The epic that usually accompanies each Real Madrid European Cup conquest appeared on its way to the goal of the fifteenth, with a penalty shootout for history that elevated an exercise in resistance, which dedicated Andriy Lunin, in which Fede Valverde and Militao asked not to shoot, the expert Luka Modric failed, and three defenders like Lucas Vázquez, Nacho Fernández and Antonio Rüdiger scored.
In a new chapter for the Madrid legend in the Champions League, the penalty shoot-out, after standing up to the storm of football from the still current champion, Manchester City (120 attacks, 34 shots), could not begin any other way than with a failure that put him at a disadvantage to overcome.
This time in the final round. After the greatest specialist left on the field at the conclusion of extra time, Luka Modric, missed his shot. Ederson guessed the side chosen by the Croatian midfielder. Everything was against us. He had replaced Ancelotti with regular pitchers like Vinícius and Rodrygo. No one else had taken the field like Joselu Mato.
Of the rest of the Madrid pitchers, only Jude Bellingham is used to assuming that responsibility. And it didn’t fail. His goal kept Real Madrid alive in the shootout before Lunin stood still to stop Bernardo Silva’s shot. «We prepared all the players who were in the game and who could shoot, we had to take a risk with one to stay in the center of three options and it was Bernardo. “He came out well,” acknowledged the Ukrainian goalkeeper.
Of ice. With maximum confidence. Knowing that in the past, at another level, with Valladolid, he already emerged victorious from a shootout in the Copa del Rey against Marbella. He also stopped two shots for a statistic that increases and profiles him as a penalty specialist.
Since he has been in Spanish football, Lunin has had fifteen shots taken and saved seven. He prepared it with Luis Llopis, winner in the particular battle of goalkeeper technicians against Xabier Mancisidor. Also Basque. Member of Pep Guardiola’s team.
And with Kepa Arrizabalaga burying any pride that a footballer may have who came to Real Madrid to be a starter and has lost the battle with Lunin. Advising his partner on pitches as a student of football and a great connoisseur of the rival from his years in England. Like Antonio Rüdiger, who pointed out to Lunin the side where Mateo Kovacic would shoot, his second stop, after both sharing adventures at Chelsea.
The Real Madrid pitchers surprised. They were on a piece of paper that Davide Ancelotti showed. Three defenders among the five chosen. The reason was Fede Valverde’s request not to shoot. He was at the limit physically and did not feel confident.
Meanwhile, Éder Militao thought it was not a good time to take center stage. He just overcame a serious knee injury. Against a goalkeeper who he knows well with whom he shares adventures in the Brazilian team. Nacho and Rüdiger took a step forward in leadership that gave peace of mind to Carlo Ancelotti and his son Davide, the person responsible for this facet.
«With four or five minutes left I started to think. Jude is a pitcher, Luka too. Lucas is a very good pitcher. Nacho has experience and personality and in training we had seen that he was determined to go to one side. And Antonio is a player with balls,” he reviewed before the media. Of the five players on the list that ‘Carletto’ first showed, two were modified after speaking with the players.
Lucas Vázquez had already scored an unforgettable penalty, as well as his kiss on the ball and the turns he made while juggling on one finger in a display of calm at the moment of greatest pressure. In Milan, in a Champions League final. This time his gesture was to tap the ball before scoring the third maximum penalty of his career. He had not scored one for more than six years, since he scored against Fuenlabrada in the Copa del Rey.
The captain’s armband encouraged Nacho to get rid of the bad taste in his mouth. Substitute for Ancelotti’s choice of a midfielder like Aurélien Tchouaméni to play as a center back. Without David Alaba, injured, and with Militao recently recovered without a competitive rhythm. His first penalty in an official match with the club in which he has played his entire career. He scored one in the lower categories of the Spanish team, with the U-17, in the semifinals of a World Cup against France.
The decisive one went to Rüdiger who adjusted his shot to the post. As if he were a great specialist. The third penalty of his career, all scored, after kicking with Chelsea in 2021 in the European Super Cup final against Villarreal and a year later against Liverpool in the English Cup final. It gave way to a special celebration, with everyone throwing themselves on top of the German defender except Modric, who took a weight off his shoulders and ran to Lunin to thank him for the ‘favor’.
The victory unbalanced the balance, until the Etihad was tied, for Real Madrid in the penalty shoot-outs of UEFA competitions after two wins and two losses. They fell in the first, in 1975, in the quarterfinals of the European Cup against Red Star; they beat the second, Juventus, in the quarterfinals of the European Cup in 75; was eliminated by its next rival, Bayern, in the 2012 ‘Champions’ semi-finals with the failures of Sergio Ramos, Kaká and Cristiano Ronaldo at the Santiago Bernabéu; and celebrated the last precedent before City, against Atlético de Madrid in the 2016 Champions League final in Milan. EFE
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