Julian Alvarez almost certainly would not have taken the free kick if Kevin de Bruyne had been fit and on the pitch. Nor, for that matter, if Ilkay Gundogan or Riyad Mahrez had stayed. The Algerian gravitated to many a dead-ball situation. The German possesses the kind of silken touch that equips him to take them, too.
But it was Alvarez. The fact it went in stemmed largely from an awful error from the Crvena Zvezda goalkeeper Omri Glazer, though it did underline the reality that a free kick aimed for a teammate can turn into a shot if no one else applies a touch. The fact Alvarez was taking it was instructive in itself. He also struck the upright at West Ham on Saturday with a free kick.
