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The celebration at the final whistle did feel amusingly subdued, which I guess when you've got guys there who have won it five time previously makes sense. For Joselu, who has been on teams who got relegated the past two seasons, he must've thought lifting that trophy was a far-off fantasy that didn't happen for guys like him. A dream come true in every sense of the phrase.

They all celebrate like crazy in the locker when watching the documentaries like even kroos haha, but just after the whistle those who are the most expressive are the youngsters Vini, Cama , Tchouameni etcc Bellingham looked more emotional than I have ever seen him and Joselu no need to talk

Tbf Carvjal started crying which I didn't expect

Carvajal has always been very connected to madrid since he's an academy kid. Not to say the others don't love us but if you grew up as a madrid fan the wins are probably more sweet

Especially if you're part of adding another Champions League to your childhood team. I'd cry every time too, doesn't matter how many.

This ties him with Gento for most champions leagues/European cups. That must mean a lot for someone who would have likely grown up with stories of that team from his dad

He literally was the academy kid who laid the first stone at Valdebebas/Ciudad Real Madrid. Like I can only imagine a flood of emotions of that 20 year history (to that day) where he was a starter all six times in these final wins. Absolute legend.

Yeah definitly one of the best right backs I've ever seen. Real Madrid are lucky to have such servants.

He put the 1st stone of the training ground 20 years ago, the anniversary is last month. This is scripted.

It's a good script, the writers deserve a raise.

Carvajal is a tank. He has performed every season and his consistency is off the charts. Carvajal for me is the best RB of this generation.

In terms of career success he might even be the best ever. Depends on how you weigh up Cafu's world cups

I think you'd have to include Dani Alves in any comparison seeing as he's won more trophies than any other player in history. However he doesn't have the world cups of Cafu or as many CL as Carvajal.

His consistency was great until 2018. That's when the injuries started hitting him and he's mostly had average seasons with some where he hit form at the right time (2022). 2023-24 is the first season since that 2018 where he was healthy and truly elite the entire season. And yes, he's the best RB of his generation.

You are right but then again its incredible how has remained the starter, he comes back in form to cement his place.

I mean, it is between him/Walker and Danilo most likely. He definitely has a shout to being the best of the bunch.

Carvajal is definitely better than both , in his prime he was amazing defensively and offensively

The Danilo that didn’t cut it for Madrid? Not hating on him I just forgot to follow up on him and see how he’s been

He hasnt played the best for Madrid but he was champion basically everywhere he went. He was Libertadores champion for Santos, Portuguese champion for Porto, English champion for City and Italian champion for Juventus. And nowadays he is captain for Juventus, so he is doing quite alright.

Danilo?? What the fuck haha Also as good as Walker is, his career doesn't hold a candle to Carvajal's.

I mean, Danilo maybe has a shot if we are talking about winning in different places. He is champion in England, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Brazil after all. I don’t agree that he is ahead because Carvajal’s 6 champions are simply absurd though.

He was the captain last night too right? I can imagine that one meant a little more

Pretty sure it was Nacho, no?

[удалено]

Yep, it’s nacho, Modric then Dani as the captains

My bad, I was wrong

Nacho was the captain

My bad, I was wrong

on top of that he very often wears his emotions on his sleeve, and has clearly shown that he's a person with strong emotions in general.

I feel like I remember seeing Carvajal go off injured in previous finals. Playing a full one and scoring the decisive goal must have felt insanely cathartic.

yep went off injured in the 2016 final and ended up missing the euros

Also in the Liverpool final. He was our very own Salah (almost because that would be Cristiano) and Danilo our very own Lallana. People often underestimate greatly for crucial our fullbacks were to how we played, ironically perhaps something similar to peak Liverpool under Klopp. Even then, Carvajal had to contend with Marcelo but the pair of them were like Fede:- - not the best, like Kroos has been our best midfielder this season - or the most impactful/"MVP", like Jude has been as a midfielder) - but the most important, Fede for the balance of the team. He enables others to have the seasons they had, covering for their weaknesses and allowing them to be free of worries and concentrating on delivering what they do best. You take Fede out and we disintegrate, particularly on transitions. Many players would suffer but Kroos and Carvajal would have fallen off a cliff. That's why Fede, perhaps asking with Vini and Courtois is literally the first name of the team sheet. The rest can be toyed around with. That's why Fede has consistently and quietly had the most minutes or thereabouts all these seasons.

