Real Madrid made history on Wednesday evening by becoming just the third club to win a fifth UEFA Super Cup.
Carlo Ancelotti's side joined bitter rivals Barcelona and Italian giants AC Milan in the pantheon of Super Cup greats by defeating Europa League winners Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 in Helsinki. Goals from David Alaba and Karim Benzema were enough for the trophy.
Real qualified for the curtain raiser by beating Liverpool 1-0 in May's Champions League final. Frankfurt, meanwhile, secured their spot in Finland by beating Rangers on penalties in May's Europa League final. Here are the main talking points from a steady evening.
Stars rewarded
With a new season bringing fresh challenges, last term's achievements are ancient history for Real and Frankfurt. Yet both Ancelotti and Frankfurt boss Oliver Glasner were keen to reward the players who secured their respective triumphs earlier this year.
Ancelotti named an unchanged XI for the Super Cup - resisting the urge to play new signing Antonio Rudiger - while Glasner selected 10 of the players who started the Europa League final. The only player to miss out was Filip Kostic, who is close to joining Juventus.
"This game is a reward for winning Europa League title, this is their reward for what they achieved," admitted Glasner before kick-off.
History boys
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Many will be unaware of the history behind Wednesday's fixture. The Super Cup clash was the first time Real and Frankfurt have met each other in a competitive match since the 1960 European Cup final, which was a truly remarkable game of football.
Astonishingly, Real won 7-3 in front of more than 127,000 people at Scotland's Hampden Park. Real's goals were shared by greats in Alfredo Di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas, securing their fifth consecutive European Cup. Wednesday's game wasn't quite as exciting...
Fighting Frankfurt
It's fair to say most pundits were expecting a comfortable Real victory on Wednesday. Yes, Frankfurt are Europa League champions and deserved to be in Helsinki... but they were also hammered 6-1 by Sadio Mane's Bayern Munich five days earlier.
Yet the Germans made a good start at the Olympic Stadium. Daichi Kamada forced Thibault Courtois into a smart save early on and young Brazilian defender Tuta made a superb block on the line to deny Vinicius Junior. They were well up for the scrap.
Real break defences
Real managed to breach Frankfurt's defence in the 37th minute. Some lovely play between Vinicius and Ballon d'Or favourite Karim Benzema allowed to the former to force Kevin Trapp into an impressive save, tipping the ball around his left-hand post.
Benzema won the header from the resulting corner, looping the ball into the direction of Casemiro. The Brazilian then headed the ball back across the middle and Alaba was waiting to poke it into an empty net. A soft goal, but they all count.
More history for Carlo
Real tried to consolidate their lead after the break. Vinicius produced an excellent save from Trapp after his shot deflected off Benzema, while Casemiro shook the crossbar with a fierce effort from distance. Yet it remained 1-0 heading into the final 30 minutes.
In between those two efforts saw the introduction of Mario Gotze, a blast from the past for many. The former Germany international, who famously scored the winner in the 2014 World Cup final, is back in the Bundesliga after a two-year spell at PSV Eindhoven.
Sadly for Frankfurt fans, Gotze couldn't make the difference - although Ansgar Knauff tested Courtois with a cheeky toe poke in the 63rd minute. Real settled the game moments later through Benzema, who slotted home a low cross from Vinicius.
The victory ensured another slice of history for Ancelotti. He's now won four Super Cups, putting him one ahead of Pep Guardiola in the all-time list. That decision to leave Everton for Real just over a year ago looks better and better with each passing day.
