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2024 UEFA Super Cup: Real Madrid def. Atalanta BC 2-0 that gave a warm welcome to new signing Kylian Mbappe with his debut goal & his first European trophy in Warsaw

by Sports Benches

Some of the major European Soccer competitions may not have started just yet but we too had an amazing UEFA Super Cup pre-season match from Warsaw in Poland between the last season’s champions – 23/24 Champions League winners Real Madrid and the 23/24 Europa League winners Atalanta BC.

Prior to this match, Madrid got away with the 2nd half stunner v Borussia Dortmund for the Champions League triumph 2-0 while Atalanta ended Bayer Leverkusen’s long unbeaten run of 51 games to hoist the Europa Cup trophy 3-0.

It was a quiet first half to begin with but again, Madrid, likewise with their 23/24 Champions League Final performance, was just too good where they’ve bagged a few tricks here and there to secure yet another UEFA trophy towards the end 2-0.

For Atalanta, you can imagine what their attack would look like if they still had their main striker Giancula Scamacca, who is currently out for half if not most of the season due to an ACL knee injury. Sure, they’ve won some ball along the way but lack the finishing touches up front where Atalanta only scored two shots on target compared to Real Madrid’s six.

They got a huge new campaign ahead including the Champions League as it remains to be seen if Atalanta can keep on going without Scamacca across all competitions.

Meanwhile, it’s great to see Real Madrid win another major European trophy ahead of another busy campaign with the Super Cup. It’s never been a better time with superstar signing Kylian Mbappe now onboard after a few years in the Paris St Germain shirt. Brazil’s Carlos Vinicius Jr. has been excellent as always with his feeds, pace and trickery off the left flank that led to two amazing goals including Mbappe’s debut goal for the team’s 2nd strike.

Gotta say Mbappe has achieved everything in France with so many goals under his belt but his European ambitions when it comes to winning silverware is yet to come & that Super Cup win is his first step towards a long way at the Bernabeu.

The new look UEFA Club competition season under the expanded “Swiss model” format across the Champions League, Europa League & the Conference League will begin mid-next month.

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Borussia Dortmund’s early missed opportunities paved the way for Real Madrid to finish off with their 15th Champions League triumph 2-0 at Wembley Stadium

by Sports Benches

What a way to finish off the UEFA European club season at London’s iconic Wembley Stadium earlier this morning (our time) where Borussia Dortmund came back in the main event picture for the first time back in 2013 v the multi-championship winning Spanish giants Real Madrid. The first half was 0-0 with Dortmund leading the way up front where they had a couple of chances but couldn’t get away with a goal that gave Real a sigh of relief. The tug-o-war continued a bit longer going into the 2nd half before Real’s turnaround with the ball led to a series of advantages and that’s where they eventually cashed in two goals in return en route to full-time. One comes from a brilliant header by Dani Carvajal via a corner in the 73rd minute, while Jude Bellingham found the intercept off Ian Maatsen for Carlos Vinicius Jr. to process the finishing touches with the 2nd goal.  

Hard luck from Dortmund to fall short once again having made the best past of their first half performance with a really good threat to try & scare off Real Madrid up front. Unfortunately, they just couldn’t get themselves through the net with a couple of hit and misses here and there – including one that hit the crossbar before it deflects away from the in-goal. What they’ve done despite finishing 5th in the Bundesliga is that they’ve come from a long, long way to get they want to be as sure they will hopefully win back the league that would mean another good Champions League run next season. You got to credit the strong German teams performance across Europe that grants them an extra CL spot on top of the usual four at the best level.

Then congratulations to Real Madrid on their Champions League triumph for the 15th time including yet another major silverware being delivered by the head coach Carlo Ancelotti, which is his 2nd at the Bernabeu having last won it back in late May 2022 v Liverpool 1-0 at Stade De France in Paris, France. They’ve put in a excellent defensive display including a huge effort from the goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois following a really tough last 12 months when he was out for the majority due to an ACL knee injury before getting back out there a few weeks ago & to produce a world-class beater was incredible. Then Real was so fortunate enough to turn things around after half-time that gave them the upper hand – such as the dominant possession & winning penalties/corners/free-kicks that exposed the opposition’s poor defense in the end with the win.

The UEFA Euro 2024 tournament is not far away that will begin in two weeks time across Germany and then we will return later this year on top of the UEFA Super Cup between the best of the European champs (Atalanta from the Europa League v Champions League triumphs Real Madrid) with an expanded but new look Champions League that also applies with the Europa League and Conference League. Gonna be a brilliant few months ahead including the Olympics in Paris as well.

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Real Madrid vs Liverpool – UEFA Champions League Final

by Admin

By Haider Manzar

Preview: Yesterday, May 28, the Champions League final was played between the Royal Whites of Spain and The Reds of England. This was the ninth meeting between these two teams in the UEFA Champions League and the previous competition European Cup.

Liverpool was not able to get any win against Real Madrid in their last five matches (D1 L4). This was also the third time these two European Giants were facing each other in the final of UCL (1st in 1981, 2nd in 2018).

Liverpool, after days of speculation, started Konate and Thiago. Diaz joined Salah and Mane on the front. Meanwhile, Real Madrid had 5 players from the lineup that won the 2018 UCL final.

The match was also delayed by 30 minutes due to a drama that happened outside the stadium as the fans climbed the gates and entered the stadium without tickets. The pepper spray was also sprayed on the fans which resulted in quite a drama before the final.

1st Half: The first half started and as expected from the Klopp boys, they started well. They did everything to get the lead in the early minutes. At minute 16, Salah’s shot was blocked by Belgium wall Courtois, who has been phenomenal for Real Madrid this season. 5 minutes later, another attempt by Mane was saved by Courtois.

The match kept going on at an incredible pace and just before the end of the first half, Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema scored after a mix-up by Liverpool defenders but to their great luck, the goal was ruled offside by VAR. The first half ended with Liverpool being the dominant side but the result was still 0-0.

2nd Half: The second half started and Salah was again leading the attack but his shot at the 58th minute was again denied by Madrid’s keeper. After the rebound, the second shot was blocked by Alaba’s hand but the penalty wasn’t awarded as it was unintentional and his hand couldn’t be moved away. At minute 59, the ever-hungry young gun of Real Madrid – Vinicius Jr scored the goal and gave Real Madrid the lead.

Liverpool didn’t let themselves down and their attack kept attacking at Real Madrid’s goal but what a guy Courtois is. After this Salah was again denied by Courtois two times. He blocked 9 shots from Liverpool’s attack and kept the clean sheet till the end of the match.

Result: Real Madrid won their record 14 UEFA Champions League, twice more than any other team in the competition. Real Madrid did it again just 3 years after they did the 3-peat UCL. Liverpool did everything in their power but the Klopp boys were not able to get the prestigious trophy. The main credit goes to Courtois because he was the man that kept Real Madrid in this final fully alive till the end. Real Madrid are the CHAMPIONS of Europe!

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