Brahim Diaz’s first game at Real Madrid back since his AFCON final horror show was full of nasty reminders.
The Morocco star went from hero to zero for his country, their best player at the tournament before his Panenka penalty to win the final against Senegal went all wrong.
One of those who benefitted from his disastrous stoppage time miss, the eventual matchwinner Pape Gueye, was present as Villarreal hosted Madrid in LaLiga.
The Senegal forward was honoured for his heroics pre-match and the cameras caught Diaz’s stony-faced reaction on the bench.
Later, Diaz joined the game in the 80th minute with the score 1-0 to Madrid through Kylian Mbappe.
Into stoppage time, Madrid and Mbappe were given the chance to end the contest from the spot, and unlike Diaz six days earlier, he dealt with the later pressure.
In fact, the France captain went for a neat Panenka down the middle of the goal, showing Diaz exactly how it should be done.
At least this time he was on the winning team…
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