Carvajal, the Wembley giant

In the 49th minute, Wembley witnessed a butterfly flutter. In the middle of Madrid’s wasteland, threatened from every corner, without having shot on goal in the entire first half, Carvajal headed a corner at the near post. Stop, nothing. Or so it seemed. The whites had forced the corner kick after the first shot between the three sticks, by Toni Kroos, after a foul scratched by Vinicius out of nowhere, from a solo career that was nothing more than the product of a personal adventure. Madrid found itself in that mud when the full-back ventured with that attempt over the top of the near post. It didn’t seem like it then, but it was the beginning of everything in London for Madrid.

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Gregor Kobel, Julian Ryerson, Hummels, Ian Maatsen, Nico Schlotterbeck, Emre Can (Malen, min. 80), Brandt (Sébastian Haller, min. 80), M. Sabitzer, Jadon Sancho (Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, min. 86) , Karim Adeyemi (Marco Reus, min. 72) and Füllkrug

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Courtois, Nacho, Dani Carvajal, Rüdiger, Ferland Mendy, Federico Valverde, Kroos (Modric, min. 85), Jude Bellingham (Joselu, min. 85), Camavinga, Vinicius Junior (Lucas Vázquez, min. 93) and Rodrygo (Eder Military, min. 90)

Goals 0-1 min. 73: Dani Carvajal. 0-2 min. 82: Vinicius Junior.

Referee Slavko Vincic

Yellow cards Vinicius Junior (min. 34), Nico Schlotterbeck (min. 40), M. Sabitzer (min. 43) and Hummels (min. 78)

Carvajal still had another one later, this one with his foot and at the far post. Was something moving in London? And so. Vinicius had woken up on the left. That was still somewhat frayed for the whites, Courtois was still stretching against Füllkrug, but Madrid had already shown its paw.

The gavel came out with a quarter of an hour left. It was Carvajal’s giant, a defender just over 1.70 meters tall who went high over a stud like Füllkrug, a 1.89 meters tall forward, to score the 0-1 scoreline. The door to heaven for the whites and also for Carvajal, who equaled Paco Gento with six European Cups, like Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Nacho. To that Olympus the right back led his teammates hand in hand when Madrid was on the field, without answers or dictates to tie the knot against a Dortmund that was unfolding as they wanted. Adeyemi was also a pain in the stomach and teeth for Carvajal himself.

“We have realized that Carvajal attacks the near post very well,” Carlo Ancelotti had warned at the beginning of the season, after the defender scored a goal against Sevilla attacking the ball from that position. He was surprised that a short guy like him beat everyone in the Pizjuán. And it wasn’t the first time this season. From that well, which then seemed like just another episode of the campaign, Madrid pulled out the Decimoquinta. “They realized quite late, in my career I should have many more goals,” the defender joked two hours after the crash. “This year I have gone up to the corners, determination has been key in my career. When you go with desire and have a good timingyou can produce things,” added the defender.

Throughout the first half, with the whites distraught, the winger hugged his teammates in the face of harassment from the Germans. No response beyond the stretches of Thibaut Courtois, who left a first half that partly reminded him of what he did two years ago in Paris against Salah and Klopp’s Liverpool. The German coach, who showed his jaw in the preview singing in chorus the You’ll never walk alone of the yellow wall, he attended from his box the stretches of his worst nightmare.

“In the first half we didn’t even deserve the draw, we knew how to suffer. We came out alive, but we knew our time would come,” the full-back stated hotly about the bad time his team had.

It all began with him on another night of resistance, agony and glory for the whites in Europe. At the end of the night, the defender bent his body, alone, while the cameras went after him before being named the MVP of the night. The resurrector A flutter at the beginning of the second half, a header that was barely recorded in the notebooks, opened the spur of another white Champions League. The perfect personal closure for a season that had confirmed that the gluten-free diet had healed a body that had given him many problems in the past. So many that he had to withdraw injured from the 2016 and 2018 finals. Ancelotti’s new design at the beginning of the season, with more prominence for the full-backs, had also helped him. Until his coronation at Wembley.

With the laurel taken, it was time for the final farewell of Toni Kroos, who left raising his arms in front of the Madrid background. The German leaves with six European Cups, like Carvajal. The last one, the work of the defender.

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