Real Madrid coach Vicente Del Bosque celebrated his second Champions League title in three years last night and said nobody could say his team did not deserve it. Real beat Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 in Glasgow, treating fans to one of the best finals for years to win the coveted title for a record ninth time and add something tangible to the club's centenary celebrations.
"It's been a very special year for us and we are delighted to have ended with this," he said after an early Raul goal and a stunning Zinedine Zidane volley settled the issue in the first half.
"Bayer pushed us all the way tonight but I think everybody will have to say we deserved it because our performances all season have been impeccable."
Del Bosque, a player with the club in the 1970s and a long-serving youth team coach before taking over the first team duties in the 1999-2000 season, singled out substitute goalkeeper Iker Casillas for special praise.
Del Bosque dropped him midway through the season, bringing in Cesar, but the 21-year-old was forced into unexpected action when Cesar injured his foot in the 68th minute.
In a pulsating seven minutes of added time Casillas beat out a stinging Yildiray Basturk drive then made two brilliant scrambling saves to deny Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov.
"I don't ever remember seeing a change of goalkeeper in the middle of the European final but I knew Iker would not let us down," said the coach.
Zidane played down his stunning strike and joined fellow goalscorer Raul in praising the whole team.
"The important thing is that in the end we won," Zidane said. "We're the champions.
"It was about all the players, from both teams. I'm very happy and I dedicate this win to the fans."
Leverkusen coach Klaus Toppmoeller has seen his side finish runners-up in the Champions League, German League and German Cup in the space of two weeks but preferred to dwell on the positives of the season.
"Sometimes football can be cruel," he said. "You don't always get your reward for all the sweat, all the commitment, all the pain.
"Yes, we've come second three times but if at the beginning of the season someone had said we would achieve what we have they would have been called mad.
"It hurts tonight, of course it hurts, but I am very proud of my team."