7 Observations From The Champions League Final

These observations — where I look at Real Madrid’s history, its players on loan, Castilla, tactical tidbits, and other relevant thoughts — are now a regular thing. All previous editions can be found here.

A surreal season has come to an end. Carlo Ancelotti has won his second double in two years. Against all odds, Real Madrid blitz through Europe again. An incredible achievement we’re almost desensitized to. Here are some observations from yet another historic night:

1. Real Madrid’s Defensive Shape in the First Half, Part 1

It’s almost tradition how much Real Madrid must suffer before being triumphant in the end. They’ve done it so much that fans are becoming unbothered. The stress and suffering that comes with this team before winning almost seems necessary before the ultimate second-half awakening.

How they suffer tends to vary. On Saturday night at Wembley, it was the defense which treaded water for the first 45 minutes.

It was not necessarily easy to predict what Dortmund—a team that can shape-shift and doesn’t post a singular footballing identity—would do. But as I pointed out on the pre-game podcast from Wembley, the most likely outcome was that Dortmund would try to punish Real Madrid in two areas where they can do that best: 1) Set-pieces; and 2) In transition.

Dortmund are somewhat unique in how they attack in transition, and they have been doing this all season under Terzic: they attack in numbers. Normal counter-attacking teams sit deep while relying on one outlet in transition to hit. Said outlet is typically isolated with a herculean task to carry the ball forward behind a counter-press and wait for others to join the attack.

Not Dortmund. They fly. Quickly. Within seconds of winning the ball, they can sling a 6 v 3 transition attack as the entire team catapults itself into the opposition’s half. There were ample times Real Madrid committed too many bodies forward, including their chief midfield anchor, Camavinga (who had a standout performance—more on that later). That, coupled with the high line Ancelotti held, proved disastrous. Balls over the top of the defensive line to Brandt, Adeyemi, and Sancho broke Real Madrid several times. The team was saved by last-second tackles, Courtois, and the post. Dortmund’s build-up structure and progressive passing from deep was impressive.

2. Real Madrid’s Defensive Structure, Part 2

It’s hard to remember the last time Real Madrid had an efficient press. It probably has to do with their lack of focus on it as part of their identity. They are generally good at specific game-state pressing: second-half momentum as opposing teams run out of gas and start getting overwhelmed with pressure; counter-pressing (they have always been great with that); and pressing on goal-kicks.

But often, as was the case against Dortmund, the press is so permeable that it’s better to not press at all:

That was actually one of Real Madrid’s better pressing sequences, broken by focused and crisp passing and movement. That’s always a risk, even with a good press—you leave lots of space in behind. Good build-up teams invite pressing for that reason.

But once Dortmund figured out Real Madrid’s pressing patterns, with the front three pressing narrow and the wing-backs rotating up to the wings, they dropped Emre Can deeper as a third center-back, and started escaping the initial line of Vinicius and Rodrygo with ease.

Dortmund’s xG at half-time was 1.8, compared to Real Madrid’s 0.08. That Real Madrid were so bad defensively probably fed into how bad their offense was. The positioning was off. If you’re not pressing well with a high line, you’re cooked, and your offense won’t have much room to operate. On the few opportunities Real Madrid were able to feed the ball to Vinicius behind a caught-out Ryerson, Mats Hummels stepped in beautifully to cover and dispossess the Brazilian.

3. Ferland Mendy, Invaluable

In both of Real Madrid’s Champions League triumphs in the past two years, Mendy has been instrumental. There is probably no better lockdown defender at the wing-back position when the stakes are at their highest. Mendy rose to the call again. His challenges sent messages:

Mendy did well under pressure for the most part. He didn’t misplace a single pass. Over the course of the 90 minutes, multiple Dortmund players felt his defensive wrath on that wing.

Is there any doubt anymore why Carlo Ancelotti wants to keep Mendy at all costs?

4. Camavinga, Anchoring the Team in Tchouameni’s Absence

Two years ago, Eduardo Camavinga was part of the bench mob that tore teams apart en route to a Champions League triumph. He saw, in the locker room after Real Madrid beat Liverpool in Paris, legend Luka Modric sitting there stating “Now we go for the 15th”. Now the Frenchman says he wants to have six Champions League titles like the veterans who showed him the path—the right winning mentality needed at this club.

