Real Madrid came away with a 4-3 defeat from their trip to the Etihad stadium in their Champions League semi-final first leg, but there was little defeatism from the Los Blancos.
That is likely to do with the fact that most viewers believed Manchester City had the chances to take a bigger lead to Madrid, as was confirmed by the players on the pitch, in this case Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva.
Silva himself scored an exceptional goal but once again people were left drooling over the ability of French striker Karim Benzema. Scoring on the volley with little space in the first half, most marvelled at his confidence to take a Panenka-style penalty in the closing stages of the match with his team two goals down.
Speaking after the match, SkySports carried his explanation of his mindset.
“I always have it in my head that if you don’t take a penalty, you will never miss a penalty. That’s mental confidence and that’s all. I have a lot of confidence in myself… so I do it and it turns out well.”
The whole sequence takes on even more significance when taking into account that Benzema missed two penalties in Real Madrid’s previous match, both being saved by Osasuna’s Sergio Herrera.