real Madrid's name was on the trophy, and it is now for a record-extending fourteenth time. Liverpool’s players could not fight fate, although they barely put up a struggle after the opening spell of this underwhelming 1-0 defeat. It was after that, and largely because of that, there only really felt one winner in Paris, too.
Jurgen Klopp’s side gave one of their least inspiring performances of the season on the biggest night of the season, even if so much of this occasion failed to live up to its prestige. Most of all, there was the awful organisation of it. The scenes on the pitch were much less important than the dreadful circumstances outside, which saw the game delayed by 36 minutes and fans who had tickets pepper-sprayed. That this happens in 2022 is ludicrous. The failure of the authorities here will now dominate the headlines, but it is Madrid and Carlo Ancelotti who will dominate the records.
