Mild tinnitus, a sore throat and a broad smile: this was the condition of your Impact Media representative when going to bed on the night of May 4, 2016, in the Spanish capital. The reason is simple: we had spent the evening at the UEFA Champions League semi-final return leg in the cathedral of soccer, the stadium of Europe’s most successful club, the Santiago Bernabéu. Real Madrid beat Manchester City 1-0 (0-0 in the first leg), thus winning its ticket to join neighbours Atlético Madrid at San Siro on May 28. Real can hope to add an 11th European Cup to its already extensive collection.
The Galácticos against the Nouveaux Riches
Real Madrid is without a doubt among the most popular and renowned clubs on the planet. Since the Galáctico era, with players like Zidane, Ronaldo, Figo, Beckham and other superstars joining, the Merengues benefited from the sport’s global expansion to increase their fanbase, as their 89,000,000 Likes on Facebook can testify. They have also increased their revenue tremendously: always among the three richest clubs, Real Madrid and president Florentino Pérez were able to spend no less than €378.25M on transfers in the last three seasons, including €100M on one player, Gareth Bale, which is still the most expensive transfer of all time (a record that had been held by… Real Madrid, for the €94M transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United).
In the visitors’ dressing room was a club with a less stellar history – which is expected looking at Real’s trophy cabinet – but with a similar, if not higher, spending power. Manchester City, owned since 2008 by Sheikh Mansour and Abu Dhabi’s royal family, has parted with €408M to recruit players since 2013.
All-star squads
Sergio Ramos, Marcelo, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Gareth Bale, James Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo against Joe Hart, Vincent Kompany, Yaya Touré, Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Agüero… We were expecting a frenetic, restless game, where offensive waves would be crashing on each other on both sides of the field. Instead, Madrid dictated the pace of the game from start to finish and were empowered by the support of their fervent fans to eradicate City’s dynamism and energy. We were left with the impression that the Citizens, and especially Yaya Touré, did not even try to qualify for the final.
An astonishing atmosphere
A whopping 81,044 spectators were packed in Estadio Santiago Bernabéu on this warm May evening for the return leg. Of those, one half made a bet they could ruin our ears in 90 minutes by whistling as soon as Manchester City touched the ball – they almost won that bet, fortunately the Citizens only had 46 percent of possession – while the other half gave us a sore throat by chain-smoking. That probably is the only negative to a game at the Bernabéu: tobacco is still not banned.
An imposing and magnificent tifo was displayed by the whole stadium to welcome both starting elevens and colour up the evocative Champions League anthem, a moment that gave us shivers. We could also hear lots of chants that are sung at Stade Saputo, one more sign that football culture is global.
Gareth Bale, a goal worth its weight in gold
After Belgian centre back Vincent Kompany was subbed off due to injury – once more – in the 10th minute, Real Madrid was able to install its possession game comfortably. The Citizens’ pressing never really bothered Kroos the metronome and Modric the conductor, a perfectly tuned midfield pair. Then, at the 20th minute, came what half of the city wanted: Kroos squares the ball to Modric who relays it to Carvajal, in loads of space on the right. The Spaniard releases Gareth Bale in behind the Man City defence like a hot knife through butter. Bale crosses? Shoots? Doesn’t matter; the ball loops over Hart’s head, kisses the inside of the post and ends its run in the net. 1-0 Real, and we’re having a party.
Halftime or sandwich time?
As all Champions League games start at 8:45PM CET, the halftime whistle is heard around 9:30PM… time at which almost all of our neighbours take out a sandwich-baguette. Was it dinner or just a snack? Whatever it is, our stomach is jealous. The jamón was a long time ago.
¿La Décima mas una?
The second half did not live up to expectations, with little drive from the Sky Blues while Kroos and Modric had four hands on the steering wheel. Even though Real was such masterful controlling it was almost boring, we felt a certain nervousness in the stadium, still ready to loudly support its favourites: with the score 1-0, only one goal from City would send it through to the final with Real reeling. But at the final whistle, Keylor Navas’ goal was left unscathed. Real Madrid celebrates its qualification to a 14th European Cup final. The crowd is ecstatic, the players are happy, and the party lasts for a good 20 minutes after the end of the match.
With still two games to go this season, Real Madrid can add two more trophies to its cabinet. Of course, there is the Champions League final against city rivals Atlético. But in case of a win against Deportivo La Coruña on Saturday and anything other than a win for Barcelona, Madrid would be crowned champion of Spain. What a way to end the season for Zidane’s team.
