By the time Isco got to Gareth Bale, who was sitting on the turf in Lisbon, Cristiano Ronaldo was already there. "What is it?" Isco asked. He could just as well have asked: "What is it this time?"
Toni Kroos is out injured, Casemiro is out injured, Pepe is injured, Sergio Ramos has just returned from injury -- Tuesday at Sporting was his first game back -- and Luka Modric has not long recovered from a knee injury. Ronaldo left the final of Euro 2016 early and didn't make the start of the new season. Of Madrid's starting XI in the Champions League final, only Dani Carvajal has since escaped injury.