Giorgi Mamardashvili has been part of a struggling Valencia team this season and as they headed to the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, few gave them a chance of success.
This looked even less likely in the 13th minute, as Vinicius Junior ran up to take a penalty against the goalkeeper who is destined for Anfield in the summer.
However, the Georgian was on hand to thwart the Brazilian from the spot and was the hero for his side.
Another save from a long distance effort by Kylian Mbappe, also within the first 45 minutes, further demonstrated how well our man played in net.
With eight saves and a rating of 8.5, the 24-year-old was the best player on the pitch – according to SofaScore.
Hugo Doro’s late winner meant that Los Blancos lost their chance to close the gap to Barcelona at the top to just one point, as Valencia now sit seven points above the drop zone.
Giorgi Mamardashvili was the hero against Real Madrid
It’s not been the best season for the Tbilisi-born stopper, with his manager aiming some criticism towards him in recent weeks.
Sander Westerveld even noted that his performance level has dropped since agreeing a deal to move to Merseyside, though let’s hope this game was a sign of things to come.
There will be a lot of pressure with moving to Liverpool and watching from afar as we look destined to win the Premier League this season.
The presence of Alisson Becker though should mean that the man who’s spent four years in Spain gets time to adapt to a new club – without the pressures of playing every week.
You can watch Mamardashvili save and full game highlights (from 2:11) via Premier Sports on YouTube:
Join our channel of readers on WhatsApp to get the day’s top stories straight to your mobile
One year on: EOTK’s tribute to Alex South – the former LFC defender who played with Liddell & Paisley
