Eduardo Camavinga described Real Madrid's Champions League final triumph as a "dream come true" as he reflected on a glorious first season at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Camavinga came on as an 85th-minute substitute at the Stade de France as Madrid claimed their 14th European crown courtesy of Vinicius Junior's goal, meaning the French midfielder ends his first campaign in Spain with LaLiga and Champions League winner's medals.
Despite finding himself behind experienced midfield trio Casemiro, Luka Modric, and Toni Kroos in the pecking order, Camavinga has made 44 appearances in all competitions since joining from Rennes last August.
The 19-year-old, who has been tipped as a future star for both Los Blancos and France, made a series of valuable contributions to Madrid's Champions League run from the bench, producing a particularly lively performance as Carlo Ancelotti's team recovered from a 5-3 aggregate deficit to eliminate Manchester City in the semi-finals earlier this month.
Speaking to Canal+ after Madrid beat Liverpool 1-0, Camavinga was delighted with the "dream" victory, saying experiencing such occasions was the reason he joined the Spanish giants.
"It's a crazy thing, it's a childhood dream come true. Touching the cup, experiencing matches like that, it's crazy... That's why I came here," he said.
"From the moment we come here, we know that we are in the best club in the world, we only play big matches. I am very happy to have played in the final and to have won it."
Camavinga has some way to go to match the honours of some of his Madrid team-mates, with Karim Benzema, Dani Carvajal and Modric all winning their fifth European titles in Paris. No one has won more.
Touching on the illustrious careers of his colleagues, Camavinga laughed: "Some have five Champions Leagues here, but I already have one, I still have four left [to win]. We're going to enjoy it. Next year, we'll see."
With his late introduction, Camavinga, aged 19 years and 199 days old, became the youngest player to appear in a Champions League final since Kingsley Coman for Juventus against Barcelona in 2015 (18 years, 358 days).
Coman is also the only Frenchman to have played in a European Cup/Champions League final at a younger age than Camavinga.
And the midfielder believes he has improved as a player after making 16 starts in his first season with the club, though he insists his playing time is of secondary importance compared to the team's performances.
"It's been an incredible season, an extraordinary accomplishment, very positive," he said in comments reported by Marca.
"I've learned a lot in this first year from the players here, from my coaches too, so I think I'm a better player than I was a year ago.
"The first thing to remember is this victory, the work of the team and [only] after that, whether I've played more or less is important."
Liverpool criticise PGMOL and will ‘explore options’ after VAR error at Spurs
Liverpool have criticised the Professional Game Match Officials Limited and warned they will “explore the range of options available” following the VAR controversy at Tottenham.
The PGMOL admitted VAR officials Darren England and Dan Cook failed to act after Luis Diaz’s 34th-minute strike at Tottenham was wrongly ruled out for offside. Still images of the incident showed Cristian Romero playing Diaz onside.
The disallowed goal came with the match still goalless but after Curtis Jones had been controversially sent off following England’s intervention. Liverpool went on to lose 2-1.
The officials were stood down from duty for the rest of the weekend but Liverpool will continue to pursue the matter.
A statement read: “Liverpool Football Club acknowledges PGMOL’s admission of their failures last night. It is clear that the correct application of the laws of the game did not occur, resulting in sporting integrity being undermined.
“We fully accept the pressures that match officials work under but these pressures are supposed to be alleviated, not exacerbated, by the existence and implementation of VAR.
“It is therefore unsatisfactory that sufficient time was not afforded to allow the correct decision to be made and that there was no subsequent intervention.
“That such failings have already been categorised as ‘significant human error’ is also unacceptable. Any and all outcomes should be established only by the review and with full transparency.
“This is vital for the reliability of future decision making as it applies to all clubs with learnings being used to make improvements to processes in order to ensure this kind of situation cannot occur again.
“In the meantime, we will explore the range of options available, given the clear need for escalation and resolution.”
England was due to be fourth official at Sunday’s Premier League match between Nottingham Forest and Brentford, while Cook was to be assistant referee for Monday’s west London derby between Fulham and Chelsea.
But the PGMOL announced on Sunday morning that England, the main VAR official at Tottenham, had been replaced by Craig Pawson, while Eddie Smart will step in for Cook, who was the assistant VAR to England.
“Darren England, VAR on the Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool fixture, and Dan Cook, AVAR on the same game, have been replaced for the Nottingham Forest v Brentford and Fulham v Chelsea matches today and tomorrow night respectively,” a PGMOL statement said.
“Craig Pawson will now assume England’s duties as fourth official at the City Ground while Eddie Smart will take over from Cook as assistant referee at Craven Cottage.”
Son Heung-min put Spurs in front moments after Diaz’s goal was disallowed, and although Cody Gakpo levelled, Tottenham won 2-1 thanks to a stoppage-time own goal from Joel Matip, with Liverpool finishing the game with nine men after Diogo Jota also saw red.
In a statement on Saturday, PGMOL said: “PGMOL acknowledge a significant human error occurred during the first half of Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool.
“The goal by Luis Diaz was disallowed for offside by the on-field team of match officials.
“This was a clear and obvious factual error and should have resulted in the goal being awarded through VAR intervention, however, the VAR failed to intervene.
“PGMOL will conduct a full review into the circumstances which led to the error.”
