A Panenka penalty requires plenty of skill, composure and, most importantly, b*llocks – as the likes of Andrea Pirlo, Francesco Totti and Sergio Aguero have all found out to varying degrees of success.
On June 20, 1976, Antonin Panenka gently chipped the ball into the back of the net to score the decisive spot-kick as Czechoslovakia beat West Germany in the European Championship final.
And we’re looking back at some of the best and worst attempts at recreating the penalty, which can make a player look effortlessly cool or hilariously foolish.
Antonin Panenka v West Germany
The original, the ultimate, the greatest, Panenka had been working on this technique for a while – but it still took balls to try it when presented with the chance to win Euro 76 for Czechoslovakia, in the first ever penalty shootout in a European Championship final.
Panenka told UEFA’s website: “After each training session I used to stay behind after a game with our goalkeeper and take penalties – we would play for a bar of chocolate or a glass of beer.
“Since he was a very good goalkeeper it became an expensive proposition for me. So, sometimes before going to sleep I tried to think of ways of getting the better of him, to recoup my losses.
“I got the idea that if I delayed the kick and just lightly chipped it, a goalkeeper who dived to the corner of the goal could not jump back up into the air, and this became the basis of my philosophy.
“I started slowly to test it and apply it in practice. As a side effect I started to gain weight, because I was winning the bets.
“I started to use it in friendlies, in minor leagues, and eventually I perfected it so I used it in the main league as well. The culmination was when I used it at the European Championship.”
41 years ago today, Antonin Panenka created a football legacy. pic.twitter.com/P9lDsXwnYb
— Planet Football (@planetfutebol) June 20, 2017
Zinedine Zidane v Italy
Probably the second most famous Panenka of all…
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