Camavinga had five clearances last night—the most of any player on the team. He covered ample ground defensively and was one of the main combatants in Real Madrid’s poor first half (though, he did have some shaky moments, including getting dispossessed by Adeyemi in midfield which nearly led to a goal conceded). In the second half, his counter-pressing went to another level and was primarily responsible for closing down shots in Zone 14.

In 2022, we were accustomed to seeing him come off the bench with more energy than everyone, marking his physicality, ball-carrying, and pressing on the game. Last night, we saw that too—only somehow, he was there from the beginning, with the same energy as a substitute:

Camavinga will likely take an even bigger role now with Kroos departing. Will he make that left-CM role his own?

5. Carvajal, a Leader in Battle

Is there something in the air at the Bernabeu? In the water? How does everyone age so well? Florentino Perez is getting better as a president, Modric is nearly 40, and Kroos just had arguably his best season ever in his last season ever. Add to that, Carvajal looks better than he ever has. He’s the only player to have started in all of Real Madrid’s last six Champions League finals. Without shock, he’s won all of them, and generally makes his presence known. In 2017, he had an assist to Cristiano Ronaldo; in 2024, he took it one step further and scored the damn winning goal himself.

But the goal was the icing on the cake, which he basically baked himself. He may have struggled defensively in the first half, but that was in part due to the entire backline’s positioning. In one instance, he kept Adeyemi onside for a breakaway, but recovered and saved the goal.

This season, Carvajal had his best scoring season to date. When you stack it all up, he’s the best right-back in Champions League history.

Technically, Carvajal wasn’t at his best against Dortmund. There were lapses on the ball and poor touches. But there was also fight, unsurprisingly, the entire way. He was press-resistant facing Adeyemi, and the battle to the near post for the game-winner lifted the pressure off the team’s shoulders.

“I saw that my defender wasn’t that committed to marking me and decided to attack the near post, which luckily it worked as it did against Sevilla earlier this season,” Carvajal told Managing Madrid’s Lucas Navarrete after the game. “I came close to scoring moments earlier, it was really close.”

6. Vinicius: Ballon d’Or Bound

Before the season began, I made two bold predictions: Real Madrid would win the Champions League, and Vinicius Jr would win the Ballon d’Or. One down, one to go.

Vinicius has to be recognized as the world’s best player now, and by extension, this season’s team MVP. As I mentioned on last night’s post-game podcast, part of the reason I wanted to avoid discussion about the team’s best player is that might be-little others who were so good. Discussing the team’s best player can often overshadow other great performances. Almost everyone in the squad was outstanding this season, and many were world-class. This was a collective effort from top to bottom.

But what Vinicius does, no one else in the world has done at this level this season. He has been the best big-game player in the world at the club level for the better part of three years now. His unique skill set of individual brilliance and relentless drive is why superstar attackers command such high value.

Even in matches where he isn’t at his best, Vinicius finds his moment. Last night, he struggled in the first half, but his relentless line-breaking eventually broke Dortmund’s defense and started to take their soul. He invigorates the Madridistas in attendance and instills belief in his teammates. Just before Real Madrid’s game-winner, it was his solo run on the left wing that earned the corner.

Not many players in football history have scored two Champions League final goals at the age of 23. Vinicius is special. He led this season’s Champions League in successful take-ons and carries into the penalty area, wreaking havoc on defenses on the biggest stage for multiple years now, with no end in sight.

7. Concluding Thoughts

There were so many more takeaways from last night, but it’s hard to fit everything in such a limited amount of time after a late night. Courtois was heroic again. Rudiger made some tremendous defensive reads. Valverde’s ball-carrying and coverage were crucial sources of oxygen. Toni Kroos walked off the field as a Real Madrid player for the last time. (The Kroos tribute can be read here.)

But we’ll have plenty of opportunities to discuss these aspects over the summer. The Real Madrid universe moves fast, for better or worse. In some surreal, twisted way, we’ll soon be shifting our coverage to Kylian Mbappe’s signing this week. Should we pinch ourselves? What a time to be alive as a Real Madrid fan.