La Decimoquinta: How Wembley 2024 Made It Fifteen

For Madridistas in Bangladesh, the 2024 Champions League final kicked off at one in the morning. It was worth staying up for. On 1 June 2024, at Wembley, Real Madrid beat Borussia Dortmund 2-0 and lifted a fifteenth European Cup.

The final

It was not a comfortable night. The first half was tough and ended goalless, and for long spells it looked like one of those finals that would be decided by a single mistake. Then, in the 74th minute, Dani Carvajal rose at a corner and headed in the opener. Nine minutes later Vinícius Júnior made it 2-0, scoring in a second Champions League final after his winner against Liverpool in 2022. Carvajal was named man of the match.

The road to London

The knockout rounds asked a different question every time. Leipzig were beaten 2-1 on aggregate in a tie that never felt safe. Against Manchester City, a 3-3 draw at the Bernabéu was followed by a penalty shoot-out in Manchester, where Andriy Lunin saved two kicks. In the semi-final, a 2-2 draw in Munich, with two goals from Vini Jr., set up another Bernabéu comeback: Joselu scored twice in two minutes to send Madrid to the final.

Six European Cups

The win put four players level with Paco Gento, until then the only man with six European Cups: Nacho, Luka Modrić, Carvajal and Toni Kroos, who ended his club career with the trophy in his hands. All five members of that club are Real Madrid players.

The individual honours

Vini Jr. was named the competition's Player of the Season after six goals and four assists. Jude Bellingham, in his first year at the club, was the Young Player of the Season, and Fede Valverde's volley against City was voted goal of the season. Carvajal, Antonio Rüdiger, Bellingham and Vini Jr. all made the team of the season.

Why it still matters to us

The celebrations went from the Comunidad de Madrid and the City Hall to Cibeles and a party at the Bernabéu. The trophy then joined the others in the Real Madrid City boardroom, alongside the club's basketball European Cups. It capped a season that also brought the league and the Spanish Super Cup.

For a peña thousands of kilometres away, nights like Wembley are the reason we exist. We cannot be in the stadium every time, but we can be awake, together, at one in the morning, watching the club do what it has done fifteen times now.

¡Hala Madrid!