2014 UEFA Champions League Final

Luís Figo, ambassador of the 2014 UEFA Champions League Final

Former Portugal international player Luís Figo, who won the Champions League with Real Madrid in 2002, was named as the ambassador for the final.[24]

UEFA unveiled the visual identity of the final on 29 August 2013, the same day as the group stage draw. The design concept was inspired by elements from the Portuguese discoveries, namely the armillary sphere and the windrose, which were important instruments used by Portuguese sea explorers to measure the position of stars.[25]

The international ticket sales phase for the general public ran from 10 to 21 March 2014. Tickets were available in four price categories: €390, €280, €160, and €70.[26]

The two finalist clubs were each allocated 16,970 tickets by UEFA. Atlético made 14,000 tickets available to club members, with a limit of one ticket per member.[27] Real Madrid received 24,103 requests from 73,314 club members for a total of 13,134 tickets; due to the high demand, the tickets were awarded by means of a draw.[28]

UEFA announced Björn Kuipers as the referee for the final on 7 May.

Dutch referee Björn Kuipers was named by UEFA on 7 May 2014 as the referee for the final.[29] He has previously taken charge of the 2011 UEFA Super Cup, the 2013 UEFA Europa League Final, and the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup Final. He became the fourth Dutch referee in a European Cup/Champions League final, after Leo Horn (1957, 1962), Charles Corver (1978), and Dick Jol (2001). The rest of the refereeing team are fellow countrymen Sander van Roekel and Erwin Zeinstra as assistant referees, Pol van Boekel and Richard Liesveld as additional assistant referees, Angelo Boonman as reserve assistant referee, and Turkey's Cüneyt Çakır as the fourth official.

The UEFA Champions League and UEFA Women's Champions League trophies were handed over to the host city of Lisbon at a ceremony held at the City Hall, on 17 April 2014. The Mayor of Lisbon António Costa received the silverware from the hands of UEFA President Michel Platini, who justified the decision to stage the 2014 UEFA Champions League showpiece match in Lisbon with the fact that it had "been too long since the final had been in Portugal" and for "the passion and love of football the Portuguese have."[30] The title holders of both competitions were represented at the event by Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri, and Wolfsburg defender Lina Magull. Also in attendance were Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) President Fernando Gomes and final ambassador Luís Figo. Upon their arrival to Lisbon and before the ceremony, the trophies were paraded by old tram through the city in the hands of trophy tour ambassadors Vítor Baía, former Portuguese international and Porto goalkeeper, and Mónica Jorge, former coach of the women's national team.[30]

The annual UEFA Champions Festival took place from 22 to 25 May 2014 at Praça do Comércio in the city centre.[31][32][33]

The 2014 UEFA Women's Champions League Final was held on 22 May 2014 at Estádio do Restelo,[34] featuring Swedish side Tyresö and defending champions Wolfsburg. Losing 2–0 at half-time, Wolfsburg made a comeback to win the match 4–3. Martina Müller, who scored the winner in the previous final, repeated the feat to secure the German team's second consecutive title.[35]

Opening ceremony

The ceremony preceding the kick-off was organised by Canadian company Circo de Bakuza, with artistic direction by London-based choreographer Wanda Rokicki.[36] She was responsible for the artistic segments of large international sporting events, such as the 2004 Summer Olympics, the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and the 2002 and 2006 Commonwealth Games.[37] Conceived "to honor Portuguese tradition, including naval history or the art of tiling",[37] the show required six months of preparation and involved a total of 400 volunteers, 90 singers and 84 large-sized banners.[36] The UEFA Champions League anthem was interpreted by Portuguese fado singer Mariza.[38]

The only player suspended from the final was Real Madrid's Xabi Alonso, who picked up his third booking of the competition in the second leg of the semi-final.[39] In his place, Carlo Ancelotti selected German midfielder Sami Khedira, who himself had only recently returned from injury. Pepe was also left out of the starting XI, with 21-year-old French centre-back Raphaël Varane playing instead. Real Madrid's front three of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema were originally doubtful for the match, but all three overcame injuries to start the match.[40]

Atlético captain Gabi returned from a one-match European suspension, while striker Diego Costa was included in the starting line-up, having undergone horse placenta treatment for a hamstring injury suffered in the last league match the previous Saturday.[41] However, despite initial optimism, midfielder Arda Turan did not recover in time after suffering an injury in the same game.[42]

Atlético Madrid wore shirts with the name of their former player and manager Luis Aragonés inside the collar following his death in February 2014, with the symbolism approved by UEFA President Michel Platini.[43][44] Both teams wore their home kits for the final, as they do in domestic meetings.[45]

Real Madrid celebrating the victory

Within eight minutes, Atlético striker Diego Costa was forced to come off because of his previous injury. Gareth Bale had Real's best chance just after the half-hour mark and it was only a few minutes later when Atlético punished this miss.[46] When Atlético received a corner, it was routinely cleared by the Real Madrid defence, but only as far as the head of Juanfran, who headed the ball back into the penalty area and onto the head of Diego Godín, who caught Iker Casillas off his line with a looping header to make it 1–0 to Atlético on 36 minutes.[47]

The second half saw Real pushing forward as they went in search of an equaliser to deny Atlético's first Champions League title, with manager Carlo Ancelotti making a double substitution to replace Fábio Coentrão and Khedira with Marcelo and Isco. Atlético defended with all players and Real missed several chances.[48] Atletico's defence was finally breached in the third minute of stoppage time, after the regulation 90 minutes, by a pinpoint Sergio Ramos header into the left of the net from Luka Modrić's corner from the right.[47] The match went on to extra time with no substitutions left for either team.

Real Madrid became even more dominant in extra time, which proved decisive after Ángel Di María's run on the left flank saw him dribble past three Atlético defenders and shoot at goal. Thibaut Courtois attempted to block the Argentine's shot but only managed to deflect the ball to Bale, who headed the rebound in from two yards out to put Real ahead for the first time, in the 110th minute.[46] Real then added two late goals to the scoreline, starting with Marcelo's low left foot strike from just inside the penalty area in the 118th minute. At the end of extra time, Cristiano Ronaldo was fouled by Gabi for a penalty,[46] which he converted into the left corner of the net for a record 17th goal in the tournament. During the celebration for Ronaldo's goal, Varane kicked the ball towards Atlético manager Diego Simeone, who then ran onto the pitch in anger. Simeone was sent off and Varane booked for the incident.[46]

This was the seventh UEFA Champions League final (not including the finals up to 1992, when it was known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup) to go into extra time and the first to be solved during this period, without the need for a penalty shoot-out. It was also the second highest-scoring final in the tournament's history as the Champions League, after the 3–3 draw between Milan and Liverpool in 2005, and provided the second biggest winning margin, behind Milan's 4–0 win over Barcelona in 1994.[49]