By the end of the night, it felt that whatever Gareth Bale tried in Saturday’s Champions League final would find the back of the Liverpool net, and even if what he attempted was not good enough, then it would be Loris Karius’ misfortune to help it on its way.

Saturday triumph at the was the fifth for Real Madrid and the fourth Champions League final of Bale’s five years at the Spanish club and the first in which he upstaged everyone, including Cristiano Ronaldo on the kind of night he usually takes center stage.

The first of the two goals the substitute scored was an overhead kick good enough to win any one of the 13 European Cup finals in which Madrid have now triumphed, and the second was part of the other story of the night that ended so differently.

It would have been hard for Liverpool to win this final with a goalkeeper as lost as Loris Karius was, but it was even harder without Mohamed Salah, their talismanic goal machine who was taken out of the final courtesy of a first half entanglement with Madrid’s great cynic-in-chief and captain, Sergio Ramos.

Jurgen Klopp stopped short of blaming the Madrid captain for a wrestle that ended with Salah thrust down hard onto his neck and shoulder with the arm that should have broken his fall locked in by Ramos.

Despite a very impressive start from Liverpool, trouble started for them when in the 27th minute of play, Mohammed Salah waved on the physiotherapist, yelling in pain after falling on his shoulder with Sergio Ramos on top of his arm with their arms interlocked.

Salah was treated but moments later, he sat down and in floods of tears signaled that he couldn’t go on, while clutching his left shoulder. He was eventually replaced by Abraham Lallana. Madrid also lost right back, Carvajal to injury who like Salah, also departed the pitch in tears.

The injury to Salah was a grievous blow for Liverpool who had been blown around for periods of the first half, incapable of breaking the rhythms of Madrid’s passing. They had the only attempt on target in the first half from Trent Alexander-Arnold, the first teenager to start a Champions League final since Johan Neeskens for Ajax in 1971.

After a barren first half, the deadlock was broken in the 50th minute when the first Karius’ calamity of epic proportions happened. He under-armed the ball out and Benzema intercepted it with a raised right foot, diverting it into an empty net.

Parity was restored five minutes late when James Milner’s corner was headed back across the box by Lovren who won it majestically and Mane converted with a kung-fu flying volley, his leg raised horizontally to belt it past Keylor Navas from five yards.

Things turned worse for The Reds when Isco, who had squandered a couple of goal-scoring chances, including hitting the bar within three minutes of the start of the second half, was substituted by the in-form Gareth Bale

Barely two minutes after his entrance, Bale proved his mettle. The Welsh international unleashed a left-foot bicycle-kick from 18 yards out. He had to get up high to meet a timely-placed cross from left full back, Marcelo, leaving Karius with no chance.

After several attempts by Liverpool to even the scores, Bale put the match beyond their reach with a 30-yard screamer that was dropped into the goal by Karius. Although the ball seemed to dip a little during its flight, it was another calamitous error from Karius who attempted to catch it but ended up treating it like a bar of wet soap.

“Obviously I was very disappointed not to start the game, I thought I deserved it. The best I could do was come on and make an impact – and that’s what I did. It has to be the best goal I’ve ever scored.  I’m just happy to get the win. We know what we’ve achieved and how good we’ve been,” Bale said after the match.