5 Truths: Sergio Ramos cynicism, Loris Karius madness and Zinedine Zidane's vindication

It was a foul (even if the referee deemed it not to be) that was both innocuous and cynical. Those arm-drag fouls are commonplace but rarely are the consequences so grave. Ramos probably knew what he was doing and knew the punishment that would be forthcoming; a free-kick and a ticking off at worst, nothing at best. Roy Keane once said he went onto the field to hurt opponents but never to injure them – and this seems a rather apt description of what went on here. Ramos is prone to the odd red (or 24) and has the accompanying reputation but he is cynical rather than vicious.

In truth, with intent impossible to prove, whether Ramos meant to injure Salah matters little in the context of the game. What matters is that he did injure him and the impact it had. The Egyptian, Liverpool’s talisman and their fans' point of reference, left the game with 31 minutes gone, and it had a deflating effect on the Reds, who managed to get to the interval unscathed, despite Madrid turning the screw. But what came after the break beggared belief.

Perhaps Karius thought Karim Benzema was offside, and calculated that if the Frenchman, in dangerously close proximity to the ball, the keeper himself and the goal, had blocked his attempt to set a quick break in motion, the referee would call play back. He calculated wrong, and to do so at Champions League level football, in the final no less, was a dereliction of duty.

Elite-level footballers are such because they instinctively process information, under intense pressure, and make decisions based on risk-reward evaluations. In the Olimpiyskyi Stadium on Saturday night, Karius' instincts let him down: the risk, as he would find out, greatly, greatly outweighed the reward.

However, he is human, and it was hard not to feel for him on a personal level particularly when he let the second – and Madrid’s third – through his grasp. Game over! And his Liverpool career as well?

Gareth Bale. He of surplus to requirements, but he also of clutch moments. The same Bale who scored the winner in the Copa del Rey against Barcelona back in 2014, and the same Bale who scored the all-important second goal against Atletico Madrid the same year in a 4-1 Champions League final win.

So when Bale, the former Tottenham man consistently linked with a return to the Premier League, was limbering up, the stage was set for him to make a decisive intervention. And so he did. And how.

Bale’s goal will go down as one of the all-time greats. His second may have been fortunate in the extreme but he deservedly collected the man of the match award. He has etched his name in Madrid folklore. Not bad for a player who couldn't make the starting XI.

Redemption seems a curious word when he finished on the losing side, but Dejan Lovren was absolutely magnificent for Liverpool. The former Southampton man met the challenge of Cristiano Ronaldo face on, putting in two robust, but fair, challenges early on, and easing a clearly nervous Trent Alexander-Arnold through the opening exchanges.

This from a player who has been widely derided. A player whose Liverpool career had doubt cast upon it when he was hooked by Jurgen Klopp after 32 minutes of a 4-1 mauling at Tottenham in October. Not only was he imperious at the back, he assisted Sadio Mane’s goal with a towering knockdown from James Milner's set piece.

In a world where judgement is often absolute yet premature, Lovren is a reminder that perhaps in football, as in life, mistakes, even of great magnitude, are not irredeemable. Loris Karius take note.

Zinedine Zidane’s methods might have been questioned as detailed here, and his job might have been on the line, as detailed here, but Madrid just three-peated in the Champions League, and Zidane, just like this Real side, joined the pantheon of greats. It is a barely believable set of circumstances: this time last year no team had defended the trophy in the modern era but here Zidane and Madrid are.

And once again the 45-year-old got his in-game decisions spot on. Having decided to replace Isco, the smart money perhaps would have been on the introduction of Marco Asensio, but, no, Zidane turned to Bale, and he was rewarded handsomely.