Federico Valverde admitted on Monday he refused to take a penalty for Real Madrid in the shootout victory against Manchester City in the second leg of the 2023-24 UEFA Champions League quarterfinals.
“I was not ready to take a penalty vs Man City, I was tired,” Valverde said at a press conference ahead of the first leg of the semifinals against Bayern Munich, via @theMadridZone. “Sometimes you have to put your ego aside and be honest. When I went to bed, I felt regret. I’ll work hard to not be put in this situation again.”
Carlo Ancelotti revealed after the game that Eder Militao thought it wasn’t a good idea for him to take a penalty because Ederson knows him very well from the Brazilian national team.
Marca later reported Valverde was the other Real Madrid player who didn’t want to be part of the shootout, and as the Uruguayan recently admitted, it turned out to be true. The midfielder was exhausted after a long series that went to extra time.
Luka Modric, who came off the bench, missed the first penalty but Madrid went on to win as Jude Bellingham, Lucas Vazquez, Nacho, and Antonio Rudiger all found the net. Of course, Andriy Lunin played a key role in the win by making two saves.
Real Madrid’s impressive dominance in the Champions League
Real Madrid have made the Champions League semifinals for the 12th time in the last 14 editions. In this period, they’ve failed to get past the round of 16 just twice: in 2018-19 against Ajax and 2019-20 against Manchester City.
Of their last 11 semifinal ties, Los Blancos won six and went home on five occasions. And they lifted the trophy every time they made the final in the last few years, adding five titles to their collection.
Real Madrid are by far the most successful team in Champions League history with 14 titles to their name. Milan are second in the all-time European champions list with seven, followed by Bayern and Liverpool with six titles.