I miss Fede long range shooting. Last season iirc 70% came from long range shooting

Carvajal managed to become the player with the most UCLs in history, equaling Paco Gento, so it was a bigger milestone than the last ones.

Modric, Kroos and Fernandez have also won six: 14, 16, 17, 18, 22 and 24.

Kroos wasn’t with Madrid for the 2013/2014 win. He won it with Bayern in the 12/13 season.

Carvajal is such an underrated part of this team. Everyone talks about Bellingham, Kroos, Modric, and rightfully so, but Carvajal is quietly the leader of that back line and rarely puts in a wrong foot.

If he hadn’t been injured so often early in his prime years he would be considered easily the third best right-back of this generation after Dani Alves and Lahm. As it is, I think he still is but there’s a clear gap to the status that the other two achieved.

Carvajal absolutely run his fucking ass off, gave everything he had in him, and basically dragged the team to victory by the scruff of our goddamned neck. Surprised he didn't collapse long before FT blew.

Yeah. Regardless of if you've won it before it's a project you've been working towards all year. That has to mean something.

What doc?

French tv had those mini documentaries about the 2022 run, also had one for Benzema ballon, but cant remember the title one bit

Imo it's relief. Being favorites do that to you. It's still a type of celebration.

From being relegated to winning the UCL in the same year has to be a roller coaster of emotions.

And the best thing about it is that he wasn't a passenger in the team, even if he wasn't a starter. He played a very crucial part in getting them to the finale. He's earned that CL

And he knows he wasn’t just some passenger who didn’t deserve to be there. They straight up don’t win it without him

These motjerfuckers where celebrating with their supporters since they were 1-0 up. Like wtf. They thought they had it in the bag and why of course. 14 titles why would the 15th not be secured. Very strange.

Yet they went 30 years without winning it until the 2000s. Pendulum swings back and forth. Perez has been a titan of all titans there, they probably don't really decline until he moves off.

The one departure I truly fear is when Florentino steps down.

Joselu is a proper RM academy product on top of it

I wonder if it still holds the same charm if you join as a minor character on a Real Madrid team that's winning it for the 15th time.

Im glad I was the only that thought the same about how they celebrated.

Actual fairytale story, from relegation side to being pick up by your old club and winning the CL. He was looking for links to watch Madrid just a year or two ago lol

That tweet was actually from 12 years ago, it only resurfaced recently.

This is funny

Joselu seems like a really chill guy, I’m hoping Perez will sign him just for the vibes.

Even not for the vibes, surely a useful bench player who offers a very different profile to all your attacking options for 1.5m will be very useful if you can afford a spot in the 25-man squad? And at the age of 34 you don't really need to worry about him not developing because he's not getting game time, it's just plug and play for him.

The guy scored 16 goals for relegated Espanyol and 14 for relegated Alavés the season before. 30 league goals in two seasons playing for two sides that went down.. Clearly a very good player and that is without even taking into account his record for Madrid. A goal every other game in the CL

Like, he's not even bad. He played for Stoke which gives people predispositions in the anglophone world. I would have him at Wolves tbh.

Of course he isn't bad. 30 goals in two seasons for relegated teams, 5 goals in 11 CL matches for Madrid, 5 goals in 10 caps for Spain. He would be good for pretty much every PL team albeit as a backup for some >He played for Stoke which gives people predispositions in the anglophone world. This is definitely true but it is so dumb. Diogo Jota and Raul Jimenez flopped in Spain before doing great in England, it would be the same as calling them shit forever because of that

Oh certainly. I like his attitude. He knows his worth and got to win a champions league. I do agree that some players are better in some leagues opposed to others but that is because some leagues or sometimes an individual club is more physical or faster in play style than others and creates the style clashes we like in the European cups.

