Champions Cup soccer

Atletico Madrid, a mere minute and a half away from the double, after desperate defending for much of the last 20 minutes, could not mark up Sergio Ramos from a corner in the third minute of added time, and with that Ramos header that found the back of the net, the dream was done.

It was only going to end with one team holding that magnificent giant silver cup, and that team was Real Madrid.

And of course, the best player in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo, sealed the deal after he won a penalty 119 minutes into this amazing match, and then coolly dispatched the ensuing penalty to put the icing on his second, and Real Madrid’s tenth, European Championship.

Atletico did everything right for the first 92 minutes, bar the stupid decision to start Diego Costa, who left after eight minutes with a flare-up of the hamstring injury that he has been dealing with for a month.

Once the match was tied up and headed to extra time, the tendency is that the team that trailed the whole match and ties it late is flying, and the other team is in shock.

Added to that last night was the Atletico players were dead on their feet after the first 15-minute period.

Before the extra time started, I made the comment that this could be like the 1968 final, when Manchester United scored three times in the two added periods to win 4-1 over Benfica.

Once the second Real Madrid goal came 108 minutes in, it was not only game over, but the opening of the flood gates.

The extra matches Atletico played this year will have an adverse affect on the team, which is not a very deep squad, just like it did this year on Borussia Dortmund.