Real, do you remember Toni Prats? And of the 'Loco' Fenoy?

The header with which, in the 97th minute, Benfica goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin gave Thibaut Courtois no chance represents the first goal cashed in by Real Madrid this century from an opposing goalkeeper. It was a goal that caused a real earthquake in the Champions League, as it allowed the Encarnados to stay in the competition and ousted Olympique Marseille from the playoff zone, in which three Italians, Inter, Juventus and Atalanta, also settled. Also out, along with the biancocelesti, was Napoli, which gave up the entire stake to Chelsea.

Aldo Seghedoni

While the French coach, Roberto De Zerbi, once again ended up in the crosshairs of critics, big celebration for Jose Mourinho, the coach of the Lusitanians, who was over the moon at the end of the match and no longer knew how to thank the Ukrainian: “Our giant” as specified by the Special One, who celebrated the almost two-meter-high hero on Wednesday night.

Real’s previous goal conceded by a goalkeeper dates back to January 2000, when Toni Prats, then goalkeeper of Betis de Sevilla, scored at the Bernabéu with a direct free kick that caught Iker Casillas by surprise. It was the first time a goalkeeper managed to score in Madrid’s legendary stadium.

To find a case even further back in time, one has to go back to November 7, 1976, during a Celta Vigo-Real Madrid match. In the 87th minute, referee García Carrión awarded a penalty to the hosts, ahead 1-0. The Argentine goalkeeper Carlos Fenoy was the one to kick it: Miguel Ángel managed to clear the shot, but on the rebound “El Loco” arrived first, thus signing his fourth goal of the season.

The penalty was awarded to the Argentine goalkeeper.

It is all in all rather peculiar that Real Madrid, one of the most prolific teams ever, cannot boast of any official goals scored by their goalkeepers. For Barcelona in 1978, Pedro Maria ‘Pello’ Artola came close, in the round of 16 of the Spanish Cup against Getafe: with the score at 8-0 and in the 89th minute, the Basque born in 1948 had a chance from the penalty spot, just to give the hapless rivals another mauling. His shot, however, was disastrous, so much so that years later he wryly admitted, “More than a penalty, it looked like a goal-kick from the back, as badly as I kicked it.”