I'm happy for Bale tonight - I think many (not all) Real fans have given him a lot of unfair criticism, and he proved himself world-class tonight, just has he did for Spurs before he moved to Madrid.
From a completely selfish standpoint, I hope the rumored move to Man Utd does not come to pass. I'd love to see him go back to Spurs actually (though they would never meet his wage demands). Great player.
Interesting also to see both Bale and Crispy Ronaldo (who Liverpool, kept pretty quiet, by the by) after the match both effectively saying 'goodbye Real'. I guess there is nothing left to win now.
Read my post about Salah. If he misses the WC, we all suffer. He is a great talent. I really do feel bad for him.
That said, Ramos went in hard and was taking Salah down. Yep it was stupid, but there was no intent on destroy Salah for Real to win. If that were the case, they would have been head hunting since the quarters when we faced an attach of PSG that is equal but most likely better than Liverpool’s. We didn’t need to take Salah out to win tonight.
I know I am in the minor here, and I am talking to a bunch of EPL fans, but honestly. Real is not in the business of taking guys out. Zidane is not that type of person. Ramos is careless, but he isn’t dirty.
Real are winners, no disputing that. They were the better team today. But if I were a Real fan I'd feel at least a
tiny bit sheepish about the way the match played out.
I have no time for Ramos, though. He's a world-class player in terms of skill, no doubt, but also a very dirty one. He didn't
want to hurt Salah, I'll grant that, but he recklessly, deliberately fouled him and that is almost as bad. His red card record speaks for itself - and there is simply no arguing with that. If we can't call him a dirty player, I don't know who is. Enjoy the trophies, well done. Give me Pujol and Piqué any day over him, though. He's the Spanish John Terry (speaking of which - oh dear, it was
lovely to see "Brave John Terry" and his sad little face today after the match against Fulham - fair play to the Cottagers, I will be happy to see them in the Prem next season, though Villa and Grealish played a good match).
As for Zidane, his managerial career consists of being handed the best players on the planet. He has done very well with them. I wonder how he would do in charge of Atleti, Seville, or (cliché alert) Stoke. We will never know (and, to be fair, the same goes for Guardiola).