By Scott Saunders
FROM WEMBLEY - Carlo Ancelotti couldn't explain it.
"There's something special about this club. It's not a coincidence, there is something important that I can't quite put my finger on. It could be its history, its tradition, the quality and character of these players...it's happened many times and it's not a coincidence."
Those his words on Friday in Wembley Stadium's press room, speaking ahead of the Champions League final, which Real Madrid, inevitably, have gone on to win. Again. They're 15 up, streets ahead of the rest and showing no signs of stopping.
Their win in London came about in classic Real Madrid circumstance. An underwhelming and frankly ordinary first half saw them predictably give underdogs and known can't get it done in the big moment team Borussia Dortmund opportunities, growing hope and a fighting chance. Karim Adeyemi showed his speed but lack of composure. Jadon Sancho pulled off a few nice touches and dribbles. Niclas Fullkrug hit the post. Then, the inevitables did what they do. We could all see it coming.
Time after time after time, it happens. This is a football club that know how to get the job done. Their identity is not one of the beautiful football of Cruyff or Pep's Barcelona, but one of delivering in the moment. No matter the players, no matter the generation, that culture of coping, that culture of winning, is retained.
Handed down through generations, from the team that won five straight European Cups in the 50s, to the point of rediscovering how to win old big ears with three in five years across the turn of the century, to last decade and the era we find ourselves in now. La Decima was the point where the floodgates reopened again and you don't ever see an extended drought coming again.
There was some poetry in how they managed it. Riding the waves and rolling with the punches of one of the world's favourite teams and the clear underdogs, only for their old guard to deliver and the new generation to finish it off.
Toni Kroos, in his last club match for Real Madrid before retirement, picked out a classic peach of a cross for the never-ageing Dani Carvajal to open the scoring, and Vinicius Junior, the arguable leader of the new Madrid and with a strong case for this year's Ballon d'Or, put the icing on the cake - assisted, of course, by Jude Bellingham. The contributors to each goal reflecting the generation that has done it and the generation that will continue on the traditions.
This is how to run a football club and how to keep a winning culture. The last team to beat Real Madrid in a European final was Sir Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen in 1983. They'll be there, or thereabouts, for what feels like forever.
And how to you make sure this success story continues? Just add Kylian Mbappe and Endrick to the mix.
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This article was originally published on 90min.com as Predictable, inevitable Real Madrid are the greatest example of how to win.
