Vinicius Junior and Thibaut Courtois were the heroes as Real Madrid downed Liverpool 1-0 in the Champions League final in Paris, securing a record-extending 14th European crown for Los Blancos.
Vinicius' second-half winner proved decisive as Liverpool failed to find a way past the outstanding Courtois despite piling on the pressure, as Madrid repeated their 2018 final win over the Reds.
While Jurgen Klopp's team have now missed out on both the Premier League and Champions League trophies after leading an incredible four-front fight for silverware this season, Carlo Ancelotti has led Madrid to a terrific LaLiga and Champions League double, reaching a personal landmark along the way.
Here, Stats Perform takes a look at the best Opta facts from the fiercely contested final.
After kick-off was twice delayed at the Stade de France, Liverpool made a fast start to the contest but found Courtois in imperious form as they eventually fell to their third Champions League final defeat – only Juventus (five) have lost more, while Jurgen Klopp has lost more finals in the competition than any other manager (three).
It was not for want of trying, however: Liverpool had as many shots on target in the first half (five) as they did in their previous two Champions League final appearances combined (two in 2018 and three in 2019).
The Reds ended the match having racked up 24 shots, the most on record (since 2003-04) from a team who failed to score in a Champions League final.
Meanwhile, Courtois' nine saves in the match made up the highest tally in a single Champions League final (since 2003-04), surpassing Liverpool's Allison (in 2019) and Manchester United's Edwin Van der Sar (in 2011), both with eight.
Courtois also made 59 saves throughout Madrid's run in the competition this term, setting a new single-season record after Petr Cech made 58 for Chelsea in their triumphant 2011-12 campaign (since 2003-04).
But it was Vinicius who proved the match-winner, escaping Trent Alexander-Arnold's attentions to tap home from Federico Valverde's cross in the 59th minute.
Vinicius' goal made him the first South American to register 10 goal involvements in a single Champions League campaign (four goals, six assists) while aged 21 or under since Lionel Messi recorded 14 for Barcelona in 2008-09 (nine goals, five assists).
Furthermore, at 21 years and 320 days old, the Brazilian became the second-youngest player to net for Los Blancos in a European Cup or Champions League final, after Marco Asensio against Juventus in 2017 (21 years, 133 days), and the first Brazilian to score the winner in the competition's final since Juliano Belletti for Barcelona in 2006, also in Paris (against Arsenal).
Madrid's victory means they have won the European Cup or Champions League twice as many times (14) as the next-most successful club in the competition's history (Milan with seven), and Los Blancos have also won in each of their last eight final appearances, defeating Liverpool in their past two.
Finally, Ancelotti became the most successful coach in the competition's history with his fourth title (also 2002-03 and 2006-07 with Milan and 2013-14 with Madrid), as he moved clear of Madrid predecessor Zinedine Zidane and Liverpool great Bob Paisley (both three).
Guardiola not concerned despite Manchester City's poor defensive record
Pep Guardiola is not worried about Manchester City's defending despite the reigning champions failing to keep a clean sheet in their last six Premier League matches.
City went 1-0 down against Fulham before fighting back to win 3-2 on Saturday. Their opponents also amassed an expected goals (xG) total of 2.4 compared to City's 1.55.
It follows a trend of unusually sloppy defensive displays from the champions, who have conceded eight goals in their last six league matches. They also had to come from behind against Brentford in September.
Guardiola, however, is not overly worried.
"Sometimes I give credit. The first goal – why don't we give credit to them rather than [be critical] defensively? There are actions we can defend better but step by step we will improve," he said, via the Guardian.
"I would say except [Yoane] Wissa against Brentford, in the other ones we were playing good. It's not nice to come back from 0-1 but we created chances today to go 1-0 and 2-0."
City allowed Fulham five big chances compared to their one, with the London side taking 11 shots, nine of those from inside the box.
Comparatively, City had 20 shots with only half of those coming from inside the box. However, two of the visitors’ goals came from outside the area with Jeremy Doku and Mateo Kovacic both firing in from distance.
"I'm very happy he scored two goals, he's not a guy to score [usually] those goals," Guardiola said of Kovacic, who is one of the midfielders the City boss expects to fill in for the injured Rodri this season.
“We started really well with two chances in two minutes and they switched immediately to five at the back. When they do that, we have one man free on the 18-yard box and that is Kovacic.
