SAN SIRO: He was exhausted, injured, off his game and the old peacock stance that defines the way Cristiano Ronaldo likes to do things was conspicuously absent but when it came to taking the penalty that claimed Real Madrid's 11th European title there was, naturally, only one man to do it.
At 11.35pm Milan time, after 120 minutes of football and eight penalties, the man who wears No?7 on his back for Madrid put the ball on the spot and lashed the fifth out of five for Real past Jan Oblak who had not got close to one of them. And so Real put to bed the hopes and dreams of poor old Atletico - Madrid the city now has one more -European Cup than both the teams of Milan, but the difference is that Real have all 11 in their city.
Diego Simeone spent much of the penalties down in front of the Atletico fans, roaring them on to make more noise but by the end of the night he was trying to mend broken hearts again -after the club's third final defeat of their history. They had fought back from a goal down, missed a penalty, scored an equaliser but when Juanfran missed their fourth spot-kick they knew that this was not to be their night and not to be their trophy.
It was, all told, not a great final when it came to the quality of two sides, by turns tired or just out of inspiration. Ronaldo was a passenger for much of it and the only game-changing performance came from Simeone's half-time substitute Yannick Carrasco who scored the equaliser, bamboozled -Real's defence at times and kissed his girlfriend when he scored.
For much of the first half in this local skirmish played out on a Champions League final stage, it should be said that Real assumed the role of the older sibling who kept their determined opposition at a comfortable distance. Real moved the ball in ways that Atletico simply could not anticipate, into areas of the field where they always seemed to have advantage.
Never more so did the great discrepancy between wealth, history and -resources look quite so wide as the first 20 minutes when Ramos scored the first goal and Atletico's plan to keep things tight and organised fell to bits. The problem was that they could not stay out of the range of Real's jab and that blow fell upon them swiftly and -often.
Luka Modric and Toni Kroos controlled the midfield and the Atletico plan to chase down Casemiro, which started with a foul on the Brazilian very early from Koke, never really got going. Instead, Atletico found themselves second to everything, passed around when they were dragged wide by Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo, and penalised by referee Mark Clattenburg when they did commit fouls.
The English referee tried to let the first few go but he soon realised that he needed to take a stance and it turned out to be Dani Carvajal who copped it in for a foul on Griezmann with the game's first booking.
Clattenburg got the mood right on the level of fouls committed, ignoring one in particular that Bale played for at the end of a run late in the first half, but it was not certain that the referee called the goal correctly.
It came from a Kroos free-kick whipped in from the left channel and flicked on nicely by Bale. The touch from the Welshman was crucial, taking the ball away from the Atletico defenders and into the path of Ramos who forced it past the talented Jan Oblak from close range. The replays showed that Ramos could well have been offside, although not by much, and still the goal stood.
It gave Real control of the game and left their opponents in some doubt as to whether they could stick to the plan of containment. Around the half-hour mark, Simeone's team finally had some periods of play within the Real half, and their first shots. Yet Griezmann was never close enough to test Keylor Navas and Pepe and Ramos had no problems dealing with Fernando Torres in the first half.
Simeone substituted his defensive-minded Argentine midfielder for the more attacking Carrasco at half-time and perhaps he had underestimated his team's capacity to change up a gear so quickly. Within a minute they had -finally coerced the Real -Madrid defence into their first error of the match - and it was a big one.
Pepe, from behind Torres, misjudged the pace and angle of a ball into the feet of the Atletico striker and went for a steal that was not there to be had. Torres, feeling contact on the back of his leg, hit the deck and it was an easy decision for Clattenburg although a big one. A penalty in the first minute of the second half, having struggled at all to lay a glove on Real before then, was more than Simeone's players could have expected. They just needed Griezmann to convert it and all of a sudden this game would look more like the one they had hoped to be playing in.
The France international had already missed one against Real this season and, faced with beating Navas in front of the Atletico fans, you can only -deduce that he lost his nerve. His -intention was to let Navas commit to one side, which he did, but Griezmann lashed his shot against the bar so hard that it bounced out and away from him.
A moment of disbelief from the Atletico team but they went on to have their best period of the game so far and a chance at the back post for the -defender Stefan Savic which he could have scored. Saul -iguez hit a decent volley wide before the hour but Real saw out the storm for the time being.
Really, Real should have put the game to bed. Modric manipulated the space between Atletico's defence and attack to open a great chance for Karim Benzema coming down the left but the French striker, later substituted, made a bad call in trying to beat Oblak from such an unpromising angle.Then Bale's run opened up Atletico and he and then Ronaldo had efforts thwarted.
Finally, on 79 minutes Atletico had their breakthrough: a free-kick down the right from Gabi, a first time cross from Juanfran and a first time shot, on the lunge, from Carrasco to equalise.
There was a dreadfully cynical late foul by Ramos in time added on at the end of the 90 minutes, when he brought down Carrasco in full flow, and by then both teams were sailing close to the wind. Clattenburg blew the whistle to take the game into extra-time.
Carrasco celebrated with a kiss from his girlfriend Happart Noemie, Miss Belgium 2013, and who certainly did not have to be asked twice for the -favour. The Belgian was brilliant in -extra-time especially with Bale and -Ronaldo exhausted and, in the latter's case, a long way short of fitness.
Bale was suffering cramp and seemed to seize up attempting an overhead kick in the first period of extra-time.By the end of extra-time, Real were the more likely to score and Lucas Vazquez had the best opening but just took too long over it, and from there to penalties and after nine perfect hits, Juanfran missed and Ronaldo decided it.