Real Madrid did it the hard way but eventually secured their place in the Champions League final, despite a 2-1 loss to Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.

Los Blancos entered this week’s semi-final second-leg looking assured of their place in the European Cup showpiece after a 3-0 win in the reverse fixture last week but were made to work for their passage after going 2-0 down to Atletico after 16 minutes at Vicente Calderon Stadium.

However, Zinedine Zidane’s men found a response before half-time as they eventually progressed 4-2 on aggregate, setting up a mouther-watering Champions League final against Italian giants Juventus.

The hosts started this week’s match like a house and fire and took the lead on the night after 12 minutes, Koke delivering the corner to find Saul Niguez, who smartly headed home past Keylor Navas.

Just four minutes later and Atletico were two goals up, Antoine Griezmann making no mistake to smash home from the penalty spot after Raphael Varane was adjudged to have brought down Fernando Torres inside the area.

However, the Galacticos managed to grab a priceless away goal three minutes before the break as Jan Oblak could only parry Toni Kroos’ shot into the path of Isco, who made no mistake to fire home from close range to clinch his first European Cup goal in 31 appearances.

Cristiano Ronaldo came close to another goal for Real Madrid three minutes after the restart but saw his hit well-saved by Oblak, before Isco had a decent chance to get his brace but dragged a shot wide when he had other options on.

Real Madrid then needed Navas to be at his best to first keep out Saul’s shot from inside the area, before reacting quickly to also deny Gameiro on the follow-up.