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It’s the most wonderful time of the year, the Champions League final is coming up and
it is sure to be a doozy. The two Madrid teams have overcome some of the biggest names in
European club football to get to Lisbon this Saturday and are set to square off in the
final showpiece match before the World Cup.
The adidas Finale Lisbon, the official match ball of the Champions League and will be centre
of attention later on this week.
We’ve got our hands on one as part of adidas #unlock the game campaign, and took it out
for a spin to see what Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Diego Costa & Co. will have at
their feet this weekend.
The Tech on the Finale Lisbon will be familiar to anyone who has had a Champions League ball
since the Finale X.
adidas worked long and hard to finally get the star-shaped panels of the Champions League
logo functional on a match ball, and they’ve stuck with that for the last few iterations.
Each panel us thermally bonded, which means you’re going to get less water uptake and
less shape distortion than a traditional ball.
Feel on the Finale Lisbon is great - taking the ball out in a few drills and playing a
few matches, the dimpled texture adds a great sense of friction that also adds a little
extra something to shooting.
If you’re the sort of player that likes to wrap their foot around the side of the
ball for swerve and spin, that added friction from the upper is a real boon.
But if you’re more of a ‘through the laces’ striker, you’re not going to feel hampered
by it’s presence. In actual fact, science time, the added texture on the ball works
with the points where the panels join to break up the air resistance when a ball is in the
air, creating a more stable flight from a cleanly-struck shot.
Looks wise, the adidas Finale Lisbon is one of the best. As is tradition, adidas are inspired
by the host city, and in this case there are strong nautical themes to match Portugal’s
rich seafaring history.
You’ll see compasses and quadrants in every panel, and the colours match the theme, too;
the two shades of blue represent the sea and the sky, whilst the orange is inspired by
the terracotta roof tiles, typical along the seafront of Lisbon.
Why you should by this ball.
The Finale Lisbon is an investment for sure, costing the best part of £100. However, this
is - in our opinion - the best ball adidas make.
The graphics are really neat up close with loads of detail that stand it out as one of
the Three Stripes’ best designs yet.
And whilst you will be giving this fella some hammer, adidas do bundle a two-year shape
guarantee in with the ball, so you’re going to at least get a couple of seasons use out
of it.
Why you shouldn’t buy this ball:
That price tag is a it of a sticking point, isn’t it? We know this is typical for a
top-tier match ball, but if you’re not going to use it regularly this might be one to miss.
Why not take a look at some of the takedown models if you’re a more casual player or
- even better - see if you can track down a Finale Wembley from last season; they could
be as much as half the price but boast all the same features bar the graphics.
We hope you’ve found this review useful, and if you’ve got any comments on how we
can improve them going forward, do drop us a comment below.
If you’re looking for some way to kill some time ahead of the final, why not check out
Footy-Boots.com, where you’ll find all the latest news, views and reviews or drop by
our Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Google+ pages for exclusive content on everything
we feature.
Until next time, this is Kyle from Footy-Boots.com, signing off.