We would be dumb not to sign him. I'm almost certain we will.

It's not just vibes Joselu and Brahim have more G+A this season than hazard and Jovic had in their entire career at Madrid Madrid's bench got great upgrade

Mariano Diaz was a back up for many years and wasn't even half the player Joselu is.

Mariano Diaz’s 18 Ligue 1 goals in his one season at Lyon is one of the weirdest “prolific” seasons for a striker that I’ve ever seen. Scored in almost every game in the first half of the season, but after that it was quite clear that he didn’t have a future in team, which lead to his departure after just the one season.

Loved him at OL. After that just came to Real to finish his career. What a waste. Could play for NT tosay if made better choices.

Same, we wouldn't be in the final if it weren't for his contributions. I know Endrick is coming but even he would have a totally different profile. Joselu would be our only traditional 9.

I don’t think Endrick is anywhere near the level to be starting yet. The pressure won’t be on him.

I would say the same but he did really step up on last year title chase for Palmeiras. He is the single biggest contributor for the remontada they did against Botafogo who was the leader then when they were losing 3x1. He will probably surpass early expectations that people have of him.

Yeah, Endrick is a boy who keeps skipping steps. There are even expectations he becomes a starter for Brazil in Copa America. And he will just now turn 18 and that is usually a HUGE boost in performance for young players (G. Jesus was barely a starter on Palmeiras as 17yo and the next year he was probably the best player in the league). As long as Carlo and the boys help him deal with nerves and anxiety he may soon be at least a regular on the team. That being said. Joselu ain't the same style of players and I would 100% keep him on the team because he is a very positive presence for the squad.

Club legend. Well, playing your first game then coming back 13 years later to your childhood club completely past your prime to sub in semi-finals game and put absolute clinic to get your team in the final is so movie shit. His salary is too low, he is Spanish, great guy and completely loved by everyone, so I would think he will resign, and after retirement, he is 100% going to get a job in the club if he wants. It is kind of similar to Arbeloa, who only played in the club for 5 years, or Valdano, but it doesn't matter, they are 100% bleed white.

He seems so out of place to me. I know, he's been a solid B-list striker for a decade. But you've got a team of absolute super stars; old, big-name veterans + young, flashy future balon d Oro candidates, then Joselu. Like a happy accident. The guy put up solid numbers while getting relegated with both Alaves and Espanyol, then went to Madrid for a CL.

Literally wouldn't have even gotten to the final if he didn't come in vs Bayern and score 2 goals in 3 minutes.

Made himself a legend with that imo

Vazquez and Nacho have been essential to the club for years despite not being a big name. We’re not Real Madrid without a few loyal Spaniards sacrificing playing time and prestige just to step up when we need them the most. The competition for a spot on the squad is incredibly fierce, but there’s a reason why these less known players have kept their spot for years.

Without Nacho there would have been so many times that Madrid would’ve had to play an academy kid or someone out of position in the back line. It’s little things like this that make the difference when you win titles.

Vazquez is a bit of a meme especially when he was solely playing as a winger, but Nacho has always been underrated. Immense player.

The thing about nacho is that he has had to compete with guys like Varane, Ramos, Pepe, Alaba, Militao and Rudiger. But at the end of the day he has always been there to play when and where he has been needed.

Perfect squad player

Joselu ended this season w/ 17G and 2A. I’d be stoked to have him next season in a support role similar to Vazquez and Nacho. He gets the job done(most of the time lol) and if he had any shortcomings this season he made up for it w/ his two goals against Bayern

If Real Madrid does a 4-3-3 with Vini, Rodrygo and Mpappe, they need Joselu as a back up, with Diaz and Endrick

Jerk of all jerks

Real Madrid Player: fucking Madrid

...fuckkking guy

Madrid the Relentless Because they just never relent

Since he's still with RM on loan, would it be fair to say that an Espanyol player won this season's Champions League?

