Real Madrid Player Ratings from 1-0 Champions League Final triumph vs. Liverpool
They have done it. Real Madrid capped off a miracle season by defeating Liverpool 1-0 in the Champions League Final, becoming 14-time champions to increase their all-time lead of the world’s most prestigious club footballing competition.
Madridistas were nervous with all the pressure the world-class Liverpool side put them under, and they were incensed by the disallowed goal against Karim Benzema.
But in the end, the Merengues won 1-0, thanks to a clinical goal from Vinicius Jr. and a whole lot of world-class keeping from the best in the world, Thibaut Courtois.
Here are the player ratings from the triumph at the Stade de France.
GK Thibaut Courtois
If you do not think Thibaut Courtois is the best goalkeeper in the world now, then spare me your football opinions. Please. Shot after shot, Courtois parried, and he did so with the presence of mind to always send the ball to complete safety. Madridistas have been telling the world he is the best on the planet for months, yet their cries have been ignored. Now, in the Champions League Final, Courtois definitively proved he is the best. My apologies to Mohamed Salah. You simply did not stand a chance.
Rating: 10
LB Ferland Mendy
97.2 percent of his passes completed. Why was I so worried about him against Mo Salah and the Liverpool press? He stepped up.
Rating: 8
CB David Alaba
Quietly did his job an elevated everyone around him, as he always does. It was so good to have David Alaba back in the Real Madrid XI for the Champions League Final. He wins wherever he goes, and it was beautiful to see his emotional reaction to winning this one. Alaba had four tackles, two interceptions, and a jaw-dropping three blocked shots. And who can forget the should-have-been-goal-created for Karim Benzema?
Rating: 9
CB Eder Militao
Monster. Some Madridistas were worried about his recent mistakes, but Eder Militao showed why he has been one of the best young center backs in Europe this season. Scratch that, he has been THE best. Militao showed the heart of a lion, channeling his Sergio Ramos in every tackle, putting his body on the line against one of the best forward trios in the world.
Rating: 9
RB Dani Carvajal
Another stalwart performance from Dani Carvajal, who was right there with Thibaut Courtois as one of the Men of the Match (though, obviously, the nod goes to the Belgian affectionately called a giraffe by Madrid fans). Carvajal put everything on the line and proved that he is far from a liability. Against the best right back in the world in Trent Alexander-Arnold, Carvajal showed that he is still the king.
Rating: 9