Real Madrid 3-1 Liverpool: The key moments from the final

This is what they're playing for: the European Cup, the greatest accolade in club football. Real Madrid are vying for their third in a row while Liverpool are chasing a sixth, having last lifted it in 2005 after a memorable comeback against AC Milan in Istanbul. It's been billed as the Mohamed Salah vs Cristiano Ronaldo final.

A distraught Mo Salah, Liverpool's star man and leading scorer this season, is comforted by Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo as he leaves the Champions League final early. An ugly tangle with Sergio Ramos was to blame and Liverpool are dealt a huge early blow in Kyiv.

There were more tears when Real Madrid right-back Dani Carvajal is helped off the field. Like Salah, the Spain right back's World Cup is now in doubt after a bad-looking injury that saw him limp straight down the tunnel covering his face.

Karim Benzema celebrates the opener for Real Madrid, which came soon after half time. It was a freak goal by the Frenchman, which came when Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius attempted a quick throw to his teammate. But Benzema was alert to it and stuck out a leg, and managed to deflect the ball straight into the bottom corner. Delight for Benzema, a nightmare for Karius.

Against the odds, Liverpool level the game through Sadio Mane. He times his lunge to perfection to toe Dejan Lovren's header from a corner beyond Keylor Navas in the Real Madrid goal. At 1-1, Liverpool were back in the game and an unlikely comeback is suddenly on the cards.

The Liverpool fans, who outnumbered their Real Madrid counterparts at least two-to-one, are in fine voice again after Mane's strike. The songs 'Allez Allez Allez' and club anthem 'You'll Never Walk Alone' ring around the Olimpiyskiy Stadium as Liverpool try to mount a fightback.

But Gareth Bale, a second half substitute for Isco, puts Real Madrid back in front with one of the most sensational goals ever seen in a Champions League or European Cup final. Out of nothing, the Welshman emulates his teammate Cristiano Ronaldo's strike in the quarterfinal against Juventus with an outlandish bicycle kick that turns the game back in Real's favor.

Real Madrid are now 3-1 up and it's Bale again, but it's another depressing moment for Liverpool's German keeper Loris Karius. The former Mainz keeper takes his eye off the ball and lets Bale's shot, which was more or less straight at him, slip through his fingers and into the back of the net. A horrible moment for Karius on the biggest stage.

It's all over and Real Madrid are led to glory again by Zinedine Zidane, who becomes the first coach to win three consecutive Champions League titles. The hallmark of Zidane's success has been stability and continuity, with the Frenchman naming the exact same starting 11 as a year ago in Cardiff, where Real Madrid defeated Juventus.

Real Madrid lift their third consecutive European Cup to cap a period of European dominance not seen since Bayern Munich in the 1970s, who also won three in a row. It's the 13th time this famous club have won Europe's elite club prize and they will be heavy favorites to make it four next season.