Stunning Real Madrid line-up goes viral and fans say 'it was won before KO'

Breaking their 12-year wait for another European Cup in 2014 with an emotional 4-1 win over city rivals Atletico Madrid in Lisbon, the flood gates opened with another four titles in the following eight years.

The win over Atleti, forever known as 'La Decima', the long awaited tenth, will forever go down in history, as will their second victory over their rivals in 2016, and the pair over Liverpool in 2018 and 2022.

However, it's the 2017 edition that really left a mark like no other, with Zinedine Zidane's side playing Juventus off of the park with a 4-1 win in Cardiff.

It had long been the criticism of Real that they couldn't bring the style of their greatest rivals Barcelona, but in 2017 that debate was put to bed as Cristiano Ronaldo netted a double and Casemiro and Marco Asensio completed a dominant win.

Juventus were at their very best, but still no match for the Spanish giants, and it's easy to see why.

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An image of their final line-up was reposted on X, and quickly went viral with fans drooling over the site of Karim Benzema flanked by Ronaldo and Isco in front of the indomitable midfield trio of Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Casemiro.

Behind them was a back four of Marcelo, Raphael Varane, Sergio Ramos and Dani Carvajal, with Keylor Navas in goal.

The team was so good that even local boy Gareth Bale had to start on the bench, waiting to make a late cameo alongside Marco Asensio and Alvaro Morata.

One X user responded to the image by writing: "We'd already won before it started," while another added: "Noodle hair Ronaldo era means game over," referring to the forward's bleached fringe.

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The victory was one of a gargantuan 14 for Madrid in the European Cup, but remains the most iconic due to the domination against a team rated just as highly pre-match.

Now, every fan of the Whites in the Spanish capital has a replica of the purple shirt in their room at home, and almost every season a tribute has been carried, with this year's away top earning a purple adidas stripe to keep the memory alive.

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