All but a small handful of Manchester City players and staff had already retreated to the dressing room, dazed and no doubt a little confused about what had just transpired, by the time Bernardo Silva began his slow trudge of the field began.
Erling Haaland had taken on the responsibility of guiding his dejected teammate and as the small and large duo reached the touchline, City’s number 9 did not take too kindly to the television camera that descended on the Portuguese, determined to capture his crushing film . heartache.
Taking a moment to say goodbye to Bernardo to get the camera out of the way, as a burly bodyguard might do to an overzealous fan while protecting a star client, Haaland quickly put an arm around the midfielder’s shoulder and nursed him down the tunnel.
For a player who has hardly put a foot wrong in a match that his team dominated, a player who makes the right decision time and time again, a player who is the definition of precision and balance, the sight of Bernardo doing such a hash of makes his punishment feel almost like a trick of the imagination.
In the expensive seats in front of the press box, the twin City fans looked at each other to check if they had indeed seen the same thing and when reality set in, the first thought was: what was he thinking? Andriy Lunin, the Real goalkeeper, certainly couldn’t believe his luck.
After Julian Alvarez scored the opening penalty before Luka Modric missed Real Madrid’s first penalty, the momentum was City’s, but that was taken away the moment Bernardo chose to scoop the ball straight into the arms of a grateful Lunin and, in reality, the European champions never really recovered from the shock of it all.
What was he thinking? Clarity of thought is one of Bernardo’s great qualities, but his punishment seemed like the work of a man caught in two thoughts. It was not a well-hidden panenka, nor a drawn shot into the center of the net, just a tame, almost apologetic strike with the left boot, the way a father makes a gentle effort like a young son or daughter.
If only he had shown the conviction later shown by City goalkeeper Ederson, who kept his team’s prayers alive with a penalty low into the bottom corner, only for hopes of a second successive Champions League crown to be extinguished by the right boot of Antonio Rudiger.
It was a strange penalty shoot-out. On both sides, most of the usual takers were either unavailable to their manager or other factors were at play, but it was certainly unusual to see the likes of Mateo Kovacic (who missed) and Nacho (who scored) step up as players like City’s Rodri, who recently scored two penalties for Spain against Brazil, and Real’s Federico Valverde were left out.
How Pep Guardiola would have wanted to call on Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne. Both, along with Manuel Akanji, had asked to get away, but could give no more. In the case of De Bruyne and Akanji that was understandable – they had crashed deep into extra time – but Haaland?
This was another of those recent big games where the Norwegian striker had gone missing. It wasn’t until the 37th minute that he completed a pass, one of only five successful passes he made that night, and of his 21 touches, none produced the goal his team so desperately craved. He did hit the crossbar with a header, but that was about as good as the ball.
Towards the end he could only watch helplessly as the shoot-out quickly disappeared from City’s hands and there was nothing left to do but comfort the inconsolable Bernardo.
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