The Panenka, when done properly, much like the chip and the first time volley, is one of the finest sights in football.
Andrea Pirlo’s masterpiece at last years European Championships, for example, was one of the best footballing moments of the year; a moment of brilliance and poise. Pirlo’s penalty in particular had just the right speed on it to make Joe Hart stop in his tracks but then helplessly watch the ball float calmly over the line. Class.
At the other of the spectrum, however, when you get a player gets a Panenka wrong then it is probably one of the funniest and humiliating sights in football.
It is a tough skill to pull off and you need bags of confidence just to even think about doing it, which makes Pirlo’s one of the best because of the situation: quarter-finals penalty shootout at a major international tournament.
Here a some of the worst, though, and if you fancy a chuckle take a look at how badly wrong this so called ‘professionals’ (that’s including you Cristiano Ronaldo) get their Panenkas.
The best one for me has to be first as the keeper has time to dive to his right, get up and still manage to save the penalty.