Great architect of Athletic Bilbao's victory on Wednesday against Real Madrid (2-1), in the league, Julen Agirrezabala revealed how he prepared to repel Kylian Mbappé's penalty.
What do Yohann Pelé, Ciprian Tatarusanu, Benjamin Lecomte, Steve Mandanda and Caoimhin Kelleher have in common? All these goalkeepers can boast of having, during their career, saved a penalty from Kylian Mbappé. A brotherhood of which Julen Agirrezabala is now a part.
“There is a lot of work upstream”
On Wednesday, the Basque goalkeeper (23 years old) was able to be decisive during Athletic Bilbao's victory against Real Madrid (2-1), starting on his left to deflect Mbappé's penalty in the 68th minute. Anything but a surprise according to the evening's hero.
“Nowadays, these are situations that are very well studied. There is a lot of work upstream with the goalkeeper coach. I knew which way I was going to dive, it was very clear. What we couldn't know, that's what Mbappé was going to do But I saw his penalty at Anfield (hit in the same way and saved by Kelleher during Real's defeat against Liverpool, editor's note). 'he was going to shoot on the same side and fortunately for me, I was able to stop his penalty,” Agirrezabala told Cadena Ser.
He also explained that he had spent a lot of time in recent days dissecting on video the way Mbappé shoots, but also other potential Real shooters like Jude Bellingham. “I didn't have a preference, because they each have their own thing. Bellingham looks more at the goalkeeper. Mbappé, I knew where he was going to shoot,” Agirrezabala further underlined. With this result, Bilbao is now in the top 4 of La Liga, while Real remains stuck four lengths behind Barça.
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