Fan footage of Pep Guardiola’s reaction to Karim Benzema’s penalty and Vinicius Junior’s dummy at the Etihad on Tuesday night goes viral.
Benzema’s netted an ice cold ‘panenka’ penalty during the entertaining Champions League semi-final clash as Manchester City and Real Madrid gave us a seven-goal thriller, and there’s still a second leg to play.
The home side prepared to take a two-goal lead to the Bernabeu after goals from Kevin De Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva, however up came prolific Benzema to give his side a huge change going into next week’s clash when stepping up and fooled everyone.
Yep, of course. ❄️
Of course Benzema delivered a panenka in a Champions League semi-final 😵
This game really has it all! It’s now 4-3! #UCL pic.twitter.com/TMkdfmveuC
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 26, 2022
It was a moment that silenced the majority inside the stadium, even Pep was shocked by what he had just seen, and now footage has captured Guardiola’s reaction.
Benzema successfully tucking his penalty away comes after he missed TWO penalties in his side’s last match against Osasuna, even more cause for surprise when he did what he did against City.
Speaking after the game, the 34-year-old explained his thought process behind his outrageous penalty.
“All the goalkeepers have studied my penalties and I had to change,” he said. “The penalty by me was cold blooded.”
Pep’s reaction to Benzema’s penalty 😅 pic.twitter.com/yrEp6RPrst
— GOAL (@goal) April 26, 2022
Carlo Ancelotti praised the forward’s mental strength to perfectly execute his Panenka against Man City.
“I think he changed because the last two penalties were not good,” he told reporters. “He changed and tried in training. I did not know how he would shoot. He choose this and it goes really well.
“Strong personality and character. It is not easy in the semi-final of the Champions League to do a penalty like this.”
Steve McManaman hailed Benzema’s Panenka considering how pressurised the moment was and what was at stake.
“He missed two in his last game against Osasuna, the goalkeeper saved them,” he said.
“He probably thought Ederson studied where he puts the ball. He takes a lot of penalties. He’s missed four already this season. Instead of going left or right, he’s probably thinking ‘you know what, now is the time.’
“They’re not four nil up, they were four two down when he’s doing that. If he misses that, it’s game over.
“Regardless of his record this year, he would be criticised to the hilt for taking the penalty if he’s missed.”
Benzema has now scored 14 goals in the Champions League alone this season and 41 in 41 matches overall for 2021/22.
Vinicius Jr’s dummy on Fernandinho also had Pep Guardiola on his knees, with the Manchester City manager stunned by what was about to happen.
Vinicius provided what would normally be the most magical moment of any game, but on this night was one of many, leaving Fernandinho for dead with a sublime dummy.
The Brazilian forward then ran away to score and make it 3-2, something Guardiola clearly knew was about to happen, as you can see in the video below…
Pep Guardiola’s reaction to Vinicius’s dummy 🤣 pic.twitter.com/LVv64SjFh2
— S. (@utdz0ne) April 26, 2022
Vinicius Jr. in slow motion 🔥
Could watch on repeat 😍pic.twitter.com/nGnuMjWWAa
— SPORTbible (@sportbible) April 26, 2022
Player ratings:
Man City: Ederson (6), Stones (6), Dias (6), Laporte (5), Zinchenko (6), Rodri (7), De Bruyne (9), Bernardo (8), Mahrez (8), Jesus (7), Foden (8).
Subs: Fernandinho (6), Sterling (6)
Real Madrid: Courtois (5), Carvajal (5), Militao (5), Alaba (5), Mendy (6), Kroos (5), Modric (6), Valverde (6), Rodrygo (6), Vinicius Jr. (7), Benzema (8).
Subs: Nacho (5), Camavinga (6), Ceballos (n/a), Asensio (n/a)
Man of the match: Kevin De Bruyne
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola told BT Sport: “It was a fantastic game for both sides. We did many good things. Unfortunately we conceded goals and we could not score more.
“We played a fantastic game against an incredible team. The moments where they rise and come back into the game in the first half I think we gave them as our build-up was so nervous. Normally we are so safe and so good. Also they press really good and strong. All around the world and for Manchester City, we are so proud. But it is about reaching the final and sometimes football happens. We go to Madrid to try to win the game.”
On the penalty incident: “We went out of the Champions League to Tottenham when Llorente went with the hand. Today it is a hand for Laporte. It happens. All we can do is perform as we perform. The quality of Real Madrid is such they can punish you.
“What we have done with the ball and without the ball, creating chances and chances and chances I can’t ask anything else. I say to the players to rest. Leeds now is the most important thing and we go to Madrid to win. Both teams want to attack and have the quality to play. Football is a fantastic spectacle. Congratulations to Carlo and his team as they are so good. At the same time, we saw ourselves that we can be there.”
Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti told BT Sport: “As a supporter of football it was a fantastic game. As manager of Real Madrid, I think I have to take into consideration we scored three goals and that was really important, but we didn’t defend so well.
“We conceded two goals so early in the game and then we were able to react really well. We kept the game open until the end and of course now we have a great dream to play the second game in the Bernabeu and have the chance to go to the final.
“The first 20 minutes were really difficult but after that, slowly we were able to come back into the game and keep qualification open.
“We are going to play against a really strong team. They showed fantastic quality today but we competed and we have to compete more in our stadium.”
Twitter users reacted to Pep Guardiola’s reaction on Karim Benzema’s penalty and Vinicius Junior’s dummy as videos of it goes viral…
@silenthatelove: The audacity of Benzema to do a paneka in the semifinals of UCL 🤯 only he can do it atm
@MalcolmKidd1: Just doing an impression of Basil Fawlty 🤷♂️
@TeeNM10: If the coaches were reversed, Pep would’ve used a tactics to get Vini on the ball more to exploit Stones and Fernandinho. He knew the danger and he felt on his knees right away. Lol
@wtfkbrah: He knows we need to spend 500 mil on fullbacks in the summer
@DavidMichael_Sr: My man fell on his knees when the law came
@KevinKelly3: Looks like he’s going to swing for the fourth official for a second there 😂😂
@Iconisgafar: This guy knows it. They’re going to cost him another ucl
@FPL_JDizzle: He was clearly pointing the fact that that goal stemmed from the awful decision of it being a Madrid throw where he himself was booked for criticising the decision
@Nna_Etozuo: The fact that most people consider Madrid a write-off is why they have kept grinding out results somehow. They might not be the best team, but that inner strength, character, and belief that they can somehow get the victory is there. I have a feeling Madrid will knock city out.
@ossyako: He knew it’s definitely ending in tears 😹
@GINOLA95: Imagine Karim Benzema playing under Pep Guardiola that would be some crazy football made in heaven 😍
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