On 28 May 2022, at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Real Madrid beat Liverpool 1-0 to win their 14th European Cup. On 28 May 2027 it will be five years since the final that a goalkeeper won almost single-handed. It was also a duel between two great coaches, Ancelotti and Klopp.

A final that changed city

The final had originally been given to the Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, UEFA moved it to Paris.

It was the third final at the Stade de France, after 2000 and 2006. There were 75,000 spectators in the stands and the referee was France's Clément Turpin.

Jürgen Klopp's Liverpool had made an almost perfect run. They won all six games in a group with Milan, Porto and Atlético, and then knocked out Inter, Benfica and Villarreal.

Carlo Ancelotti's Real lived on comebacks. They eliminated Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Manchester City, each time after finding themselves on the way out.

And yet their campaign had begun with a shock 2-1 home defeat to Sheriff Tiraspol. For Real it was a record 17th final. It was also the third time the two clubs had met in a final, after 1981 and 2018, when Real won in Kyiv.

Chaos outside the stadium

Before kick-off, control at the entrances broke down. At the scheduled 21:00 kick-off thousands of seats in the Liverpool end were still empty, and the match started 36 minutes late, at 21:36.

France's interior minister first blamed Liverpool fans but later apologised. An independent review published in February 2023 found that UEFA bore the primary responsibility.

The wall wearing number 1

On the pitch Liverpool were the better side in the first half. Thibaut Courtois stopped Salah and turned a Mané shot onto the post.

Shortly before half-time Karim Benzema put the ball in the net, but after a three-minute VAR check the goal was ruled out for offside. The decision was much debated, because the ball had reached him after a touch from Fabinho.

In the 59th minute Federico Valverde ran down the right and hit a low cross. Vinícius Júnior was alone at the far post and made it 1-0. From then on Courtois stopped everything, reaching nine saves, a record for a final since Opta began keeping such data.

Klopp sent on Jota, Keïta and Firmino, but nothing changed. Liverpool finished with 23 shots, nine on target, while Real had just three, with one on goal.

Red against white

Both teams wore their 2021-22 home kits, even though the new shirts had already been unveiled. Liverpool were in all red, in a Nike shirt with orange details that recalled the all-red look Shankly introduced in 1964.

Real played in their classic adidas all white. These were two of the best-known kits in European football, face to face.

A Greek touch and familiar faces

On Liverpool's bench sat Kostas Tsimikas, who was not used. For Real, Courtois closed a circle: in 2014, in Lisbon, he was in Atlético's goal and lost the final to Real.

From that final, Carvajal, Modrić and Benzema also started in Paris. Courtois was named man of the match.

After the final Benzema, Modrić and Kroos joined Cristiano Ronaldo as the only players with five titles in the Champions League era. Courtois finished the season with 59 saves, a record for one campaign.

Why it went down in history

Real reached 14 trophies, twice as many as Milan in second place with seven, and won their eighth Champions League final in a row. Ancelotti became the first coach to win the competition four times.

For Liverpool it was a night of double bitterness, on and off the pitch. Klopp reached three Champions League final defeats, level with Marcello Lippi.

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Photo: Liverpool's fan zone in Paris on the night of the final – Chabe01, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.