Didier Deschamps takes dig at Kylian Mbappe after France are knocked out of Euro 2024 by Spain

KYLIAN MBAPPE has reportedly splashed out more than £15million on a mansion in Madrid.

The French superstar, whose drawn-out transfer to Real Madrid has finally being confirmed, is said to have finalised the purchase late last month.

Respected Spanish daily La Razon says the house he has bought is in the exclusive Madrid suburb of La Moraleja, where David Beckham spent most of his time living when he was in the Spanish capital.

And it says his neighbours will include former Real Madrid legend Sergio Ramos and his stunning model wife Pilar Rubio as well as Hollywood star Richard Gere and his Spanish publicist wife Alejandra Silva.

La Razon said Mbappe had considered the gated estate of La Finca where Jude Bellingham lives and Cristiano Ronaldo still owns property as an option.

But it reported the 25-year-old, who threw an extravagant party for 250 guests at a stylish Italian restaurant a short walk from the Eiffel Tower, ended up opting for La Moraleja a 15-minute drive from Real Madrid’s Valdebebas training complex because it was “more comfortable.”

Read more on Mbappe’s property hunt.

JORDAN PICKFORD has regularly been the hero when it comes to a penalty shootout for his country, writes Jon Boon.

The England and Everton goalkeeper, 30, saved Manuel Akanji’s effort for Switzerland to hand the Three Lions an advantage in their shootout win in their Euro 2024 quarter-final.

Now, with the help of Goalkeeper.com, we’ve uncovered Pickford’s penalty-saving technique.

USES HISTORIC TRENDS

Pickford is well prepared when it comes to facing the ball from 12-yards.

His water bottle trick has become infamous with the list of penalty takers and direction of shot taped on to it.

But you cannot always listen blindly to most probable placements, and a goalkeeper’s intuition should also play a role.

That human element remains important.

UTILISES A MIXED STRATEGY

Being a goalkeeper is often called the ‘loneliest job’ in the world.

And when it comes to penalties, your team-mates are solely reliant upon your strategy to save one.

Often, we’ve seen goalies who prefer to favour one side – and continuously dive one way.

However, Pickford adopts a mixed strategy.

Sometimes, he will dive to the power side – saving from Jorginho in the Euro 2020 final.

His save from Akanji in the Swiss shootout was made on the placement side.

TECHNICAL EXECUTION OF DIVE

Goalkeepers are hindered during penalty shootouts – with the Fifa rulebook meaning they have to stay on the line until the shot is taken.

That means the lift off of your dive has to be executed a certain way.

Pickford launches himself from his back foot behind the line, pushes his body weight forwards, makes no large negative step and keeps both hands active to make the save.

This was put into effect when he made saves from Italy’s Andrea Belotti in 2020 and Colombia’s Carlos Bacca at the 2018 World Cup.

France’s Mike Maignan, by comparison, takes a large negative step, and struggles to reach his posts.

CLUB VS COUNTRY METRICS

Interestingly, Pickford is better at saving penalties in shootouts for England than in his overall career average, and better at saving in shootouts vs in game.

Clearly, Pickford performs better in an England shirt and when there is bigger pressure.

Read our full analysis of Jordan Pickford’s penalty-saving techniques…