"The two goals were because they couldn't defend that. We have to exploit that more against teams that don’t play five at the back – now opponents know that they can’t leave him [Kovacic] alone, otherwise he will score a goal."
New York City FC v Nashville SC: 'Fourth place is everything', claims Cushing
Nick Cushing has insisted New York City FC's focus must be on rounding off the regular-season strongly as he eyes a fourth-place finish in the Eastern Conference.
His side sit fifth, two points behind current fourth-placed Orlando City after a 3-2 home victory over third-placed FC Cincinnati.
They have two games remaining before the postseason, which they have already secured their place in, but they also have the chance to reach 50 points for the first time since 2022.
With Orlando facing a tough opponent in Cincinnati this weekend, Cushing remains determined to direct his team's focus on their upcoming match.
"The whole aim of not having a mental slip up [against Nashville] is to focus on fourth place," he told the press.
"Fourth place is everything to us. We could be playing top of the league. We could be playing the team bottom of the league.
"Our mentality, our focus, has to be on performing, and on getting intensity into the game and doing the things that have helped us win football games lately because if we continue to win and somebody around us slips up, that fourth place is open for us."
Their visiting opponents, Nashville SC, find themselves in a different predicament as they sit outside of the playoff spots in 13th place.
"I think Nashville are a really difficult team to play against. I think under their previous coach [they were] direct, and incredible on set plays,” added Cushing.
"Hany Muktar is very dangerous. Sam Surridge is a top player. They’ve got good players, and you have to see past results because, with the new coach, they now play a little bit more."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
New York City – Alonso Martinez
Martinez is the joint-ninth top scorer in the MLS this season with a club-leading 15 goals in 24 appearances so far.
NYCFC have not failed to score in their last five matches, and Martinez will be key to them keeping this streak in the hope of a win against Nashville.
Nashville – Hany Mukhtar
Mukhtar had a goal and an assist in Nashville's loss to D.C. United on Wednesday, his 30th career MLS match with multiple goal contributions.
Only Luciano Acosta and Daniel Gazdag have 20 such matches since Mukhtar debuted in MLS in 2020.
MATCH PREDICTION: NEW YORK CITY WIN
The hosts are in hot form. They have won consecutive matches after recording just one win in their previous 14 in all competitions (D9 L4).
NYCFC have scored eight times in the two matches, the first time the club has scored eight goals in a two-match span since April-May 2022.
Nashville, on the other hand, have lost six of their last seven regular-season away matches dating back to the beginning of July. They have scored just four goals over those seven matches and have only scored 10 times on the road in 2024, the fewest in MLS this season.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
New York City – 55.6%
Draw – 22.9%
Nashville – 21.5%
Real Madrid 2-0 Villarreal: Valverde and Vinicius stunners down high-flying visitors
Real Madrid went level on points with rivals Barcelona at the LaLiga summit following their 2-0 triumph over high-flying Villarreal on Saturday.
The hosts opened the scoring in stunning fashion when Luka Modric's short corner was dummied by Jude Bellingham for Federico Valverde, with the Uruguayan taking aim from distance and finding the bottom corner with the aid of a deflection.
But Villarreal, who had won back-to-back league games heading into the encounter at the Bernabeu, responded almost immediately when Nicolas Pepe's header rattled the crossbar before Thierno Barry nodded over.
Los Blancos had further chances to increase their lead, but Antonio Rudiger sent an effort over the bar before Bellingham's long-range effort sailed wide of the post.
But the victory was sealed 17 minutes from time with another sensational strike, this time Vinicius Junior tried his luck from long-range and curled a superb strike beyond the grasp of Diego Conde after being found by Valverde.
The result, however, was overshadowed by a nasty injury in second-half stoppage time to Dani Carvajal, with the Spaniard leaving the pitch on a stretcher and in tears after a collision with Yeremy Pino.
Data Debrief: Wonder goals save Los Blancos
Madrid's two strikes against Villarreal both came from outside the box, as many as they had scored in their previous 39 goals in LaLiga.
But Carlo Ancelotti's side were far from their very best at the Bernabeu. They managed to muster an expected goals (xG) total of just 0.47 compared to Villarreal's 0.62, with only two of Los Blancos' 11 shots on target.
Valverde, however, impressed for Madrid, creating the joint-most chances alongside Modric (three), while also completing more accurate passes (77) than any other player on the pitch.
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