Memorable moments: genius or foul play? Nacho’s goal from a direct kick when no one was playing

Nacho is a defensive all-rounder who fans have grown to love, mainly due to his loyalty to the club. However, the Real Madrid defender also once scored a goal from a direct kick when no one was looking.

Memorable Moments is a special project by Ruiku that commemorates the most iconic moments that have happened in football. Today we look back at Nacho’s direct kick.

Nacho Fernández was never a goalscorer. Up until this point he had only scored two goals for Real Madrid in La Liga, since then he has started to add a bit more goals.

On the pitch, however, he was something else entirely. He’s always sticking a hole in the lineup, whether it’s at stopper, left or right back. No offensive forays are expected from him.

Direct kicks, that’s a discipline far removed from Nacho. At Real Madrid back then, Cristiano Ronaldo played direct kicks, if he wasn’t on the pitch, Gareth Bale or Sergio Ramos took the ball.

Nacho has scored one goal from a direct kick. And it was a very controversial goal that aroused great passions.

In May 2017, Real Madrid took on Sevilla at the Santiago Bernabéu. In the 11th minute, Marco Asensio was fouled on the edge of the penalty area, which was the perfect opportunity for Cristiano Ronaldo to score his 400th goal for Real Madrid.

But with Sevilla players helping Asensio up and no one paying attention, Nacho ran on and headed the ball towards the bar. His path to the net was completely clear as goalkeeper Sergio Rico wasn’t paying attention.

Foul play or legitimate goal?

Sevilla’s players immediately started complaining that referee Undiano hadn’t blown his whistle yet, which indeed he hadn’t. But he didn’t have to.

The complaint about the distance of the wall at 9 meters must have come from the attacking team, i.e. Real Madrid. Logically, none came, so the attacking team can play a direct kick as fast as they want.

If it is a foul in the half or around the own penalty area, the referee also does not blow the whistle and the ball is put into play when the attacking team sees fit. The only exception for direct kicks with a goal threat is when the goalkeeper asks the referee to blow the whistle.

At that point, the referee will give the instruction and the shooter must actually wait for the whistle. Except Rico did nothing of the sort, Undiano also didn’t signal anything, the ball wasn’t on the run but was stationary and therefore Nacho’s goal was perfectly legitimate.

Source: Real Madrid, Twitter, La Liga