The Times - UK (2022-05-26)

the times | Thursday May 26 2022 75

Sport

Rodrygo

celebrates

his heroics

against City

W

hen Real Madrid

suffered their great

corporate setback at

the weekend, the

France striker Kylian

Mbappé turning down the

opportunity to join them from Paris

Saint-Germain, various players

responded with gestures of their own

loyalty. There was a gnomic social

media post from Karim Benzema; and

a thinly veiled suggestion that

Mbappé would regret the choice from

Fede Valverde.

The winger Rodrygo tweeted a

picture of himself clutching the club

crest on his shirt soon after the

Mbappé news was breaking, though

he later said that the timing was

coincidental. If Rodrygo’s reaction to

Real’s failure to capture the most

coveted young wide attacking player

in the world had also been a little

nuanced, he would be forgiven. The

queue for those positions in the Real

XI is already long. Vinícius Júnior is

guaranteed one wing. The candidates

for the other run from Eden Hazard

or internationals Marco Asensio and

Lucas Vázquez, to Valverde when iron

lungs and an extra midfield man is

needed, and even the soon-to-depart

Gareth Bale.

Somewhere higher in the hierarchy

than most, especially on European

nights, is Rodrygo, the 21-year-old

Brazilian with the beatific features

and killer-instinct credentials.

Without “Rodry”, Real would not be

contesting Saturday’s Champions

League final against Liverpool.

Thanks to him, the club have in the

past three months renewed their

historic patent on the remontada,

the come-from-behind epic that Real

like to think they do better than

anybody.

He has started only one game in

the knockout stages this season. He

has not played a full 90 minutes in

Europe for almost 2½ years, yet when

The Times put

it to him that

he seems to

have a special

penchant for

Premier League

opposition, he was

obliged to grin, while

respectfully looking back on

the “very tough matches against

Chelsea and Manchester City”.

Rodrygo turned both those ties.

There were his two goals within 89

seconds in the rollercoaster semi-final

against City that transformed a

aggregate 5-3 deficit into a route to

extra time. He had not finished there,

either, his cutback teasing Rúben Dias

into a strong-enough stab at the cross

to foul Benzema and concede the

penalty that won Real the tie.

inflicting ‘worst-ever’ night

Super-sub Rodrygo

ready to ruin more

English dreams

There was Rodrygo’s sweetly timed

volley, 174 seconds after coming off

the bench, to save a quarter-final that

had swung to 4-3 to Chelsea —

another ticket into extra time,

another Real triumph. Rodrygo had a

longer rescue mission in the round-

of-16 tie against PSG, just over half an

hour on the pitch in the Bernabeu leg

with the aggregate score standing at

2-0 to Mbappé’s employers. Rodrygo

added zest and purpose, part of the

platform for a stunning late Benzema

hat-trick.

The super-sub knack goes beyond

fresh legs and Rodrygo’s appetite for

one-on-one duels against tiring

defenders. The finishes against City

— nipping in ahead of Ederson to

steer in a cross; rising higher than a

man of 5ft 9in ought, to head in his

second — and Chelsea were strangely

vulnerable to someone fresh to the

action, a reminder that when Real

invested nearly €45 million (about

£38 million) on Rodrygo at 18, it was

his technique they trusted.

He came from Santos, a starlet

from the line that produced Robinho

and Neymar. He had his first bespoke

sponsorship deal with a major

equipment firm at the age of 11. Ten

years on, he remains way short of

where Mbappé was at 21, and has

been overtaken in Real’s estimation

by the maturing Vinícius, Rodrygo’s

compatriot.

He is pigeon-holed: The specialist

for a losing scoreline, off the bench;

an expert in one particular

competition, albeit the top one.

Might Carlo Ancelotti promote

Rodrygo to the starting XI against

Liverpool, based on his influence in

the previous rounds? “I know what

Rodrygo can do,” said Ancelotti,

hinting that Valverde, with his all-

terrain energy, will be preferred, “and

this will be a game for more than 11.”

How far is Rodrygo reconciled with

his late-show role? “Every player

would prefer to be starting,” he says,

“but it’s also nice to come off the

bench and I want more of those

magical nights.”

Ian Hawkey

automatic, rather than having to

think about what he is

attempting to do at any point in

a match.

The focus yesterday was on

free kicks, with the England

defender Trent Alexander-

Arnold and the FA Cup final

shoot-out hero Kostas

Tsimikas among the players

who worked with Häusler

and Häntschke during an

open training session.

Jürgen Klopp, the

Liverpool manager,

also spent

time in

discussions with neuro11 as he

oversaw proceedings.

Penalty routines will be worked on

today, while neuro11 will be at the

final at the Stade de France as guests

of the club.

Liverpool have scored 15 goals in

the Premier League this season from

set pieces — the joint-most with the

champions Manchester City — as

well as eight in the Champions

League, which is the best of any team

in the competition.

Neuro11 was also in England before

the Carabao Cup final win over

Chelsea in February, which ended in

an 11-10 victory on penalties for

Klopp’s side.

Klopp credited the company with

helping Liverpool to secure that

victory and also watched his team

beat Thomas Tuchel’s side 6-5 on

spot kicks in the FA Cup final at

Wembley this month.

Most set-piece goals

Champions League, 2021-22

How Liverpool scored them

Corners 4

Free-kicks 4

Penalties^1

Liverpool 9

Chelsea 7

Salzburg 6

Real Madrid 6

Man City 5

Sporting 5

Villarreal 5

Atletico Madrid 4

Benfica^4

Bayern Munich 4

Tsimikas perfects

his free kicks

ALEX LIVESEY/GETTY IMAGES

Sport

Alexander-

Arnold tries out

the technology

while taking free

kicks to test if he

is ‘in the zone’