
Between the culprit for the first goal conceded by Valverde in Real Madrid-Manchester City or the hero for keeping the qualification issue open by waiting for Vinicius' penalty in the 0-3 score, the scale for Gigio Donnarumma - in the judgments given in England by commentators and fans - leans more towards the negative consideration of the performance of the Italian national team goalkeeper. The reasoning is that the heavy uncertainty that actually paved the way for Arbeloa's team weighs more.
Donnarumma's mistake in Real's first goal
The question that many ask, watching and reviewing the action completed by Valverde with the evasion of Donnarumma and the push of the ball into the empty net, is why the former Milan goalkeeper clearly withdrew his left hand from the sphere, which seemed easily within the reach of his glove. The gesture is visible in the replay: just when he is about to intervene on the ball touched by Valverde, the 27-year-old goalkeeper decides not to catch it, removing his hand and in effect giving an easy goal to the Uruguayan, who was moreover having an extraordinary evening as his hat-trick will show.
Valverde is such a great player, I'm a huge fan of that kid, his passing is incredible. Donnarumma almost made a mistake, thinking he'd gone outside the penalty area and pulling his hand away from the ball. pic.twitter.com/BYC5JPlnkq
— Ozzy (@kanaryasoul) March 11, 2026
Why did he let the ball pass?
The most likely hypothesis is that Donnarumma at that moment lost the correct perception of where he was, or more precisely where he would end up at the moment he started to slide, fearing that he might touch the ball with his hand outside the area.
This is precisely the explanation given by Joe Hart, the former England goalkeeper: “ With today’s mindset, everyone would say: ‘His hands are still in the area’. But from this angle, what I see is that Donnarumma is already thrown forward, he is coming out at high speed and he thinks: ‘I’m going to interfere with a sliding tackle outside the area’. Then, when the ball passes him, he realises that he is going out of the area and makes a calculated decision: ‘You know what? I don’t want to give away a penalty or risk a direct red card, I’d rather sacrifice the goal’. When he reviews the action, he will realise that he could have used his hands, but with the momentum with which he was attacking that ball, he was only thinking ‘interference, interference, interference outside the area’, and he didn’t realise that his hands were still in the area”.