So did a Chelsea player

For 99.99% of footballers, winning the Champion's League is the ultimate, unachievable dream. Most players are lucky to win it once in their lives, and it becomes the biggest achievement and most memorable nights of their entire career. And then there are the guys at Real Madrid, just casually winning their 6th CL, like it's a league cup or something. Both unbelievable and outrageous at the same time.

Even 6 league cups are insane achievement 😭😭 let alone ucl

Tbf, the squad hasn't won 6 CdR lol

Imagine if they celebrate more on CDR in the future 😂

Exactly, 6 league cups is wayy bigger than a single UCL. And we’re talking about 6 UCL’s oh my lord

Delusional. No player would trade any amount of any country's League Cups for a single UCL.

Jesus Christ, six league cups is not bigger than a single UCL.

Brought to you by the fanbase that claimed they "preferred winning the league" to the CL the past decade

Cope. How many clubs have more UCLs than league titles?

"For you, the day you won the CL was the most important day of your life. For me, it was Saturday." - Modrić, probably.

I’m pretty sure that’s the World Cup, but only destiny determines that. Club football gives you more control tho

I think it used to be the World Cup. Nation squads used to be the strongest, and the WC was the true test among teams that only happened once every four years. Nowadays the top club teams are stronger than the top nation teams which makes the CL the de facto best competition.  CL would be more mythical if it was held every 4 years and Madrid didn't win 50% of them.

CL squads are stronger, but in the WC players are representing their countries. The difference in passion is always so tangible compared to clubs tbh

Sucks for Haaland, I don't see Norway making it into the WC soon :/

If they dont make it with 48 teams going into the competition he simply doesnt belong in there. Nations with worse players than the likes of Haaland and Odegaard have managed to qualify and make an impact.

pois é. mas todo mundo sabe que o haalandinho é pipoqueiro. jogo decisivo de repescagem pra classificar pra copa do mundo não é com ele

Thats somewhat true, but with places dictated by geographical region it may exclude nations like norway who might be 'better' than one or more asian, oceanic or other team due to the limited number of european spots. Im unsure how they are determining allocation of spots under the expanded format going forward though.

Last WC cycle North Macedonia was 1 match away from the WC. Bosnia and Herzegovina qualified somewhat recently. Greece qualified and won an Eurocopa ffs. Norway has numerous opportunities to do something but they just fall short everytime.

But those nations aren't Norway

No reason why they shouldn't. Odegaard is also top tier. Wales made it with just 2 top players, and Ramsey was washed by that point tbh.

would help if he turned up

I acknowledge your point, but sports are a balance between the ultra-rabid fans and the fair weather/casual fans; and frankly, most people don’t know about the Champions League, period. Everyone knows about the FIFA World Cup. When I messaged my group chats seeing if anyone else was excited for the Champions League final, there was only one other guy watching it, separately. One guy messaged hours after the game annoyed that he forgot that the CL final was on Saturday and he missed it. The same group chats were **blowing up** in December 2022, and I was only able to check the 100+ messages *after* my own World Cup Final party was over. I don’t disagree with you that the CL final is the absolute height of soccer technical quality. **The best** players in the world are represented in the CL final, but the FIFA World Cup final is the highest confluence of drama and spectacle in world soccer. There’s really nothing else like it.

> most people don’t know about the Champions League, period I live in Brazil rn and here even the poorest guy living in a corrugated metal shack knows about the Champions League. I bet it's the same worldwide, Football is just too popular and beloved everywhere.

If I could round off the discussion straightforwardly - the Champions League final has nowhere **near** the global reach of a FIFA World Cup final. The better equivalent for the Champions League final is not the FIFA World Cup final - it is the NFL Super Bowl.

lmao. Not even close. It was boradcasted live for millions of brazillians yesterday. On super bowl finals only few people comment on the internet. We can extrapolate this for the rest of the world. Most people in the don't even understand American footbal much else play or care to watch. You make no sense.

