#3 Mario Mandzukic is utterly deserving of the greatest UEFA Champions League final goal of all time.
Trending
In plenty of combined XI’s before the game, Mario Mandzukic had the misfortune to be compared with Cristiano Ronaldo – and predictably, lost out. The Croatian has been shunted out wide to the left wing by Massimiliano Allegri this season, but instead of throwing a strop, Mandzukic quietly buckled down and learned how to be a winger, for the good of his team.
He knows how to score in a final – Mandzukic became only the third player ever to score in two different UEFA Champions League finals for two different teams – a list that includes Ronaldo. Like most of Juventus’ goals, the move began with Leonardo Bonucci, channelling his inner Andrea Pirlo, to chip a gorgeous long ball to Alex Sandro on the left wing.
The Brazilian plucked the ball out of the air with a brilliant touch, and the ball never touched the ground after that – Higuain with a brilliant chest down, followed by the greatest goal we have witnessed in the UEFA Champions League final in recent memory – an incredible overhead kick that left Navas no chance.
Football is a cruel mistress though, and while Mandzukic won Ol’ Big Ears the last time he scored in a final (vs Dortmund for Bayern Munich), all he has tonight is a runner-up medal.
