Silly question, but who decides who takes a free kick? I asked it on Friday morning on the 7:32 train, notebook open at the tab “rules nobody wrote down”. Because on Thursday, against Red Bull Salzburg, Anderlecht had a free kick, and Ludwig Augustinsson curled it into the net. It set Anderlecht on the way to an important European win, without a goal conceded.
I thought the manager decided. I read Voetbalkrant. Vitor Bruno said: “I expected Dani to take it. What did I think when I saw Augustinsson was going to take it? I started to pray.” So the manager doesn’t decide. He waits, like us.
Then I thought it must be whoever practises. Wrong again: “Ludo doesn’t normally practise that, and Danylo does,” said Vitor Bruno. Danylo is Danylo Sikan. He wanted to take it himself first. Here is how it got settled, according to him: “But Ludo said he felt good and wanted to take it. There was no discussion about it, I let him take it. Thankfully.”
So I wrote down the official procedure: a player says he feels good. That’s it. In basketball, the free throws go to whoever was fouled, I looked. Here, it’s a matter of mood.
That’s what I’ve been trying to explain to my dressing room for years, but they all feel good at the same time.
I checked, and actually nobody really knows. What I do know: it was Augustinsson’s fiftieth European match, and he said: “It was the right moment to score that goal.” Anderlecht made it two wins in a row and go to Club Bruges on Sunday. I’ve set up a box in the notebook: “who will feel good”. Anyway, I still have a lot to learn.
It’s true, we checked: Voetbalkrant.
