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Real Madrid beat Manchester City 4-3 on penalties on Wednesday, April 17, after the two teams were tied 4-4 on aggregate in their UEFA Champions League quarterfinal. Defending champions City missed two penalties during the shootout, with Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovacic failing to convert their spot-kicks.
Former Dutch international Marco van Basten criticized Silva's spot kick. The Portuguese midfielder shot the ball down the centre at a decent height for the goalkeeper.
Speaking to Ziggo Sport (via Sport Witness), Van Basten said:
"If you are talking about a poorly taken penalty, then this is a poorly taken penalty. If the goalkeeper chooses a corner, he can still kick it away with his foot. This one was taken especially bad, really special bad."
He added:
“He can mark it, he can wait and see what the goalkeeper does, but he doesn’t do any of that. He shoots it half high, not into the corner and not hard. This couldn’t be worse.”
Luka Modric was the only Los Blancos player to miss his spot kick, with Antonio Rudiger striking the winning penalty to send Real Madrid through to the semifinals, where they will meet Bayern Munich.
Real Madrid's plan to save Manchester City star Bernardo Silva's penalty worked out
Goalkeeper Andriy Lunin dove to either side for all four penalties barring the spot kick from Bernardo Silva. Speaking after the game, the Los Blancos goalkeeper explained they picked Bernardo Silva as the shooter for whom to stand down the middle.
Speaking to Movistar Plus+, he said:
"I needed to take a risk with one of the kicks, we picked one (to stay in the middle) and thank goodness it worked out in our favour."
Lunin also praised his team for fighting out a tough win at the Etihad Stadium.
"It's an away Champions League game and we went through a lot of suffering... but I'm very grateful to the team for everything they've fought for. I can't imagine myself running like my team mates did today."
Rodrygo had opened the scoring for Real Madrid on the night with Kevin De Bruyne drawing level in the second half for the hosts. The match ended 1-1 on the night before proceeding to penalties.
