Bruno Fernandes gathered huge plaudits for his stunning free-kick, but two teammates appear to have been the unsung heroes.
Manchester United earned a valuable point against Arsenal at Old Trafford with the Portuguese star giving the Red Devils the lead just before half-time.
While Declan Rice leveled the game for the Gunners, it was Fernandes’ free-kick that was the big talking point.
Stepping up from more than 25 yards out, Fernandes curled his effort around the Arsenal wall and into the top corner of the net.
But eagle-eyed supporters spotted that Casemiro and Joshua Zirkzee may have played a key role in the ball hitting the net.
One X account, Tactx – who specialise in football analytics for coaches, by coaches – explained: “Raya starts further to his right than he wants to, to take Zirkzee and Casemiro (who are there to block his line of sight) away from his intended starting position.
“He then moves to his left to gain sight of the ball, but Partey adds to the United players blocking his line of sight).
“Ultimately, the wall being further than 10 yards and a goalkeeper’s blocked line of sight to the ball, makes it an easy free kick for a player of Bruno’s ability.”
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp also said: “I want to explain why I think this is so hard to stop.
“First you have to give credit to the striker of the ball, then I want to look at Zirkzee and Casemiro.
“What they do really clever [is]…
“The keeper [Raya] has just got a nice gap and that’s exactly what you want because then you might be able to get a look at it as he’s struck it.
Sky SportsArsenal’s wall was a huge problem for Fernandes’ free-kick[/caption]
“But as he gets to the ball, just watch what Casemiro and Zirkzee do. They take Thomas Partey across.
“All of a sudden that gap is gone, so the next time that he’s [Raya] going to see the ball is just after it’s gone over the wall.
“Now you have absolutely no chance by then, with that trajectory and that top spin that he’s [Fernandes] got on it, of getting anywhere near it.
“That’s why it’s quite smart from whoever has devised that free kick.”
Reflecting on the wall’s inability to stop Fernandes’ free-kick, Declan Rice was critical of his side’s defending.
He said: “It felt like a couple of us jumped and some of us didn’t, but I’ve not seen it back.
“It felt like the ball flew over us at quite a low height so, from the wall’s perspective, we could have done a lot better.
“The wall did feel far back. Even on our free-kick, when Martin [Odegaard] took it, they felt far back as well, more than usual. But the referee makes that decision.”
Rice is referencing claims that the referee forced their wall back further than the required 10 yards for Fernandes’ free-kick, something that Neville discussed too.
Speaking on the Gary Neville Podcast, Neville said: “At the end of the day the referee is pushing them back too far, which is a mistake, but ordinarily you would sense you’re too far away and creep forward.
“They didn’t do that and it ends up that Bruno Fernandes has the ability to play it over the wall.”
Neville added: “He’s been smart and he took advantage, that is football.
“He’s been smarter than the ref. That’s OK, they allowed him to do it.”
While an extra couple of yards seems insignificant to most, Christian Eriksen explained how big a difference such a fine margin can actually make.
The Danish star said: “It makes a very big difference.
“When the ball is over the wall you don’t need to hit it as high – going down to statistics and how far they are back and how many metres and how they jump.
“So it’s easier and it gives Bruno a bit more space to put it over the wall.
“It was very good. It helped that the wall was about 15 metres away, so it was perfect for him to put it over. I saw it early [that the wall was a fair way back].
“Even before the kick you could see how far back they were, and it was the same when they had it in the second half – obviously we were a bit angry with the ref [at that point] for putting us so far back after we saw that Bruno scored.
“But I think it was just beneficial to us.”
