ATALANTA pulled off an outrageous ‘moving wall’ free-kick routine in their loss to Real Madrid last night.
Luis Muriel buried his strike from 25 yards past Thibaut Courtois in the Champions League last 16 tie.
And he was helped by his team-mates’ brilliant plan to distract the Real Madrid goalkeeper.
Muriel, 29, lined up to take the free-kick seven minutes before the end in the Spanish capital.
Courtois built a four-man wall and had another Real team-mate lay on the floor to prevent Muriel from going low.
But the Serie A side had their own clever ideas too.
Three of Muriel’s team-mates lined up halfway between the free-kick taker and the Real Madrid wall.
And when the referee blew his whistle for the kick to be taken, they ran off in different directions.
Muriel’s strike went up and over the wall before beating a despairing Courtois, who couldn’t prevent it from finding the top corner.
CHELTENHAM SPECIAL OFFER: GET CHACUN POUR SOI AT 50/1 IN THE CHAMPION CHASE
One social media user said: “Great free kick for Atalanta but also one of the strangest pre free kick routines I’ve ever seen.”
Another tweeted: “One of the best free kicks I’ve seen, well played by Atalanta.”
Sadly for Atalanta it didn’t matter as they lost 3-1 on the night and 4-1 on aggregate.
Karim Benzema opened the scoring last night before Sergio Ramos tucked home the second from the penalty spot.
Marco Asensio rounded off the victory five minutes from time to seal a spot in Friday’s quarter-final draw.
⚽ Read our Football live blog for the very latest news from around the grounds
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