We are certainly speaking about this from different angles, countries, and perspectives around the world - but I think it's fair to say that neither a North American perspective nor a Brazilian-Portuguese perspective can extrapolate to deterministically represent the entire world's. What I am definitively arguing is that I disagree with the original premise: > I think it used to be the World Cup. Nation squads used to be the strongest, and the WC was the true test among teams that only happened once every four years. **Nowadays the top club teams are stronger than the top nation teams which makes the CL the de facto best competition.** > CL would be more mythical if it was held every 4 years and Madrid didn't win 50% of them. It depends on what we mean by "best". If the original commenter is referring to the the CL final > WC final in terms of *quality*, I can certainly agree with that. If the original commenter is speaking to the drama, spectacle, and overall global reach? Yeah, no. The FIFA World Cup dwarfs everything else in terms of sporting spectacle on Earth. The Champions League's closest comparison is **not** the FIFA World Cup, the Champions League's closest comparison is the NFL Super Bowl. There are many people who do not know about the Champions League or the Super Bowl. There are many people who know about the Champions League and the Super Bowl, but even if they know about them, do not care enough to watch either of them. All of those same people will still watch the World Cup.

Not everywhere. Nobody cares about football where I live

That doesn’t matter at all. Players don’t decide what they want to win the most by what is the strongest level of football (why would they?), it’s all about prestige and identification, and the World Cup is worth 10 UCL for that. WC winners from 20 years ago are still making documentaries about their campaigns.

Yeah but most players play 2-3 wc at most in their career.

There are fewer than a handful of countries that realistically can dream about winning The World cup. Winning UCL is more dream-able

Pretty sure most of the squad have 2, at best 3 CdR. Carlo may be the only manager to have won multiple CdR in like 3 decades. And yet they just keep winning the CL.

...isn't that the World Cup

"for Madrid, it was just another Sunday"

Tbf what we’re witnessing is historic. Last time a squad won 6 CL in 10 years it was in the 50s. We lose a lot by losing Kroos and when Modric goes Im curious to see if we will look the same composed team under stress. But I do hope they start being more consistent in the league

Totally. I'm just sad Buffon hasn't had the chance to win one during his career.

He had several chances lol

carvajal gesturing towards his 6 CL winner medals: wait so what do you guys use as coasters

Probably has the trophy’s in his garage as a container for his old tools like Doc Hudson in Cars lol

Modric did WHAT in his cup?!

Lmao. Gotta love Mater!

6 is enough for a nice set, can def save some money there

ex-Newcastle and Stoke striker Jose "the Hoss" lu is justifiably chuffed at winning the freakin Champions League with Real Madrid.

After sending them to the final in the first place

You can't make that shit up

Dude only needed one season off the bench to win our hearts forever.

This truly is the wildest timeline when a 34 year old Joselu playing in relgation teams in most of his career gets subed in on a ucl semi final match and score 2 goal in 10 minute against Neuer out of all GKs

He has the best journeyman career ever

His goal against Neuer is more than enough for us.

Toni and possibly Nacho are leaving so the environment was bittersweet at most. Lukita will probably leave next year as well. Victory was achieved, but it is also a reminder of the ending of an era. I am super happy with la Decimoquinta, but I am still sad with Toni’s retirement.

Don't you mention eras and shit. That stuff is a curse.

Nacho is still not 100% clear no?

This era has been "ending" for the last 10 years. I'm positive that it's going to last just a bit more.

I am not referring to the end of a successful cycle, I refer to Casemiro, Toni and Lukita’s midfield era. Only one is left and he’ll leave soon as well. I hope we keep winning forever!

We addapted from Kroos-Case-Modric with the immediate insertion of Tchouameni and Camavinga, two of the most ridiculous young ballers out there right now. Add to that Fede and before that Marcus Llorente was doing well in midfield for us (when we mistakenly thought Luka might be past it). The transition has been so smooth that we only had one bad season throughout the departures of CR7, Bale, Ramos, Varane, Casemiro, Marcelo, Benzema, Bale, Asensio, Isco, Kovacic, Navas, etc., almost a whole starting xi worth of quality players.

Tchuameninga midfield

BBC gone, KC gone only M left, M(arcelo)R(amos)V(arane) gone only C(arjaval) left, Navas gone, also an honorable mention of that team Isco (disco) also left. So yeah, an era has been ending since 2018.

