Real Madrid are the first team to win the UCL trophy back to back after a 4-1 win over Juventus

He did what he always does. And Real Madrid did what they have done so often since this rather magnificent trophy was first awarded in 1956.

Cristiano Ronaldo, at 32, is still demanding centre stage. He won an FA Cup final at this stadium in 2004 as a callow youth against Millwall. It was his first ever trophy. On Saturday night he secured his 20th. The opposition was somewhat more glamorous here, the prize more treasured but the performance remained the same. He did what he does, which is to lead from the front and ensure that, if silverware is at stake, he is the man left holding it at the end.

But Real Madrid are the team who appropriated the old European Cup at its outset. Now they are dominating the modern era. This was their 12th trophy of all time. But never before in the modern era of the Champions League has the trophy been defended. It has now. Three wins in four years begins to look like a team of the calibre of Ajax, Bayern, Liverpool, AC Milan. Don't mention it on Las Ramblas, but they are outstripping a great Barcelona team. And Ronaldo is stealing the show, not quite yet up there Paco Gente's six wins, but closing in with four and becoming the first man to score in three finals.

And what of Zinedine Zidane? Eighteen months ago he looked a stooge, a teacher's pet and a project of President Florentino Perez's vanity. Now he ranks alongside Bob Paisley, Brian Clough and Arrigo Sacchi as a man who has retained this famous old trophy. In 18 months he has achieved in this tournament what Sir Alex Ferguson did in a lifetime and what Jose Mourinho has managed in 17 years. In football terms, his path has been smoothed, but still, what he has done is remarkable.

Juventus had really started the better, like a team intent of making this their final. Gonzalo Higuain tested Keylor Navas from long range early on. Miralem Pjanic did even better on seven minutes, forcing an excellent one-handed save from Navas. Dani Alves, playing in an advanced position, had seemingly had put Real Madrid on the back foot. Sami Khedira and Pjanic took control of the midfield. This was a Juventus team which looked at ease with the occasion.

How much more galling must it have then been to have found themselves a goal down after 20 minutes when Real Madrid had offered almost nothing to the game offensively up until that moment. However, what Real Madrid do, they do masterfully, none more so than Ronaldo. From a seemingly innocuous passage of play they quickly conjured something decisive with Toni Kroos, finding Karim Benezema, who held the ball up for Ronaldo.