PADERNO DUGNANO, Italy — Even from a distance, the figure is unmistakable: the bulbous midsection. The tapered neck. The glistening veneer. And those handles — oh, those handles! — could belong to no one else.
While Saturday’s European Champions League final between Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid will feature megastars like Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale playing in Milan’s historic San Siro stadium, the most enduring figure in club soccer’s biggest game actually could be the one made of metal and hailing from here, just outside the city center, on a nondescript street choked with industrial warehouses.
Freakishly oversized and with handles that appear to have been pinched from Bigfoot’s coffee mug, the Coupe des Clubs Champions Européens (that is how the trophy is inscribed) has both a whimsical nickname and a girth that stretches wider than those of most of the players who hope to lift it.