Page 34 - ADU Voice Volume 4 Issue 1

• • • FALL 2024
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34 Lyan Isam Mushref 1080322

Real Madrid’s Greatest

Football Moment: La Decima

Real Madrid is one of club football’s greatest
football clubs, currently holding a record 15
Champions League titles and 36 La Liga titles.
When one stops to ponder and swim back in
time, there are boundless moments that flash
into timeless memory, giving goosebumps
and priceless joy, such as Zinedine Zidane’s
2002 Champions League final volley goal and
Raul’s cheeky dribble against the goalkeeper in
the 2000 Champions League Final against
Valencia; however, there is one moment that
will remain everlastingly etched in the
articulations of time with the greatest impact
and ferocity: It is the 2014 Champions League
Final, christened La Decima by Real Madrid
supporters, between Real Madrid CF and
Atletico De Madrid.

La Decima, meaning The Tenth in Spanish, had always
been an obsession for Real Madrid and its lovers before
winning it in 2014, repeatedly being coveted and being
attempted for in the past 12 years, but bearing no fruit. Real
Madrid faced so many heartbreaks after sealing the 9th
Champions League victory in 2002, as they tried to win The
Tenth (La Decima) but with repeated failures as they got
knocked out once from Barcelona, leading to great
resentment, once from Dortmund, once from Bayern
Munich with a devastating semi-final penalty shootout,
and other knockouts from other big teams. This time, they
told themselves, this game bears a life-or-death
sentiment that will force us to either win or die, a motto our
past Real Madrid legends played into the club’s eternal
history.

The final is set between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid
on the 24th of May, 2014 in Estadio da Luz, Portugal, the first
Champions League Final to be set between clubs
belonging to the same city, bringing forth rippling
cascades of suspense and anticipation. Then, after a
magnificent Champions League Final ceremony, the ball
is placed on the center of the roaring pitch, and the game
begins.