Real Madrid won the Champions League for the 14th time after defeating Liverpool 1-0 in a final that began 37 minutes late due to troubling crowd concerns outside the Stade de France on Saturday.
Vincius Jnior of Brazil scored from close range in the 59th minute after Federico Valverde’s drive across the face of goal, giving Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti a record fourth European Cup championship.
While Madrid won a Champions League-La Liga double, Liverpool closed a season that promised so much — a week ago, it was in contention for an unprecedented quadruple of major championships — with the two English domestic cups.
The English club couldn’t get past Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who deflected Sadio Mane’s first-half attempt against the post and then made an even greater save to deny Mohamed Salah’s effort in the 81st minute.
Madrid have firmly established itself as the king of European soccer, having won twice as many European Cups as the No. 2 team on the list, AC Milan. Liverpool remained on six points.
However, pre-match crowd troubles overshadowed this final and will undoubtedly be the subject of an investigation by UEFA and authorities in the coming days.
There were still long queues of Liverpool fans waiting to be let into the stadium 45 minutes before kickoff, and there were isolated incidents of fans breaking through security and racing into the concourse.
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