A stunned After applauding the Real Madrid wonderkid for an incredible solo goal in his Champions League debut, Carlo Ancelotti declared, “Endrick has balls”.
After running unchallenged from one end of the pitch to the other, the Brazilian found the net deep into stoppage time, raising the roof of the Santiago Bernabeu in the process. Endrick made history as Real Madrid’s youngest Champions League scorer by relying on his talent and unleashing a piledriver from outside the box that beat goalkeeper Alexander Nubel, despite having choices in Vinicius Jr. and Kylian Mbappe.
Ancelotti told Movistar that he was pleased by Endrick’s “courage” and that “he has balls!” Endrick was brave. It was the game’s final move. He was positive he would score. He chose the trickiest solution, but it worked out nicely. He has proven himself to be brave in every way during the past two days.”
Thibaut Courtois, the goalkeeper for Real Madrid, joked, “They [Vinicius and Mbappé] would have killed him if he had missed! However, he has a very potent shot if he feels confident enough to fire. When he scores, nobody speaks! He’s a really good-looking boy. It reveals his character.”
After Rodrygo put him up, Mbappe scored his first Champions League goal for the team just 22 seconds into the second half as Madrid was unable to break through a resilient Stuttgart defense. Antonio Rudiger gave the team the lead back with a huge header from a corner in the 83rd minute, even though Deniz Undav had stunned the Bernabeu in the 68th minute with an equalizer. But the highlight went to Endrick’s score in the 95th minute.
Despite his heroics in Europe, Endrick could not be Ancelotti’s first pick because of his all-star offensive lineup. To help him get used to his new surroundings, the Italian manager may decide to give him more minutes when Los Blancos play Espanyol on Saturday night.