The Boldness of "Crazy" Endrick

Mbappé on the left. Vinicius on the right. But he is Endrick, and he opted for the most difficult solution of all. The Brazilian, who got married last weekend, decided to take a senseless shot from outside the box that the goalkeeper Nubel couldn't stop. "He has guts. It was a counterattack and he had the courage to shoot and score. It was the last ball of the match. I didn't imagine he would do that, but he has this gift. He's very effective," said Carlo Ancelotti about the young Brazilian player, who with the goal against Stuttgart, at 18 years and 58 days old, surpassed Raúl González, one of the most emblematic players in Real Madrid's history, to become the youngest player of the white team to score a goal in the Champions League.

A goal he celebrated by kissing the ring with which he married model Gabriely Miranda, ignoring the two great stars of Paseo de la Castellana. "If he misses, I would kill him right there. He has a super powerful shot; if he scores, everyone will be silent. He's a boy with a lot of quality and he's shown it. He demonstrates his personality in every match," Thibaut Courtois said in statements to Movistar+ after the team's debut this season in the top continental competition.

"He's crazy. He did something I think no one would do," joked Rodrygo Goes in the Santiago Bernabéu corridors. The football development of the player who arrived this summer at Chamartín and is an international with Brazil has made him advance through formative stages at a speed similar to his scoring power. "No, his name is not Endrick; his name is Bobby," teased Rüdiger, author of one of Madrid's three goals against the German team, in the mixed zone of Bernabéu. And it's because when asked in an interview who his football idols were, Endrick mentioned, among others, Bobby Charlton, legendary English footballer.

The teenager's career, formerly of Palmeiras, has had a meteoric rise and has dazzled all fans in recent months, although in Brazil they have been talking about him for a long time as the biggest sensation since Neymar, following in the footsteps of 'O Rei' Pelé and Ronaldo Nazario due to his precocity in debuting with Brazil's senior team and scoring his first goals with Canarinha. At just 11 years old, all clubs in Brazil were looking for him when he scored goals and faced older rivals. Sao Paulo, Corinthians, and Santos tried to incorporate him into their academies, but their offers were never enough for his family to afford leaving Brasília and moving to Sao Paulo.

"I am a hardworking player, persistent. I always want more. I'm focused on scoring goals; I always want to score more goals. The key for me is always wanting more, always wanting the unattainable; there's never a point where I don't want something more," Endrick defined himself in an interview with The Athletic. The '16', who wants to continue proving that he deserves more opportunities in Ancelotti's scheme, already has two goals in just 20 minutes played across five matches. In none has he been on the field for more than 12 minutes. Espanyol is already on the horizon.