"
Who is
Andriy Lunin
?"
The question is replicated in the newsrooms and also in the WhatsApp groups that comment on the match of the day. The responsibility of replacing a decisive goalkeeper in
Real Madrid
's recent successes like
Thibaut Courtois
, always with a saving save in decisive moments, was a difficult challenge for an ice man like the Ukrainian, who started the tie against Manchester
City
recovered first in Spain and this Wednesday
they established themselves by saving two penalties in the definition
that classified Merengue to the semifinals of the
Champions League
at the Etihad stadium.
Lunin has shown in his breakout year that he has the personality to overcome the blows. He received it at the beginning of the season, when he suddenly changed the script that he could imagine with Courtois' serious knee injury, which forced him to make his debut in the opening two games. His good performances in San Mamés and the Mediterranean Games Stadium in Almeria were a good omen.
But nothing he did on the pitch would change whether Real Madrid went on the market. Lunin's lack of experience - until Courtois' injury he had played
17 games in three years
- was considered by coach
Carlo Ancelotti
the first, a great risk given the forecast of not being able to recover his starting goalkeeper until the final stretch of the season.
Kepa Arrizabalaga
was chosen
and soon sent Lunin to the bench.
He had been close to leaving Merengue last market, but the 25-year-old Ukrainian decided to hold on for one more year. Few opportunities but continuous growth by working alongside the considered best goalkeeper in the world in recent years. Without competition from Courtois,
almost three months without playing was a difficult moment for Lunin to digest
.
He showed that he was prepared, relying on training so that when it was his turn to play, he could show his best version. Every Kepa absence due to physical problems, he took advantage of. Since the victory with a clean slate in Cádiz - he has achieved it in 12 of the 26 games he has played this campaign -, he became a starter.
No matter how much Ancelotti fueled the doubt, even stating that the starter was Kepa and that he would play when he recovered. That he rotated in the Spanish Super Cup with the semifinal for the Basque goalkeeper and the final for the Ukrainian. In 2024 Lunin won the arm wrestling match and only stopped playing against Arandina in the Copa del Rey and Almería in LaLiga.
In the most prestigious competition, the Champions League, Lunin has played eight games, six this season (he suffered seven goals). With a highlight: his great performance in Germany, in the first leg of the round of 16 against Leipzig, when he equaled Courtois's record of saves, with nine, in a final.
That wall he built at the RB Arena is only comparable to what happened at the Etihad Stadium. Not in the 120 minutes of play (between regulation time and overtime), but in the penalties. The fearsome Erling Haaland could not score a goal in the two games of the series or in the penalty shootout, because Pep Guardiola replaced him.
In the penalty shootout, Lunin - who had been responsible for City's first goal in Spain - first guessed Bernardo Silva's intention: he stood in the middle of the goal and grabbed the ball executed weakly by the Portuguese. It was key because Luka Modric had made a mistake for Merengue and Manchester's initial advantage vanished.
But the explosion came in the third shot of the series for the locals. The Croatian Mateo Kovacic took the ball and, with his left foot, tried to open his foot to Lunin's right post, who chose well and in time to stop the shot.
Bellingham, Nacho and Rüdiger did not fail and Madrid, almost without knowing how and with the least expected hero, returned to the semifinals in search of the 15th Champions League in its history.
The summary of the rematch between Manchester City and Real Madrid
With information from EFE