Lukita stay

For one season, I'd like the whole world to unite and put together an Avengers-like team with the best players in the world to stop Madrid in UCL.

Perez can make it happen. Sign up for the Super league

No thanks.

Just out of curiosity, if such team were to be made based on this season's UCL performances alone, what would be the starting XI?

My take would be Mbappe - Kane - Foden Vitinha - Sabitzer - Bernardo Maatsen - Dias - Hummels - Kimmich Kobel Obviously I didn’t watch every single game, so feel free to change wherever you see fit.

You have Kane so they’ll end up being cursed

Rodri for Vitinha

Adeyemi for the first 60 minutes

Not a single Brazilian so this team would not be able to win.

Does maatsen deserve to be there after all the messups

GK: Gregor Kobel RB: Joshua Kimmich CBs: Bastoni, Hummels LB: Gvardiol CM: Bernardo Silva DM: Rodri AM: Julian Alvarez RW: Bukayo Saka ST: Harry Kane LW: Phil Foden

Kimmich got fleeced by Vini in both legs.

He's about as good as you cam do with any RB today. The way Vini's been playing, you'd have to put prime Zanetti/Lahm to slow him down.

In my humble opinion GK : Ederson RB : TAA CB : Ruben Dias, Bastoni LB : Theo Hernandez MF: Rodri, Declan Rice, Kevin De Bruyn FW: Mo Salah, Harry Kane, Son (not including Mbappe) Edit: basically I'm stupid and can't read. I didn't read they asked based on this season's UCL performance. This is mostly based on my personal opinion.

Unironically we can take that team over two legs, if nothing else because Vini and Rodrygo would abuse that left flank like a priest at a Muppets show I would pick the current City team over that team to beat us

“This season’s UCL performance’s only “ Names a Spurs player, Liverpool player, KDB who was injured half the year, and Theo from Milan who didn’t even make the knockouts.

Shit I didn't realise they specifically asked for this season's UCL performance. My bad. I can't read.

I'm biased but we can absolutely take on that team

Perhaps, I'd have more faith in Man City than this team tbh.

Remove Rice, TAA, KdB, Son, Ederson, Salah

De Bruyne was damn close to eliminating us, he deserves a spot. TAA would get eaten alive

League performance included, I think it is: GK: Emi Martinez LB: Alejandro Grimaldo CB: Bastoni, Van Dijk RB: Jeremie Frimpong CM: Declan Rice CM: Rodri CM: Florian Wirtz LW: Phil Foden ST: Harry Kane RW: Cole Palmer

That team gets smoked out of their skin on the flanks lmao, Frimpong at RB against Vini and Rodrygo is a recipe for disaster

This sounds like the super league with extra steps

Soon young grasshopper, real soon.

So man city?

Man City aint it

FT score: 1-0 Real Madrid 89'

That was Pep’s Barca, which is the same as a football team of the Avengers.

He won them the UCL. Must be unreal considering where he’s been in his career

He was critical in RM winning this. He should absolutely rejoice it.

It be like that sometimes.

I think since Real got Endrick they should send Joselu for us. Come to Palmeiras Joselu!

Joselu calls teammates bastards, eyeing new move? 👀 🏃 -every gossip column over the summer

😂😂😂

It is a bummer that they have won so often that even from a fan perspective it seems less…valuable? Hopefully we get some variety the next few seasons but hard to imagine with them adding mbappe.

Our only hope is mbappe has inherited the zlatan curse.

True

I love Joselu He got mega stick when he played for Newcastle But always knew there was a player there Massive respect to him Just goes to show - fuck what people think of you - thoughts alone do not win the Champions League

Winning a CL with Madrid is like playing FIFA on amateur. Winning it doesn't feel special. 

seems like you're coping

Warriors of football 

It’s more a relief then a joy and in a way that’s really sad

lets be honest hes not playing a single minute for real ever again

Dig at Carvajal prolly

If i was him, wouldnt gaf one bit.