Real Madrid: The top 5 matches of the 2010’s

3. Real Madrid Vs Atletico Madrid 4-1 AET(Champions League Final 2014)

Ever since winning the La Novena in 2002, thanks to an iconic Zinedine Zidane volley there has been great anticipation between fans and amongst those within the club to become the first club to have ten Champions League titles. Everything looked great as Real Madrid was cruising under the leadership of Vincente del Bosque while their arch-rivals Barcelona was trophyless.

The pressure from fans and media and the board was so much to get the 10th title as soon as possible Florentino Perez ended up sacking Vincente del Bosque the very next season despite winning the league title. The major reason behind his sacking being not winning the Champions League title. This turned out to be a huge mistake as Real Madrid failed to reach even the semi-finals for the next seven seasons and being knocked out of Round of 16 in six of them and failing to reach final for ten years after the sacking.

After 12 long years, the wait was finally over for all the Madridistas around the world and again it was under the presidentship of Florentino Perez that we got hands on the next title. Perez broke the bank in his second stint bought two of the three best players in the world in a single transfer window alongside Karim Benzema, Xabi Alonso, and Alvaro Arbeloa.

Even that was not enough to get to the finals of the competition but Jose Mourinho did show the way and instilled in the team that they can compete and have the potential to win that trophy. Mourinho led us to three Champions League semi-finals after 6 consecutive years of Round of 16 exits. The heartbreak of 2012/13 still haunts many Madridistas. Sergio Ramos went on the mission to become the best penalty taker in the world since then and Cristiano Ronaldo came out and said “I owe you a Champions League final”.

Carlo Ancelotti put the bits and pieces together, shifted Angel Di Maria to midfield, and using his extraordinary stamina and dribbling to annihilate the opposition defenders. He got Gareth Bale from Tottenham to form arguably the best front three in the world at that time. Cristiano Ronaldo ended up having his best Champions League season scoring 17 goals a record.

The fans were nervous about facing Bayern Munich again in the semis as the memories of 2012 were still fresh in their minds and on top of it this Bayern side was the defending champions. Los Blancos thrashed the treble-winning side 4-0 at Allianz Arena as Pep Guardiola was left stunned facing his biggest ever defeat at home. Sergio Ramos gave us a hint of what was going to happen in the final with two great headed goals to bury Bayern’s dream.

The stage was all set in Lisbon and there were high expectations for Real Madrid to finally lift the trophy after 12 years. Atletico Madrid came into the tie as minnows and nobody expected Diego Simeone’s side to be there and by far everyone expected an easy victory for Real Madrid. As usual, things are never that simple when Real Madrid is involved. Real Madrid was dominating possession with Bale, Benzema, and Cristiano all trying to create a goal against the deep Atletico block, but no clear cut chances came along apart from a few Bale half-chances which he should have buried.

Atletico took the lead through a scruffy goal from Diego Godin who caught Iker Casillas out of position to score the header. Diego Simeone’s sides are the best at defending these one goal leads. Real Madrid needed more life more creativity to get that equalizing goal and Ancelotti subbed in Marcelo for Fabio Coentrao and Isco for Sami Khedira. Everyone was frustrated and many had left hopes for the title as with each passing minute it looked like Simeone’s underdogs had done the unthinkable.

Luka Modric stepped up in extra time to take probably the last piece of action of the game with a corner. Cameraman flashed on the Atletico bench with players nervous and praying and it looked as if they knew what was coming. Sergio Ramos took a flight and wrote his name into the history books of Real Madrid probably scoring the most important goal in the history of the club. 1-1. Atletico players crying on the bench knowing how close they were just a minute away from winning their first-ever Champions League.

Xabi Alonso hugging Jese Rodriguez tightly in the stands and just breaking the protocol and running all the way down to celebrate with teammates, Santiago Bernabeu erupting in Real Madrid, Iker Casillas crying and giving a kiss to Sergio Ramos, and countless Madridistas all around the world running around screaming, crying and going through all sorts of emotions as adrenaline rushed up in everyone’s veins with that Sergio “Superman” Ramos’ goal.

That was all to kill Atletico’s hopes to win that game as a much more fitter Real Madrid athletes having Angel “three lungs” Di Maria ripped them apart in the extra time leading to the Gareth Bale goal. Atletico didn’t even try to defend Marcelo marauding and taking a shot for the third goal and just what the game needed at the end a Cristiano Ronaldo goal to cap off the victory.