SPORTS
Real Madrid win 11th title after beating Atletico in shootout drama
Baku, May 29, AZERTAC
Real Madrid produced a gritty display of football to beat city rivals Atletico Madrid 5-3 on penalties in the Champions League final.
Securing a record 11th European Cup in Milan's San Siro stadium on Saturday, the opener came after 15 minutes with defender Sergio Ramos putting Real 1-0 up.
Atletico struggled to break through Real's defences in a rather dull first half, with 32-year-old striker Fernando Torres failing to complete a single pass.
And things continued to worsen early on in the second when Antoine Griezmann became the first player to miss a penalty in the Champions League final since Arjen Robben in 2012, after striking the crossbar.
But in the 79th minute, Belgian Yannick Carrasco scored a goal from close range to put Atletico back in the game after a delightful cross from Juanfran.
Neither side was able to score again in either the 90 minutes or the 30 minutes of extra-time, and the match went to penalties.
After successful spot-kicks for Real by Lucas Vazquez, Marcelo, Gareth Bale and Sergio Ramos; and for Atletico by Antoine Griezmann, Gabi and Saul, Juanfran's penalty was saved by Navas before Ronaldo scored the decisive penalty giving them a 5-3 shoot-out victory.
Real coach Zinedine Zidane and Atletico counterpart Diego Simeone had kept to the script with no real surprises in their respective line-ups for the final.
Zidane, who won the trophy as a player with Real in 2002, won his first major trophy on Saturday in what is the Frenchman's first season in charge at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium.