The ball in the back of the net, Real Madrid one goal up, Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Ramos charged toward the corner flag. Los Blancos, through the Portuguese's penalty, had grabbed the advantage against Juventus, and a Champions League final berth was edging closer.
Side by side, arm in arm, Ronaldo and Ramos let go of primal roars toward those in the stands of the Bernabeu, the crowd taking in a telling image at that very instant. For there, with perhaps the club's most glittering pairing captured on their own, was Real Madrid embodied—both modern Real Madrid and traditional Real Madrid.