Real Madrid defeated Bundesliga outfit Bayer 04 Leverkusen to emerge as the champions of Europe for the 9th time on 15th May, 2002, which is exactly 18 years today.

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Raul scored the opener for the Los Blancos, but the lead was cancelled out.

Real Madrid took over control of the game again and a pass from Raul to Roberto Carlos was nicely released to Zidane and he went for glory from outside the 18-yard box to give Rea Madrid a 2-1 lead.

The tide tilted in favour of the Germans who were in search for the equaliser, but Iker Casillas, deputizing for Caesar who got injured played one of his best games in between the sticks for Real Madrid as he pulled up several point-blank saves to rescue the Madrid giants.

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Zidane’s half volley is widely rated as the greatest goal in the history of the UEFA Champions League and it has been voted as such in several polls conducted, including the ones by even UEFA.