Gareth Bale made Champions League history as Real Madrid won the tournament for the third year in a row by beating Liverpool 3-1 in Kiev.
The Wales international was named on the bench, with Zinedine Zidane preferring Isco in the starting XI, but he came on a second-half substitute to devastating effect.
Bale had been on the pitch for two minutes and two seconds when he let fly with an unbelievable overhead kick from a left-wing Marcelo cross to put Madrid back in front after Sadio Mane had cancelled out Karim Benzema’s opener.
And when Loris Karius spilled Bale’s speculative long-range drive into his own goal, the Madrid man became the first player to score twice off the bench in a Champions League or European Cup.
Los Blancos thus became the first side to win the prestigious accolade thrice in a row.
However, Bale who started only 20 of Madrid’s 38 games in La Liga this season and only three times in the Champions League did not shy away from revealing his frustration about his playing time after the game.
“I need to be playing week in, week out, and that has not happened this season,” he told BT Sport. “I had an injury five, six weeks in but fit ever since. I have to sit down with my agent in the summer and discuss it.”
The Welshman had scored five goals in as many games coming into the final, but Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane still left him on the bench to start, and Bale said he was happy to make an impact anyway.
“Obviously I was very disappointed not to start the game, I felt I deserved it but the manager makes the decisions,” Bale said. The best I have been doing is to come on and make an impact, I certainly did.”
