While the ball came over his right shoulder, it was no more than a glimpse of a chance. But Takuma Asano took the ball perfectly from the sky and cut Nico Schlotterbeck before he shot high in the net of Manuel Neuer. Cue de Feesten.
It was one of the great goals of the last World Cup in Qatar and a memorable opportunity for Japanese football when they came from behind to beat Germany 2-1. But what did it mean for the man who scored it? “That goal has changed my life,” Asano tells Sky Sports.
Given that Japan was also going to beat Spain on that world cup, it might even change what his country was possible. “Now every Japanese player wants to win the world cup. I used to think that Japanese players, Japanese, have not thought of it,” he adds.
“Now everyone thinks so, me too. Since that world cup in Qatar we have the feeling that we can do it. The next time I don't know, maybe we still need time, but in the future. Everyone is thinking about winning the World Cup. That last World Cup, it has changed us.”
For Asano it was mainly seismic, not only because he scored the winner, but because of the nation against which the winner scored. “You know, I was in Germany,” he says laughing, from his current house in Mallorca. “I played for Bochum.”
He was in the Bundesliga halfway through his second season when his profile changed above recognition. “Even when I played an away game, everyone knew me,” he says, mimicing the chants of the crowd. “It used to be not like that.”
Asano is now 30, but his career for that brush with real fame had been a strange. At the age of 21 he signed for Arsenal and was described by Arsene Wenger as a talented young striker. He met some of his new teammates and posed for photos in the shirt.
But that was time for his Premier League career. ASANO was denied a work permit and spent the following three seasons on loan in Germany before making a permanent switch to Partizan Belgrade. That could have been very good for his career in the big competitions.
Asano had other ideas. “I just concentrated on my football. Where I am, it doesn't matter to me. I just concentrate on what I can do on the field in the next game, at any time. That's why I'm going into the mentality that every experience in my career is a good experience.”
He adds: “Maybe I did not expect that I would enjoy Serbia like I did, but I was in Serbia for two years and I was really happy in Serbia. I enjoyed the lifestyle. It was traditional, but it was new to me. And there were also good teammates, staff and friend there.”
Twenty-one goals in his second season brought him to Bochum and Asano has since been transferred to Mallorca, played in the Spanish Super Cup for them this season and proven an important figure in their impressive Lalisa campaign while having to chase European football.
“It's absolutely different here. I love Bochum, but Mallorca has really nice weather, a good city. It helps me. I really feel that.” Injury has disturbed his first year in the club, but he bounced back with a bang by scoring a spectacular goal against Alaves.
“It wasn't my kind,” he laughs, when he remembered his rocket of a shot. “I couldn't score that way so far, so it was also a surprise for me, but it was good. I hadn't scored for a long time and couldn't help the team because of injury. I now have to score more goals.”
What better place to start than the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium against Real Madrid on Wednesday evening? “I play there for the first time and I'm really looking forward to it.” Asano will even be his mother, brother and sister there in Madrid.
“We have to win,” he holds full. “I think if we play 100 percent and play well, it is possible. We have to go to Europe next season.” Mallorca is in the table ninth, but with the top eight qualification – and eighth placed Rayo Vallecano that still has to come – it is feasible.
It seems unlikely to see what he has achieved against Germany, but perhaps the best memories for Asano are for him. “It's really a great time for me, I also enjoy my football and my life. I am now 30 and another player than when I was young.
“Also in the future I think I will be a new Takuma Asano.” What then? “We have to go to the Europa League with Mallorca and then I will look at the World Cup next year. I have to be there. I always think about that.” Still that the next special moment chases.