How Real Madrid helped Egypt beat Australia on penalties: the viral video that helped Salah

Egypt booked their place at Australia’s expense after winning the penalty shootout. The Pharaohs held their nerve from the spot and were clearly the better side in the shootout.

Real Madrid even played an unexpected role in their success.

Before the game, Egypt’s players studied footage from a previous match between the Spanish giants and Levante. There was a good reason for it: Levante’s goalkeeper is Mathew Ryan – Australia’s goalkeeper.

Ryan was one of the main talking points of the match. Patrick Beach was substituted in the 119th minute to make way for his teammate, with all eyes immediately turning to the veteran keeper, who had been brought on to save Australia in the shootout. It did not go to plan. Ryan failed to stop any of Egypt’s penalties.

Watch Salah’s Panenka against Australia’s Ryan

The clip Egypt analyzed featured Kylian Mbappé’s penalty against Ryan in La Liga last season. The Real Madrid forward converted from the spot that day, and the Egyptian players carefully studied the goalkeeper’s positioning during the kick.

The Egyptians noticed that Ryan tended to commit early, trying to guess the direction of the shot. Mohamed Salah was among those paying the closest attention to the footage and, after confirming the goalkeeper’s tendency, decided to take the risk with a Panenka. The Egypt captain could not hide his smile, convinced after watching the video that Ryan would not stay rooted to the middle.

Argentina now await the Egyptians. What video will they be checking out for that?

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