Of all the masterpieces that Zinedine Zidane created during his playing career, the one that stands out is the side-on, left-footed volley that illuminated Real Madrid’s Champions League final victory over Bayer Leverkusen at Hampden Park in 2002.
Roberto Carlos had surged up the left but his cross was hooked high and when it began its descent, there did not appear to be an obvious opportunity. Zidane had other ideas. The speed with which he set his feet on the edge of the penalty area was the first feature of the goal, followed by the instinctive adjustment of his body. Then, it was all about the purity of the technique; the talent that marked him out as one of the greats.
It was possible to see the parallel to Cristiano Ronaldo’s show‑stopping overhead kick for Real in Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final, first-leg win against Juventus in Turin. In a heartbeat, Ronaldo had made the calculations and he seemed to levitate rather than leap. The balletic beauty was overtaken by the ruthlessness of the execution.
“Mine was better,” Zidane, the Real manager, said with a grin, and he could afford to smile. Beforehand, his team had been doubted, as had he himself. It has been an underwhelming season on the domestic front, which has been scarred by the chasm that has separated Real from the league leaders, Barcelona – it stands at 13 points – and the Copa del Rey defeat by Leganés.
It does not feel too long ago that Zidane was being discussed as a soon-to-be-ex Real manager. That was in November, after the Champions League group phase loss at Tottenham, which had come on the back of a league defeat at Girona. The alarm bells screeched.
Juventus had not lost since 19 November. They had lost only once at home in the previous 75 matches in all competitions. They had conceded just twice in 17 Serie A games. Max Allegri’s team also had a score to settle from last season’s Champions League final, when Real had beaten them 4-1. At kick-off time, the atmosphere was feverish.
Ronaldo helped to draw the sting with a third minute opener before he scored his ludicrously spectacular second on 64 minutes. He laid on the third for Marcelo and, at 3-0, the tie feels over.
The acclaim for Ronaldo’s golazo began immediately, in the shape of a standing ovation from the Juventus support. It continued long into the night and the morning after. Corriere dello Sport described it as a “work of art.” Tuttosport said it was from “another planet”.
“Cristiano made up the second goal,” Andrea Barzagli, the Juventus defender, said. “It’s a PlayStation goal. It will go down in history.” Gianluigi Buffon, the Juventus goalkeeper, said that Ronaldo ought to be compared to Diego Maradona and Pelé.
The goal killed Juventus on every level and the concession to Marcelo was the consequence of their demoralisation, as was Paulo Dybala’s sending-off moments earlier. Ronaldo lifted himself and his team to a higher plane and, in the process, he forced Juventus to their knees.
Yet Zidane’s happiness was rooted in something deeper, more fundamental. This was a team triumph and from one that was supposed to have been the underdog. A symbol of it was Isco, the attacking midfielder, whose position was difficult to define. He floated from side to side and in front of the midfield and, with Ronaldo and Karim Benzema adjusting in front of him, Real shifted from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 to a diamond formation. He brought the options and the fluency, together with an injection of swagger.
There was one jaw-dropping moment in the first half when he controlled an awkward high ball in deep midfield and, in one graceful movement, cushioned a pass out to Marcelo. It dropped on to the left‑back’s toe. It did not lead to much but it helped to set a tone for Real. They were here to play; to impose their class.
Allegri noted how Real were “devastating with their final ball” and Isco was prominent in this area, setting up Ronaldo’s first goal. So was Luka Modric. With the early advantage, Real could punch on the counterattack and when they had the space, they bristled with menace.
“Isco was very important between the lines,” Zidane said. “Everyone played great but Isco was excellent.”
Real’s midfield was beautifully balanced, with the holding player, Casemiro, sometimes pressing as the most advanced out of himself, Modric and Toni Kroos, while at the back, Sergio Ramos and Raphaël Varane made a clutch of important first-half interventions. When Juventus thought they had got through, on 22 minutes, Keylor Navas made a wonderful reflex save to deny Gonzalo Higuaín.
In the end, though, one man stood above the collective. No player has scored more Champions League goals than Ronaldo (119) and no player has won the competition in its current branding more times than him (four). “This is our competition,” the 33-year-old said. He and Real want more.
