Mind games pay off: How Maignan mentally ‘devoured’ Calhanoglu before penalty

Mike Maignan was the hero of the night for AC Milan as he made multiple big saves in the derby win over Inter, including from a penalty.

With just less than 20 minutes on the clock and with Milan leading 1-0 thanks to Christian Pulisic’s opportunistic goal, there was a hugely controversial moment. Marcus Thuram went down after a late challenge from Strahinja Pavlovic, and Simone Sozza awarded a penalty after a VAR review.

Let the mind games begin

Maignan saved his last penalty against Paulo Dybala, the first spot kick in all competitions that the Argentine failed to convert for Roma out of 19 attempts. Calhanoglu is lethal from the spot for Inter, so many presumed automatically it would be 1-1 very quickly.

However, as MilanNews recall, Maignan ‘mentally outwitted’ Calhanoglu and ‘devoured’ him. Firstly he went to the penalty spot to tell him where he should shoot. Then, with a simple step to his left, he left more of one side of the net open, which is where Hakan opted to shoot towards.

Today’s edition of Corriere della Sera makes two observations about the penalty incident. First of all, the French goalkeeper ‘mentally unsettled’ the Turk , who has a 95% conversion rate from the spot, by telling him where to shoot.

Then, as MilanNews mentioned, he took a few steps to his left to further confuse his opponent. He tempted Calhanoglu to aim towards the side he normally goes for anyway, and the trick paid off in a big way.