European football: Real Madrid wins third consecutive Champions League beating Liverpool 3-1

On Saturday, Spanish football club Real Madrid defeated English side Liverpool 3–1 in Ukrainian capital Kiev, to win their third consecutive UEFA Champions League trophy. Two goals from Gareth Bale and one from Karim Benzema led Real Madrid to win their thirteenth European title victory.

Real Madrid dominated the match in ball possession. Real Madrid won an early free-kick, in the first minute as Liverpool's Dejan Lovren committed soon after the start of the game. Liverpool's attack had multiple attempts for the goal early in the first fifteen minutes, none crossing the goal line. In the eighteenth minute, Liverpool's defender Virgil van Dijk missed a chance to score a close-range header.

Liverpool's Mohamed Salah was substituted off in the 30th minute after a tackle by Madrid's captain Sergio Ramos. Salah, who had scored 44 goals for the English side in all competitions this season, was later taken to a hospital because of a shoulder injury. The Egyptian was replaced by Adam Lallana. Just seven minutes later, Real made their first change in the game, as Nacho replaced Dani Carvajal who was also substituted off due to injury. The first half ended with 0–0 on the scoreboard.

Three minutes into the second half, Isco almost gave Madrid the lead with his shot on goal, but it hit the goal post. In the 51st minute, Frenchman Karim Benzema scored the first goal of the match, but the lead was short-lived. Four minutes later, Sadio Mané scored an equaliser for Liverpool, from Dejan Lovren's assist. Gareth Bale was substituted on for Isco. The Welshman came on in the 61st minute, and three minutes later, Bale scored an overhead goal, assisted by Marcelo. Mané came close to score another equaliser in the 70 minute, but his shot deflected off the post. He was later booked in the 82nd minute for a bad foul, which was the only yellow card issued in the match. A minute later, Bale added a third goal for the defending champions. Liverpool's goalkeeper Loris Karius tried to block the goal, but could not keep the ball away from the net. The match ended after four minutes of added time after 90 minutes of play.

After the match, Jürgen Klopp spoke about Salah's injury saying, "It's a serious injury, a really serious injury." Klopp said Salah was "in the hospital for an X-ray. It's either the collarbone or the shoulder itself. It doesn't look good".

This was the second Champions League final for Klopp in five years. His led his former club Borussia Dortmund to the final in 2012–13, losing 2–1 to their arch rivals Bayern Munich. Klopp has lost six out of seven major finals in his managing career.

Real Madrid's manager Zinedine Zidane won the third consecutive Champions League trophy as the club's manager, joining Bob Paisley and Carlo Ancelotti who won the European Cup three times.

This was fifth Champions League title for Cristiano Ronaldo, who won four titles with Real Madrid in the last five seasons, and one during his time at Manchester United, a decade ago.