Alireza Beiranvand’s story: Belgium’s tormentor once slept on streets, washed cars | Football News
5 min readNew YorkJun 22, 2026 07:13 AM IST Belgium’s forwards would hit the bed spooked by the two giant gloved fists of Alireza Beiranvand, the Iran goalkeeper. It was as though his fists were made of elastic, stretchable, bendable, and for his team, reliable. The wonder writ profoundly over Kevin de Bruyne’s face when he saved a hammered shot from Maxim De Cuyper from close range captured the wondrous flexibility of his limbs. When de Cuyper took the shot, from a deflection that fell at his feet, he was slipping in the opposite direction, the momentum from an anticipated shot before the ball’s reroute. But Alireza somehow contrived to stretch his left-hand and palm the ball away from danger, his upper body barely in the air, pushing to the left and towards the ball, while the lower body was being dragged to his right. If he were not a footballer, he would have been a gymnast perhaps, despite the build of a basket-baller, tall with long and sinewy limbs. The odds are that he …
