Real Madrid booked their place in the final of the Champions League despite a 2-1 defeat in their semi-final second leg against Atlético Madrid.

Saúl Niguez and Antoine Griezmann both netted as Atletico recorded a 2-1 victory in the last ever Champions League match at the Vicente Calderón, but it was far from enough to prevent a 4-2 aggregate defeat as Isco netted the visitors' only goal.

Real Madrid will play Juventus in the final in Cardiff after they saw off Monaco on Tuesday night, giving them the opportunity to become the first ever team to retain the Champions League.

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Atlético made two changes to try and chase the goals they needed as Jose Giménez came in at right-back in place of Lucas Hernández with Juanfran still out through injury, whilst Fernando Torres replaced Kévin Gameiro.

For visitors Real, they made just a sole change that saw Danilo replace the injured Dani Carvajal.

Trailing 3-0 from the first leg following Cristiano Ronaldo’s treble, a feisty start saw Danilo and Stefan Savić booked inside the first six minutes following efforts from Ronaldo and Griezmann.

Atlético give Real an early scare

Keylor Navas was called into action for the first time just a minute later as his reflexes denied Koke, who flicked the ball goalwards following Giminez’s cross.

Atlético felt they could have had a penalty following a tangle of legs between Yannick Ferreira Carrasco and Casemiro after Jan Oblak had made a smart stop down to his left to keep out Casemiro’s header.

Their early pressure paid off just past the ten minute mark. Carrasco had been causing problems in Real’s back four and it was his corner that found Saúl at the near post who fired his header past Navas.

That gave the unlikeliest of comebacks the perfect start and they found themselves just a goal behind when Torres was tripped in the box by Raphael Varane and Griezmann stepped up and scored the resulting penalty, despite the best efforts of Navas who got more than a hand to the ball.

The chances started to dry up but the action did not as Sergio Ramos and Diego Godín found themselves in the referee’s notebook after Godin fouled Ronaldo.

Real seal place in Cardiff

Madrid started to put the pressure on before half time as Isco had a chance but scuffed his effort into the awaiting arms of Oblak.

However, Isco put the tie virtually out of reach three minutes before the break after Karim Benzema’s fantastic skill whilst being hounded by three defenders on the by-line gave him the chance to lay off to Toni Kroos.

His shot was blocked by Oblak but the Spaniard was there to tap in from close range, leaving Atlético needing to score five on the night to progress on aggregate, the 61st game in a row Real had scored in.

Zinedine Zidane’s men started the better after the break and Ronaldo went close to his 400th Real Madrid goal when Oblak was forced to beat away his free kick from a tight angle.

Real Madrid weren’t planning to sit on their two-goal aggregate lead as Marcelo found himself 20 yards out and dragged his shot horribly wide before Ronaldo had another chance, but couldn’t quite hook his left foot around the ball enough to trouble Oblak from Marcelo’s driven cross.

Atlético keep pushing

It could have been game on once again with 25 minutes to go but a fantastic double save from Navas kept out first Carrasco after he cut inside onto his right foot before the Costa Rican was up quickly to push away Gameiro’s point-blank header.

Benzema could have capped his impressive night’s work with a goal if his diving header had not gone just wide but Real Madrid comfortably finished the job to earn a 15th Champions League final appearance.

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About the author
Harry Wright
Sport Journalism at the university of Bedfordshire. MK Dons supporter, referee, cricket player, Somerset and New England Patriots fan.