Bernardo Silva, the Manchester City player, talked about the strange penalty kick he took against Real Madrid in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, and what was going through his mind at the time.
The Portuguese international hit the kick in the middle of the goal, and goalkeeper Andrey Lunin had no trouble blocking it, and it may have been the reason for City’s defeat and bid farewell to the competition.
Silva compensated his team’s fans by scoring the winning goal against Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final, and with it, reaching the final match to face the winner of Manchester United and Coventry City.
After the match, Bernardo was asked about the penalty kick, and he replied, “I had two options: to shoot in the corner or in the middle. I was waiting and wanted to be the second or third to take the shot to watch the goalkeeper.”
He also added, “Before my kick, Lunin was moving early, so I thought shooting in the middle was a good option.”
He concluded, “In times of pressure like these matches, 99% of the goalkeepers move early, but unfortunately that did not happen and the kick was missed.”
Lunin had revealed that Kepa helped him a lot in the penalty shootout, and he was the one who expected that Bernardo Silva would resort to shooting in the middle of the goal and asked him to wait and not dive early, which is what happened and resulted in the save.
