Eduardo Camavinga described Real Madrid s Champions League final triumph as a dream come true as he reflected on a glorious first season at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Camavinga came on as an 85th-minute substitute at the Stade de France as Madrid claimed their 14th European crown courtesy of Vinicius Junior s goal, meaning the French midfielder ends his first campaign in Spain with LaLiga and Champions League winner s medals.
Despite finding himself behind experienced midfield trio Casemiro, Luka Modric, and Toni Kroos in the pecking order, Camavinga has made 44 appearances in all competitions since joining from Rennes last August.
The 19-year-old, who has been tipped as a future star for both Los Blancos and France, made a series of valuable contributions to Madrid s Champions League run from the bench, producing a particularly lively performance as Carlo Ancelotti s team recovered from a 5-3 aggregate deficit to eliminate Manchester City in the semi-finals earlier this month.
Speaking to Canal+ after Madrid beat Liverpool 1-0, Camavinga was delighted with the dream victory, saying experiencing such occasions was the reason he joined the Spanish giants.
It s a crazy thing, it s a childhood dream come true. Touching the cup, experiencing matches like that, it s crazy That s why I came here, he said.
From the moment we come here, we know that we are in the best club in the world, we only play big matches. I am very happy to have played in the final and to have won it.
Big brother GOALS.
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadriden)
Camavinga has some way to go to match the honours of some of his Madrid team-mates, with Karim Benzema, Dani Carvajal and Modric all winning their fifth European titles in Paris. No one has won more.
Touching on the illustrious careers of his colleagues, Camavinga laughed: Some have five Champions Leagues here, but I already have one, I still have four left [to win]. We re going to enjoy it. Next year, we ll see.
With his late introduction, Camavinga, aged 19 years and 199 days old, became the youngest player to appear in a Champions League final since Kingsley Coman for Juventus against Barcelona in 2015 (18 years, 358 days).
Coman is also the only Frenchman to have played in a European Cup/Champions League final at a younger age than Camavinga.
And the midfielder believes he has improved as a player after making 16 starts in his first season with the club, though he insists his playing time is of secondary importance compared to the team s performances.
It s been an incredible season, an extraordinary accomplishment, very positive, he said in comments reported by Marca.
I ve learned a lot in this first year from the players here, from my coaches too, so I think I m a better player than I was a year ago.
The first thing to remember is this victory, the work of the team and [only] after that, whether I ve played more or less is important.
