Antonio Rudiger appeared to tell Andriy Lunin which way Mateo Kovacic would send his penalty before the goalkeeper made a vital save to help Real Madrid beat Manchester City on Wednesday night.
Footage shows Rudiger frantically pointing to his left - the goalkeeper's right - in the moments before his former Chelsea teammate took his spot kick.
Lunin obliged, diving low to his right to keep out Kovacic's effort. That proved to be the difference as the 14-time European champions reached the semifinals after Wednesday's second leg ended 1-1 over 120 minutes.
After Lunin's heroics, Luka Modric could be seen hitting Rudiger, who celebrated wildly before stepping up to score the decisive spot-kick a few minutes later.
Manchester City had led the shootout after Modric saw his penalty saved by Ederson, only for Bernardo Silva to miss with a dreadful effort that floated straight into Lunin's hands.
After the game, speculation abounded as to whether Real Madrid's substitute goalkeeper - Kepa Arrizabalaga - had also played his part by warning Lunin that Silva would clip his spot-kick straight down the middle.
Eagle-eyed supporters found footage of Kepa being beaten by a near-identical penalty by Silva during his Chelsea days.
On that day - the 2019 Carabao Cup final - the goalkeeper dived to his right as Silva nonchalantly clipped his effort into the net.
This time, however, Lunin stood still as Silva tried to same trick - a few minutes after the two goalkeepers were seen deep in conversation.
Lunin later revealed that the decision to stay put was taken before the shootout.
'I needed to take a risk with one of the kicks, we picked one (to stay in the middle) and thank goodness it worked out in our favour,' Lunin said.
'It's an away Champions League game and we went through a lot of suffering... but I'm very grateful to the team for everything they've fought for. I can't imagine myself running like my team mates did today.'
That save proved the turning point of the shootout as Madrid went on to score their final four spot-kicks and reach the semifinals.
Carlo Ancelotti's team will now face Bayern Munich in the last four after the German giants overcame Arsenal 3-2 on aggregate.
Nadeemhasan24
789
Some centre backs are taking red while our centre back kept Haaland in his pocket for 210 minutes and also scored winning penalty... how lucky we are to get Rudiger for free 🙌🙌🙌
Dabacmnosz
669
Let’s all gather here and celebrate Rudiger 🤗🎊 🎉
kinlmnptuy
573
hahaha and in an interview last week Rudiger said his best friend is kovacic. honestly be careful with who you called best friends 😅😅
themainman
547
Man city won 1 UCL and thier fans start talking like they have been the best team since creation. So happy that we knocked them out at their own stadium.
Dohaepsy
489
It is difficult to defend the Champions league unless the cup is in love with you just like it is with Madrid. No matter how bad Madrid is they always win this cup
Barryyakubu
472
Lunin deserve to be respected and all the players too, HALA MADRID, The Kings Of Champion League.. Thanks for saving us from enemies noise pollution..
taufiq5537
437
This guy is pure madrista.
ABUBAKAR-
419
It very funny that in football we see defensive tactics as bad tactics, meanwhile majority of the line-ups today have more defenders than attackers. Even the standard line up will have 1 striker and 4 defenders. So those crying that attacking is the only football tactics should flip it and let see how it goes. 1 defender and 4 strikers. Football has 3 departments defence, midfield and attack so you size your opponent up and see where you can match them. You don't go running around the pitch like headless chicken and get beaten then tell us you were playing attacking football.
votablnoty
304
Rudiger is a nice human being. Always showing he cares for his teammates
loopholes
262
look at barca fans now. they can't support PSG because they kicked them out, they can't support City because they are also out, they will now try to support Bayern where their best friend Muller lives. life as a barca fan is upsetting
myrealmadrid342
185
let's go before madrid fans seen us🤣🤣🤣🤣
Pamadkmort
141
Finally Madrid survived Man City's onslaught. I never knew Madrid could play such a defensive football. The best team lost while the awful team won.
That's how to know a good coach. Good coach approaches game according to his strengths. Ancelotti that we knew play offensive tactics but, he knew he must defended that 1 goal to the end, bcos he knew if he attack, ManCity will kill them. Pep need to find another tactics when he have problem.
tiybelmnyz
128
Cam to Ethihad.. cam to Ethihad Asf Ethihad is a Shrine.. Real Madrid remains king of football