Stats breakdown: Madrid and Ronaldo rewrite record books
Sunday, June 4, 2017
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The records flowed for Real Madrid and Cristiano Ronaldo, Zinédine Zidane sidled up alongside coaching greats and Spain underlined its dominance; we devour the stats.
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All stats are UEFA Champions League only (and not European Champion Clubs' Cup) unless otherwise specified
Read Madrid: ahead of the field
- Madrid are the first team to make a successful defence of the UEFA Champions League title. Milan (1989, 1990) were the last club to pick up consecutive European Champion Clubs' Cups.
- Madrid maintained their 100% success rate in UEFA Champions League finals, winning six out of six. AC Milan are the only other club to have appeared in six finals – only three of which they have won.
- Before this season, all five of Madrid's previous wins had come in even-numbered years.
- Madrid moved two clear of Barcelona as the UEFA Champions League-era's most successful club – with six wins to four. Barça have contested five finals, their one defeat coming in their first (1994 v Milan).
- Other than Madrid, the only clubs to boast a 100% record in UEFA Champions League finals are one-time finalists Marseille, Porto and Internazionale.
- Ronaldo's first of the night was Madrid's 500th goal in the UEFA Champions League – making them the first club to reach the milestone. Barcelona (459) and Bayern (415) are next on the list.
- This is Real Madrid's 12th European Cup win, meaning they have now won as many titles as the next two successful sides combined! Milan have seven wins, with five apiece for Bayern, Barcelona and Liverpool.
- Madrid have set one new unenviable record for a UEFA Champions League-winning side by keeping only one clean sheet all season (at home to Atlético in the semi-final first leg). The previous lowest number was Manchester United in 1998/99 with two (in 11 matches).
Ronaldo: more records in the bag
- Cristiano Ronaldo is the first player to score in three UEFA Champions League finals, moving clear of Sergio Ramos (the only defender who has scored in two finals), Raúl González, Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi.
- Ronaldo is only the sixth man to score two in a final, joining: Daniele Massaro (Milan 1994), Karl-Heinz Riedle (Borussia Dortmund 1997), Hernán Crespo (Milan 2005), Filippo Inzaghi (Milan 2007) and Diego Milito (Internazionale 2010). No player has hit a hat-trick in a UEFA Champions League final.
- Ronaldo joined Andrés Iniesta and Clarence Seedorf as one of only three players to have taken part in four UEFA Champions League final victories.
- Ronaldo finished top of the UEFA Champions League scorers' table for the fifth year running, leapfrogging Lionel Messi as his two goals took him to 12 for the season – he only managed two in the group stage.
ZZ: top
- Zinédine Zidane is the first man who won the UEFA Champions League as a player to win it twice as a coach – Frank Rijkaard did it once. He is the first player to have scored in a UEFA Champions League final and won it as coach.
- Zidane is only the second man to win the European Cup in his first two seasons as first-team coach, matching José Villalonga who took Real Madrid to their inaugural pair of titles.
General: Spain reign
- This was the second 4-1 scoreline in a final in the UEFA Champions League era – 1-1 is the joint most common scoreline along with 2-1 (five each).
- Spain have now won ten UEFA Champions League titles, twice as many as Italy, which is second on the list. For the European Cup as a whole, Spain's total of 17 wins is five greater than Italy and England's.
- Madrid's Cardiff triumph was Spain's fourth success in a row; no other country has managed two on the spin.
- This was Juventus's fifth final loss – a record. Indeed, their only victory was on penalties – against Ajax in 1996.