Andrea Pirlo’s headline-making chipped penalty was one which stays in your memory for its class, technique and audacity.
But there must be someone who managed to score like that before the Pirlos and Zidanes were around.
Antonin Panenka’s attempt in the Euro 76 final between Czech Republic and West Germany set the benchmark for what Pirlo executed against England last night.
Pirlo is having a brilliant tournament. Reuters
After the feat, Pirlo said: “I saw that the goalkeeper was really hyped and I thought I’d do it like that, it was easier to take it like that. It created a bit of pressure on the keeper.”
There have been many others who have successfully done it in high pressure situations and there are many who tried doing it but embarrassed themselves a bit— Pirlo also being one of those after a Barcelona keeper Jose Pinto remained in his position in a friendly against AC Milan.
Here is a list of some of those players brave enough to try chipping the goalkeeper in international tournaments (there are quite a few instances in club football too).
Zinedine Zidane vs Italy in WC2006: Zizou the genius made Gigi Buffon look like an amateur when he chipped him in the World Cup final. Yes, only Zidane can do that at a final. But his calm head eventually launched itself into Marco Materazzi’s chest, which meant he could not participate in the shootout which France lost.
Sebastien Abreu: He has done it a couple of times at the highest level. His latest one was against Ghana in WC2010. The best part about his take was that he seemed to have actually scooped it into the net.
Francesco Totti vs Netherlands in Euro 2000: He famously missed one for his club against Lecce, but when it came to beating Edwin Van der Sar, Totti made no mistakes.
Artem Milevskiy vs Switzerland in WC2006: This was Ukraine’s best ever run in an international tournament and the Milevskiy penalty probably one of the most memorable moments. The player calmly tucked past Pascal Zuberbuhler, who had not conceded in the whole tournament.
Andrea Pirlo vs England in Euro 2012: Pirlo’s spot-kick came out of the blue (pun intended) to show England who was the better side. Well, that is what Pirlo thought it would and it worked. The English lost the shootout and Italy are in the Euro 2012 semis.
