The Whole Delivery

Fulltime (ET): Real Madrid 4-1 Atletico Madrid  Sergio Ramos' heroics, and a tried Atletico side, spelled the difference as Real Madrid received their long coveted 10th European Cup title.  Full review to come in other outlets, but for now, the pictures and celebration take all the headlines.  It's been another wonderful season in UEFA Champions League play, as Real Madrid now extend their most continental cup championships lead over AC Milan to 3 as the great Italian club have 7. Take care and so long to the UEFA Champions League for this season, until it all starts again in August. (Enjoy all the prematch and midmatch stuff below): Halftime: 'Baked Iker" Mistake Leads To Godin Giving Atletico The 1-0 Lead  Gareth Bale's agony face was less painful for Madrid than the one Iker Casillas's face featured after allowing this.  Really for Madrid, Ronaldo has to come back further up instead of waiting for Di Maria, Modric, a...

First Thread Focus: How JuanFran and Daniel Carvajal Are Playing For More Than Champions League Glory  With every UEFA Champions League final, much is obviously at stake. But unlike any final in the 22-year old reformation of the European Cup, the ultimate match in Lisbon today has its own unique elements. The whole all-Madrid final, as well as seeing if Atletico could achieve an unfathomable double or if Real can finally end its global community's long (and very annoying for some) obsession for La Decima, gives this campaign's decider an appeal like any of the 21 that preceded it. However, while the dynamics on club football have received the most attention from this crosstown final, the dynamics of what this contest has on the World Cup, in particular the Spanish national team, will certainly hold equal importance for both sides. This is the match before Vincente Del Bosque narrows his provisional 30 man list to the final 23 man squad tomorrow morning, and will se...

Photos from Atletico's press conference With no proper reasoning why the Malaga-Levante match was played on a Friday night to close their seasons, the 2013-2014 La Liga campaign has its finale weekend, where the leagues MVP Atletico Madrid may somehow have nothing to show for their historic season. A loss to Barcelona tomorrow in the competition's dramatic last chapter would be about as unkind as any Suarez's bite. Atletico have clearly felt the pressure and fatigue of going into the last weeks of the season with multiple trophies to play for. They couldn't get anything past Keylor Navas and almost were dealt the same devastating blow against Willy Caballero last week, while their own ace netminder Tobias Courtois' gaffe to give Malaga the opener belied the unfamiliar May tension surrounding Madrid's unglamorous big club.   Make no mistake, Atletico have been a Godsend to a league that couldn't tolerate another season of "Big 2" duopoly b...

Pre-Game Kickaround: Fernando's Last Chance  In a normal buildup to Champions League semifinals, the return of Fernando Torres to his former two clubs would be a story garnering frontline attention, examining in detail whether the former world class striker turned global mystery would recapture his once impeccable form. But the events of recent days has made that intriguing tale almost as irrelevant as Pep Guardiola renewing his rivalry with Real Madrid. The David Moyes saga and Torres' own current manager, Jose Mourinho negative tales, have occupied the attention well before the Spanish striker's return to his old domiciles. In fact, Atletico manager Diego Simeone is third in line for most headlines in both the English and Espana's presses, with him now being linked to the United job despite being comfortable with his position. Torres' anecdote though will return to the forefront this time around, as he is destined to get playing time in Chelsea's big...

Patrice Evra sent everyone on shock notice and Bayern in worry with his tremendous strike.  But 70 secs later, he feel asleep real quick and Mandzukic scored. And the rest was history.  Meanwhile, as I thought below, Atletico have advanced despite hitting the woodwork three times and leaving other chances to the ground.  It just wasn't Messi's night, as he had a snap header go wide as his only true chance that was a must score from him.  Courtois amazing and Xavi couldn't finish that wild scramble in the second half to put Barcelona out and Tata Martino under major pressure.  The Team of the Week:  The @ChampionsLeague Team of the Week- Courtois; Evra, Cahill, Godin, JuanFran; Raul Garcia, Jojic; Reus, Kroos, Koke; Demba Ba — Andrew Jerell Jones (@sluggahjells) April 9, 2014 What a remarkable week of Champions League quarterfinals' finales for another season. The two big Madrid clubs, Jose Mourinho, and Pep Guardi...

Full Time: Atletico Madrid 0-0 Barcelona  Stalemate official . Great tactical duel even if the game didn't have the quality to match the intensity. Still, much to be decided in La Liga BBVA, where Real Madrid fans will be happy that the two teams they hate the most have to settle for a draw.  Halftime Version  Stalemate as expected at the half as Martino and his team looked tentative in the beginning portions of that first half, as Atletico dominated. Busquets was ineffective as Tiago was having the better half in that key holding midfield battle, as well as JuanFran doing well on the flanks. Atletico had the best chance of the half but Costa put the set piece wide. But Barcelona will go into the break with the momentum as they got into their rhythm in the first half as both Costa and especially Arda Turan became non existent. Pedro is active in the right spots and Iniesta is Iniesta as usual.  With the control of the game for now, who will ...

Would have been a weird year if Atletico got two cups this year, so glad they didn't : FC Sevilla prevented Atletico Madrid from celebrating a cup double on Wednesday as they beat the recently-crowned Europa League champions 2-0 to take the King's Cup here for the fifth time in their history and second in four years. Sevilla - who took the fourth and final Champions League place in the last minutes of the final match of the league season - lifted the Cup thanks to a fifth minute goal by diminutive wing Diego Capel and a second in time added on by Jesus Navas. Capel's opener was a delight as he picked up Navas's blocked effort and fired an unstoppable shot into the Atletico net from just outside the penalty area. Navas is a guy that if he didn't have to deal with the likes of Xavi, Iniesta and even Ces Fabregas, would be Spain's number one midfield general.

The full review on how Diego Forlan has etched himself as clearly the most underrated player in world football, with his clutch brace performance to lead Atletico Madrid to European second tier glory . And deservedly so. So, that ends a truly wonderful year in the new revamped version of what used to be called the "UEFA Cup." It has been an enthralling 9 month journey of the longest and arguably the most arduous club competition in all of world football. A team from the competition's very beginning stages seem like they could do the amazing feat of winning the competiton straight from the get go. Instead, it was a Champions League castoff clamining the prize of still a pretty prestigious trophy. Congratulations Club de Atletico Madrid, despite an up and down year, you are no question worthy champions of the first installment of the UEFA Europa League. And now, for the season in the UEFA Europa League, one final listen towards the terrific anthem that it has. Un...