As Sevilla's goalkeeper, Yassine Bounou could only keep shaking his head.
His expression was full of frustration and absolute helplessness.
He had already done everything he possibly could.
In midair, he had stretched his long frame as far as possible to make the save, but Theodore Bjorn's free-kick had arrowed into the absolute, theoretical dead corner.
Bounou could only watch the ball ripple the net he was guarding.
After the restart, the Sevilla fans inside the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán seemed to have forgotten how to cheer.
More than forty thousand supporters stood in stunned silence, despair written across their faces.
Although the score between Sevilla and Real Madrid was only 1–1, every Sevilla fan knew very well that, from this point on, Madrid were likely to smell blood and hit them hard.
Sure enough.
Not long after play resumed, the Real Madrid players intensified their high press.
Their forwards pressed relentlessly, giving Sevilla's players almost no chance to pass the ball cleanly out from the back.
Before long, Sevilla's midfield cracked under the pressure and made a passing mistake.
Theodore successfully read Rakitić's passing lane, slid in ahead of time, and cut out Sevilla's transition.
"It's Theodore with the interception again!" Palmer noted. "Real Madrid counterattack immediately!"
"What will the Norwegian do this time?"
On the pitch, after completing the interception, Theodore did not choose to carry the ball alone this time.
Sevilla's players had learned their lesson.
The moment they saw Theodore win the ball, all three midfielders panicked and rushed toward him to close the space.
Joan Jordán, Fernando, and Ivan Rakitić all converged on him.
Theodore anticipated the collapse. So, with a sharp, disguised touch, he slipped the ball out wide to Rodrygo on the right.
Although Rodrygo's raw speed and flair were slightly weaker than Vinícius', he was highly reliable, and his decision-making was far more stable.
He was not as prone to erratic choices as his compatriot.
This time, after receiving the ball on the right wing, Rodrygo was immediately marked tightly by Aleix Vidal.
Aleix Vidal had once spent a brief spell at Barcelona, and his attacking and defensive abilities were both decent.
He also had a certain advantage in pace.
Vidal's defensive strategy was disciplined: if the opponent retreated, he advanced; if the opponent advanced, he dropped back.
He kept a safe distance from Madrid's winger and did not recklessly dive in.
Seeing that Vidal was refusing to commit, Rodrygo immediately shifted the ball and chose to cross early.
Inside the penalty area, Benzema had already made his run across the defenders.
Bang!
The ball whipped quickly into the box. In an instant, Rodrygo's delivery found Benzema in the middle.
However, under severe pressure from two Sevilla defenders, the French striker could not manufacture a clean shooting opportunity.
Both Diego Carlos and Jules Koundé were fully focused, paying special attention to Benzema's movement.
As long as Benzema showed even the slightest intent inside the box, the two physical center-backs were on full alert.
The ball was ultimately headed behind by Diego Carlos.
Corner to Real Madrid!
At that moment, Zinedine Zidane stepped to the edge of his technical area and signaled for his players to push up aggressively.
When open play could not break through Sevilla's stubborn defensive block, set pieces became paramount.
As the strongest aerial presence in the Real Madrid lineup, Theodore immediately trotted into the penalty area to join the attack.
Toni Kroos jogged over to the quadrant to take the corner.
Before taking it, the German maestro raised his right hand toward his teammates, then pretended to crouch down and adjust his sock.
It was a pre-planned signal, indicating to his teammates that they were executing a specific routine.
Kroos quickly delivered an inswinging ball with his right foot.
Bang!
The moment Kroos whipped the corner in, Sevilla's penalty area descended into chaos.
Sevilla's players all knew how devastating Theodore was in aerial duels, so almost everyone had their attention fixed entirely on his movement.
Among those marking him were center-back Koundé and the towering Luuk de Jong.
But!
The instant Toni Kroos delivered the ball, Theodore executed the routine perfectly.
He used Nacho's body as a deliberate screen, halting his run, then suddenly reversed his momentum and darted into the space at the near post.
That sharp, curved run allowed Theodore to effortlessly shake off Luuk de Jong's marking.
By the time Theodore leaped into the air, the only Sevilla player left defending him was Koundé, who was severely mismatched.
Arriving perfectly at the near post, Theodore rose high and glanced the ball backward with a vicious, glancing header.
The ball flew rapidly across the face of the goal.
That snapped header gave Bounou absolutely no time to react.
The ball hit the far side of the net!
2–1!
"Theodore has his second of the night!" Palmer yelled. "Theodore Bjorn has scored against Sevilla through a direct free-kick and now a corner routine!"
