It will surely go down as one of the most memorable missed penalties in history. This Wednesday evening, in the quarter-final second leg of the Champions League between Manchester City and Real Madrid, Bernardo Silva completely missed his attempt against the opposing goalkeeper Andriy Lunin by hitting in the middle while the Ukrainian goalkeeper absolutely did not flinch, in the middle of his cages before catching the ball. A first failure for the Citizens which ultimately caused their elimination at the end of the session (1-1, 3-4 tab) despite enormous domination throughout the 120 minutes.
Superhero of the qualification, Andriy Lunin, who also stopped Mateo Kovacic's penalty in the process, looked behind the scenes of his save against Bernardo Silva. “I had to take a risk with one of the shots,” he told Movistar +. The replacement for Thibaut Courtois, promoted to the starting position this season after the Belgian's serious knee injuries, agreed with the staff to stay in the middle on one of the opposing attempts. “We chose one and thank God it worked out in our favor,” he said.
98% chance of scoring
Some on social media saw this as advice from his replacement Kepa Arrizabalaga, seen whispering in Lunin's ear before the session. The ex-Chelsea goalkeeper had already suffered the wrath of the Portuguese midfielder with a penalty taken right in the middle in the final of the 2019 Carabao Cup. Neither player was able to confirm this version at the end of the meeting.
For his part, Bernardo Silva received a number of mocking comments for his completely failed attempt. According to former Citizen Joleon Lescott, the tens of seconds of waiting before striking were decisive. Just before, Luka Modric, after missing his shot on goal, had cleared the ball in anger in the stands. A ball that City supporters kept, delaying their player's strike. “It cut him off from his rhythm, his usual routine,” lamented the ex-English defender on TNT Sports.
But wasn't the former AS Monaco midfielder right to try his luck in this way? According to the French Statistical Society, only 2% of goalkeepers stay in the middle to stop a penalty. The Portuguese would therefore have mathematically maximized his chances of scoring this Wednesday evening. But bad luck, this is the moment that Lunin chose to deceive the statistics.