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Champions League final: Madrid civil war

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Cristiano Ronaldo is the real star and key man in the Real Madrid team  PHOTO: Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno / Getty Images
Cristiano Ronaldo is the real star and key man in the Real Madrid team PHOTO: Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno / Getty Images

The match is almost too close to call as Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid get ready to square off for the Uefa Champions League title

The Olympics and the Fifa World Cup may rule the roost when it comes to pulling in billions of viewers, but in terms of sheer passion, they do not rival what is undoubtedly the greatest show on the annual sports calendar: the Uefa Champions League.

On Saturday night, the show will climax at the 81 000 seater San Siro stadium, home to Inter Milan and AC Milan.

The local rivals, who have been serial underperformers at this level, will join the 180 million-strong global audience as two giants from Madrid – 1 600km away – battle it out to be kings of Europe.

It will be the second time in as many years that Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid trek across Europe to do battle for supremacy, having made a 625km journey to Lisbon in 2014.

On that day, Atletico were a minute away from their first Champions League title when central defender Sergio Ramos cancelled out their 1-0 lead and forced the game into extra time.

A rebooted Real Madrid, eager to achieve their 10th Champions League title and write their club’s name into the history books, romped home 4-1.

There will no doubt be vengeance in the hearts of Diego Simeone’s men, who were so cruelly deprived of glory, particularly those who were there that night in Lisbon.

But they will be up against a Real that ended the La Liga season with a bare cupboard, a travesty in the culture of the Bernabeu.

But before these gladiators take to the field, there will be a sweet little detour to inspire them – R&B angel Alicia Keys will debut her new album in the prematch performance.

After that, it will be up to the acumen of the coaches and the grit, strength and flair of the 22 men on the field.

The coaches

Besides winning the World Cup, this is the greatest prize for any coach. Some coaches would even value this prize more as the long road to this stage entails eliminating some of the world’s best sides.

Having transformed Atletico into one of the big boys, Simeone is now regarded as one of Europe’s finest coaches. He was on the verge of turning that state to “one of Europe’s great coaches” in 2014 before that devastating 93rd minute in Lisbon.

Entering that club of Champions League winners will be extra special for him if he does so with Atletico, a team that he gave his best playing years to and where his coaching style was perfected. He may not have another chance to do this with this team because he is being head-hunted by Europe’s big clubs and is likely to end up in England.

His opposite number, Zinedine Zidane, had one of the softest landings of anyone arriving at the highest level. As a legend of Los Blanco, the impatient Real fanbase simply wanted him to stabilise a season that had gone horribly awry under Rafael Benitez.

They expected him to use the remainder of the season to build up for glory in the 2016/17 season. But then Zidane went and overachieved. He came within a point of clinching La Liga, got the all-important El Clasico victory over Barcelona and guided the team to the Champions League final.

Now the Bernabeu faithful are expecting nothing less than an 11th Champions League trophy and are already stocking up for an all-night party at the traditional celebration spot of Plaza de Cibeles fountain in the city centre.

What it will take

If one were to base predictions on star power and fire power, Real would be the betting man’s pick. With the player pool valued at a staggering €698 million (R12.2 billion) compared with Atletico’s humble €363 million, it should be no contest.

To that, add the legendary status of the players whose names roll out of the mouths of six-year-olds the world over: Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, Sergio Ramos, Keylor Navas.

On the opposite side, the most remarkable name is that of Fernando Torres, whose mild resurgence this season has masked an average stay in La Liga after his return from England.

Although the likes of Antoine Griezmann, Koke, Jan Oblak and Diego Godin have entered the realm of stardom thanks to the elevation of the team, they still reside in the shadow of their glamorous rivals.

But as the head-to-head record of this season shows, name recognition does not a football match win. A hard-fought first-round clash at the Vicente Calderon Stadium in October ended in a 1-1 draw, while in the second round in February, Real were booed and heckled by the Bernabeu after a tame 0-1 defeat.

What transpired in both games is that the formidable Real attack, which is second in the world only to Barcelona’s MSN, just could not handle the Alcatraz defence of Atletico.

And therein might lie the key to Atletico securing its first Champions League trophy. The stingy defence is also the launchpad for some ferocious attacks that leave opposition teams puffing.

The intensity of the Atletico play – which sees the ball ending up at the feet of Koke, Griezmann or Torres – has seen Zidane adding an extra two hours of daily training ahead of Saturday so his charges can keep up.

Then again, Real have that feel-at-home look in cup finals. It is like they were made to play in them, something that unsettled debutants Atletico the last time around.

In all departments, they have creative players who can turn sand into gold dust. And the thing about the team is that the goals come from everywhere, as evidenced by that Ramos killer in 2014.

Most pundits have Atletico walking away with this one based on current form, their much tougher road to the final, having a more accomplished coach and the recent head-to-head results.

But at the end of the day, to repeat a tired cliché, it will be up to individual brilliance. On the Atletico side, Koke and Griezmann can provide that magic.

At the opposite end, the BBC combination surely has the capacity to break down the walls of Alcatraz.

The heart says its number 11 to the men in white. The brain says a brand-new name will be etched on the trophy.

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