Liverpool criticise the PGMOL and will explore their options after Spurs error
Liverpool have criticised the Professional Game Match Officials Limited and warned they will “explore the range of options available” following the VAR controversy at Tottenham.
The PGMOL admitted VAR officials Darren England and Dan Cook failed to act after Luis Diaz’s 34th-minute strike at Tottenham was wrongly ruled out for offside. Still images of the incident showed Cristian Romero playing Diaz onside.
The disallowed goal came with the match still goalless but after Curtis Jones had been controversially sent off following England’s intervention. Liverpool went on to lose 2-1.
The officials were stood down from duty for the rest of the weekend but Liverpool will continue to pursue the matter.
A statement read: “Liverpool Football Club acknowledges PGMOL’s admission of their failures last night. It is clear that the correct application of the laws of the game did not occur, resulting in sporting integrity being undermined.
“We fully accept the pressures that match officials work under but these pressures are supposed to be alleviated, not exacerbated, by the existence and implementation of VAR.
“It is therefore unsatisfactory that sufficient time was not afforded to allow the correct decision to be made and that there was no subsequent intervention.
“That such failings have already been categorised as ‘significant human error’ is also unacceptable. Any and all outcomes should be established only by the review and with full transparency.
“This is vital for the reliability of future decision making as it applies to all clubs with learnings being used to make improvements to processes in order to ensure this kind of situation cannot occur again.
“In the meantime, we will explore the range of options available, given the clear need for escalation and resolution.”
England was due to be fourth official at Sunday’s Premier League match between Nottingham Forest and Brentford, while Cook was to be assistant referee for Monday’s west London derby between Fulham and Chelsea.
But the PGMOL announced on Sunday morning that England, the main VAR official at Tottenham, had been replaced by Craig Pawson, while Eddie Smart will step in for Cook, who was the assistant VAR to England.
“Darren England, VAR on the Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool fixture, and Dan Cook, AVAR on the same game, have been replaced for the Nottingham Forest v Brentford and Fulham v Chelsea matches today and tomorrow night respectively,” a PGMOL statement said.
“Craig Pawson will now assume England’s duties as fourth official at the City Ground while Eddie Smart will take over from Cook as assistant referee at Craven Cottage.”
Son Heung-min put Spurs in front moments after Diaz’s goal was disallowed, and although Cody Gakpo levelled, Tottenham won 2-1 thanks to a stoppage-time own goal from Joel Matip, with Liverpool finishing the game with nine men after Diogo Jota also saw red.
In a statement on Saturday, PGMOL said: “PGMOL acknowledge a significant human error occurred during the first half of Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool.
“The goal by Luis Diaz was disallowed for offside by the on-field team of match officials.
“This was a clear and obvious factual error and should have resulted in the goal being awarded through VAR intervention, however, the VAR failed to intervene.
“PGMOL will conduct a full review into the circumstances which led to the error.”
Liverpool beat Arsenal in front of record WSL crowd as Man Utd grab late winner
Liverpool pulled off a shock 1-0 win at Arsenal in front of a record Women’s Super League crowd.
There were 54,115 fans at the Emirates Stadium for the season opener, which was settled by a goal from Miri Taylor early in the second half.
Taylor slotted in a cross from Missy Bo Kearns in the 48th minute to stun the Gunners home support.
The Reds held off plenty of Arsenal pressure but Jonas Eidevall’s side, who were knocked out of the Champions League qualifiers last month, could not find a way back into the match.
Manchester United came from behind to beat Aston Villa 2-1 with a stoppage-time goal from substitute Rachel Williams at Villa Park, where the hosts saw Kirsty Hanson sent off.
Scotland winger Hanson was shown a straight red card in the 74th minute for her high tackle on United midfielder Hayley Ladd.
Villa, though, soon took the lead through England international Rachel Daly, only for Lucia Garcia to quickly have United back on level terms.
Just when it seemed both teams would have to settle for a point, Williams headed in Nikita Parris’ deflected cross to secure United a dramatic victory.
Leicester came from behind to beat newly-promoted Bristol City 4-2 at Ashton Gate.
The Robins, back in the top flight after an absence of two seasons, went ahead through a fine strike from Carrie Jones in the 33rd minute.
New Leicester signing Aimee Palmer, playing against her former club, fired the visitors level in added time at the end of the first half.
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Leicester took control after the break, as Shannon O’Brien put them in front and German striker Lena Petermann, making her debut, headed a third in the 52nd minute.
Fellow debutant Jutta Rantala increased Leicester’s lead with seven minutes left before Amalie Thestrup scored her first Robins goal from the penalty spot.
Elisabeth Terland scored twice in the first half as Brighton opened their WSL campaign with a 2-0 win at Everton.
Norway forward Terland headed in after the ball came back off the crossbar to give the visitors a third-minute lead and soon added a second after being played in by Katie Robinson.
Everton captain Megan Finnigan reduced the deficit just after the hour, but the home side were unable to conjure an equaliser.
Manchester City won 2-0 at West Ham as Jill Roord scored on her debut.
Lauren Hemp broke the deadlock early in the second half with a curling effort before Chloe Kelly then saw her penalty saved.
Netherlands international Roord, a club-record summer signing from Wolfsburg, slotted in to open her City account in the 55th minute.
City finished a player down after Leila Ouahabi was shown a straight red card for kicking out at Emma Harries, but the Hammers could not get themselves back into the game.
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