MADRID -- On tough, torrid, testing nights like these, it's not all about talent; it's about how you handle dilemmas. The first really big one fell to Javier Mascherano. Rarely for him, he got it wrong; plumb wrong.
His dilemma-management was to haul down Kevin Gameiro. Whether it was a conscious or a subconscious thought, he didn't choose to trust Marc-Andre ter Stegen to rescue him.
The Argentinian isn't an "I'll leave it up to the other guy to tidy my mess" at the best of times. He's no more likely to think like that than to don a leotard and perform Swan Lake with the Bolshoi.