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Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane hailed his history-makers after Saturday evening's 3-1 Champions League final victory over Liverpool in Kiev, Ukraine. A goalless first half was most notable for injuries to Liverpool top scorer Mohamed Salah [after a tangle with Sergio Ramos] and then Real Madrid right-back Dani Carvajal, both of whom could now miss this summer's World Cup finals in Russia. Karim Benzema then put Madrid ahead early in the second half after a howler from Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius. But the Reds showed character to quickly equalise when Sadio Mane flicked home after Ramos was beaten in the air by Dejan Lovren. Bale entered for Isco on the hour mark, and just two minutes later threw himself acrobatically into the air to meet Marcelo's cross, with the ball flying unstoppably past Karius and into the net. The Wales international then wrapped up the title with eight minutes left when his long-range shot went straight through Karius' hands. The Los Blancos coach told reporters at the stadium that he told his team to enjoy the feeling after becoming the first side to win three consecutive European Cups since the mid-1970s as they might never experience anything like this again. "We must enjoy this moment, what they are doing, making history," Zidane said. "We live for these moments, these emotions. It is very nice, that's the truth. This is what this team has, talent and hard work. We wanted to do this, and we have done it again. I told the players to enjoy it as they will never be [part of] anything like this." Given a chance to praise Bale's intervention in the game, Zidane recalled Cristiano Ronaldo's similar bicycle kick in this season's quarterfinal first leg at Juventus. "Bale played a great game," Zidane replied. "But they all did. It was just like Cristiano the other day in Turin." Just as in earlier rounds in the competition, Madrid had sticky patches in the game and were given a helping hand from opposition errors. "In the end, lots of things happened in the game, but we did it," Zidane said. "We were able to focus on what we had to do, even when they equalised. Then a player comes in who can do that, and we are all happy." Asked about Ronaldo hinting to Spanish TV on the final whistle that he could be leaving "We do not think about that," he said. "Just in what we are doing. Then we will see what happens."
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