Champions League finals can change in the blink of an eye – and can be the cruellest of contests. The 2013/14 final in Lisbon illustrated that perfectly, with Alba de Juan recalling how tears of sadness turned to tears of happiness in a second.
How was the day in Lisbon – did it seem link a mini Madrid?
It's one of the greatest days of my life. Luckily, my cousins and my father got tickets as well and we had a really perfect day. Despite the fact we were playing our city rivals, the atmosphere was great as well. Did it seem strange playing a team from the same city? Funnily enough, not really, because I’ve seen both sides play each other so much in the past.
Were you convinced the white half of Madrid would win?
I was really nervous before the match – and even more nervous once it started. Football fans are a superstitious lot and this final demonstrated that perfectly. I travelled with six members of the Munich Real Madrid supporters club and we didn’t check our individual seat numbers at the Estadio da Luz, we just took six seats on our row. After half-time one of our members made sure we all sat in exactly the same seats. If we moved he was convinced we would lose the match. It was hilarious watching him marshalling us back into seats.
That win looked unlikely, even with you sat in the ‘right seat’, didn’t it?
You’re not wrong. We were 1-0 down and I can remember quite clearly crying for the last 20 minutes. The time was running out and we were going to lose the final after Atletico. It had been so long since our last Champions League win and we were going to blow it. I can remember the guy behind me saying ‘come on, this is our last chance’. I turned around and said ‘Dude, you’ve been saying that the last 10 times we’ve had the ball’. I was in such a state of devastation that I couldn’t even tell you if any Madrid fans left before the final whistle. I would hope not but you wouldn’t have blamed them if they had.
What are your memories of that famous Sergio Ramos equaliser?
I can’t describe that moment with words but once we got that goal it was clear we were going to win. Suddenly the tears of sadness were replaced by tears of happiness. Amazing. It was such a huge effort for Atletico to win the league the previous weekend and they were on their last legs, they just couldn’t run anymore. In extra-time it was obvious we were going to win it. By the end of extra-time it was like the first 90 minutes hadn’t happen! We were all going crazy.
What happened at the final whistle?
We couldn’t hang around unfortunately. There was a bus waiting to take us back to Madrid. The journey took an absolute age but it was so worth it. It was a day that will stay with me forever.
- Goal