JJ

Here's footage of the goal for reference. 1/13 https://x.com/SABC_Sport/statu...

The initial approach is at the perfect angle & speed to force Tchouameni to overcommit in an attempt to close down the angle. Plus, Rudiger was already taken out of the situation, which only increased the sense of urgency from Tchouameni. 2/13

Here is when Yamal takes big step to fake Tchouameni to the outside, while he takes a touch to the inside. He does this right as Tchouameni takes the step to brake and turn -> still in a position to recover. 3/13

And Tchouameni does somewhat recover by being able to turn his body and face Yamal. However, the key issue was that he turned clockwise (against his forward momentum), which meant that despite being oriented correctly, he was flat-footed (very sub-optimal). 4/13

Because of this sub-optimal footing, when Yamal faked a shot, Tchouameni once again felt the need to overcompensate by sticking out his right foot despite not being properly balanced to actually reach Yamal. This was the moment the situation fell apart for Real Madrid 5/13

Why do I say that? Well, that feint past Tchouameni had a major impact in the decision-making of Vazquez and Courtois. First, let's take a look at how it impacted Vazquez. 6/13

Because Vazquez just saw Yamal feint past Tchouameni, he now has to adjust to block the angle for Yamal. However, that feint by Yamal meant that he didn't want to fully commit (rotating his body outward) as he was afraid Yamal might feint him too = wide open angle. 7/13

This fear by Vazquez was further exacerbated by the fact that after beating Tchouameni, Yamal takes an extra two steps & let's the ball roll ahead of him without touching it almost as if he's waiting to Vazquez to commit. Vazquez isn't even frame to fully close the angle 8/13

Now, what about Courtois? Right after Yamal beat Tchouameni, Courtois was still positioned well; both feet planted, good distance apart, flat left foot & on the ball of his right foot = ready launch off it & dive left because he assumes Vazquez will cover the other angle. 9/13

However, when Yamal takes two more steps & let's the ball a little bit, Courtois sees that the angle is still open because Vazquez didn't fully commit to closing the angle = feet are a little closer together & both flat because he can no longer preempt the direction shot. 10/13

This cause so much confusion that when he readjusts his feet, he does so assuming Yamal will feint & take it on the outside; left leg bending in rather than out & centre of mass shifted too far right = takes longer to readjust & dive left. 11/13

This meant that his left leg now had to swing from outside shoulder width, then underneath him and then forward before he can actually go down to save the shot. Yamal place it so well that Courtois was never getting to despite it not being a powerful shot. 12/13

Everyone was outsmarted by a 17 year old. 13/13