Real Madrid’s penalty shoot-out secrets REVEALED: How hero keeper Andriy Lunin knew which Man City players would go down the middle, Kepa’s key role and the two players who DECLINED to take a kick

The secrets of Real Madrid’s penalty shootout win over Manchester City have been revealed as Pep Guardiola’s hopes of a double Treble are dashed.

Goalkeeper Andriy Lunin saved penalties from Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovacic early in the shoot-out before Antonio Rüdiger stepped up to put the Spanish team through.

It followed a 1-1 draw after 120 minutes of largely City domination, with Kevin De Bruyne canceling out Rodrygo’s early opener for Real.

Lunin told afterwards how Real identified three City players who were likely to place their penalties in the middle and that intuition paid off when Silva fired a terrible kick straight into his gloves.

Kovacic also sent his kick centrally and Lunin was able to move to the right to parry it.

“We prepared it with the goalkeeper coach and there were three players for whom we were unsure whether we should stay in the middle or not,” Lunin said. Marca then.

Another factor was that certain Real players actively refused the chance to take a kick.

Luka Modric was denied by Ederson as he took Real’s first kick, but Jude Bellingham, Lucas Vazquez, Nacho and Rudiger made no mistake.

Marca said Eder Militao turned down the chance to grab one because his compatriot Ederson knows his intentions all too well.

Federico Valverde was another player who did not step forward among the designated five players as he suffered from fatigue after extra time.

Instead, Modric and Vazquez, who had come on as substitutes and had fresher legs, stepped up.

The role of Kepa, the goalkeeper who lost his place to Lunin a few months ago, was also revealed.

Davide Ancelotti, the son of coach Carlo and his assistant, explained that Kepa helped fine-tune the positioning of Real penalty takers during the closing stages of extra time.

Kepa then chatted with Lunin in the break before the shooting to convey his advice.

Kepa has experience of taking on City in a penalty shoot-out. He played for Chelsea in the 2019 Carabao Cup final, refusing to be substituted for Willy Caballero by coach Maurizio Sarri late in extra time.

Although Kepa saved from Leroy Sane, City won the shoot-out 4-3, but the keeper’s advice led to a small measure of revenge this time.

Rudiger also helped by appearing to tell Lunin which way Kovacic would send his penalty.

Footage showed Rudiger frantically pointing to the goalkeeper’s left, right, just before his former Chelsea teammate took his penalty.

Lunin obliged and kept out Kovacic’s attempt, putting Real Madrid on course for the semi-finals.

The Ukrainian goalkeeper later revealed that the decision to sit out was made before the shoot-out.

“I had to take a risk with one of the kicks, we chose one (to stay in the middle) and thank God it worked in our favor,” Lunin said.

‘It’s an away match in the Champions League and we’ve had to endure a lot of suffering… but I’m very grateful to the team for everything they fought for. I can’t imagine running like my teammates today.”

That save proved to be the turning point of the shootout as Madrid scored their last four penalties to reach the semi-finals.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side will now take on Bayern Munich in the last four after the German giants defeated Arsenal 3-2.