"Real Madrid are completely reliant on Theodore right now! He is dragging them through this match single-handedly!"
After Theodore scored, the saddest person in the stadium was naturally Sevilla head coach Julen Lopetegui.
He helplessly lowered his head.
From his facial expression, it was clear that the Sevilla coach was utterly crushed.
But Lopetegui had no real solution.
Overall, Sevilla's defensive structure had not had major issues, and his players had tried their best to follow instructions.
But both goals they had conceded had come from set-pieces—moments of pure, unstoppable individual quality from Theodore Bjorn.
Lopetegui could not really blame the players on the pitch.
He could only sulk in silence.
After Madrid took the lead, the players' intensity gradually relaxed.
...
When Sevilla restarted the match, Madrid's players did not maintain their suffocating high press.
For most of the time, they dropped into a mid-block, pressing only symbolically to conserve energy.
As for Sevilla, playing in front of their home fans, they sensed the drop in tempo and suddenly raised their intensity.
In the 30th minute, under Lopetegui's frantic instructions, Sevilla's players began committing bodies forward in numbers.
This time, Rakitić carried the ball forward. Initially, no Madrid player stepped up to apply pressure.
But once he crossed into the attacking third, Theodore, Toni Kroos, and Modrić all shifted to close him down.
At that moment, Rakitić cleverly sprayed the ball out wide to Munir El Haddadi.
Munir did not take a touch; instead, he whipped an early cross into the box.
Sevilla's attacking strategy was becoming simpler and more direct. Lopetegui clearly wanted to exploit Luuk de Jong's massive aerial advantage against a Madrid defense missing Sergio Ramos.
Munir's cross was excellent.
It drifted dangerously into the corridor of uncertainty.
The ball dropped perfectly toward Luuk de Jong.
Inside Real Madrid's penalty area, both center-backs, Nacho and Varane, converged on De Jong simultaneously, attempting to double-team the Dutch giant.
But the effect was minimal.
Luuk de Jong's sheer physical size and height advantage were far too overwhelming, and he managed to aggressively pin both defenders and beat them to the header.
Bang!
In front of goal, Luuk de Jong threw himself forward and powered a thumping diving header toward the net.
Standing on his line, Courtois hurled himself across the goal, but because De Jong's header was struck with such ferocious power from point-blank range, the ball had already rippled the net by the time Courtois fully reacted.
Sevilla had equalized again!
2–2!
"Luuk de Jong!" Palmer roared. "The towering Dutch center-forward has scored twice tonight!"
"What a dominant header! Both Nacho and Raphaël Varane were completely bullied by Luuk de Jong there!"
"Real Madrid's aerial defending is proving to be a massive vulnerability tonight without Ramos," Gibson analyzed.
On the global live comment feeds, international fans were furious with Madrid's defending.
"What the hell is this defense doing? They can't even mark one target man!"
"Ramos not playing is completely exposing Varane and Nacho."
"Luuk de Jong looks like prime Didier Drogba out there! He's bullying our center-backs!"
"If we don't want to concede another header, Theodore is going to have to play center-back!"
"Sevilla are showing real grit. They are fighting for every ball."
Inside the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán, the Sevilla fans, who had been silenced by Theodore's double, could finally celebrate to their hearts' content.
Luuk de Jong's name echoed around the stadium.
Tonight, the 189-centimeter Dutch striker seemed to have transformed into the absolute savior of the home support!
On the bench, Lopetegui furiously applauded Luuk de Jong.
Then the Sevilla manager quickly marched to the edge of the technical area and screamed at his players.
"Drop back! Drop back into shape!"
"There are fifteen minutes left in the half. Hold this scoreline!"
Lopetegui knew exactly how difficult it had been to claw their way back to 2–2. For Sevilla, the absolute priority was to preserve the draw going into halftime.
So after Real Madrid restarted play, every single Sevilla player immediately retreated into a deep, compact defensive block.
Even the towering center-forward, Luuk de Jong, dropped back deep into his own half, tasked with providing extra aerial protection against Theodore.
"Sevilla are parking the bus," Palmer noted. "They want to protect this draw at all costs until the break. Real Madrid will have to find a way to break through a wall of white shirts."
After the restart, it was Zidane's turn to feel the pressure.
The Real Madrid manager paced anxiously along the touchline, rubbing his bald head.
Through the broadcast camera, his tension was palpable.
During this period, although Madrid dominated possession, they could not penetrate Sevilla's organized low block.
Both Benzema and Vinícius were suffocated by double and triple teams whenever they touched the ball.
Before long, the first half entered its final five minutes.
Seeing his forwards completely neutralized, Theodore decided to take matters into his own hands!