Cristiano Ronaldo has scored a lot of goals. 759 of them, to be exact. That’s more than any other active footballer – it’s 24 more than even Lionel Messi.
Of those 759 goals, 163 of them have come from the penalty spot. When Diogo Jota went down in the area against Slovenia on Monday night and after a pretty woeful evening in front of goal, Ronaldo would get the chance to make it 164.
But we all know what happened next. He went right, Jan Oblak followed and the BBC dubbed a new nickname for the five-time Ballon d’Or winner: Misstiano Penaldo. That’s half clever, half spawned from 14-year-olds on the cesspit that is ‘Football Twitter.’
But it got us thinking. What other memorable penalties have there been at the EUROs? Which other spot kicks, for better or worse, have defined players’ tournaments and even careers? Well, let’s just say we’re not called FromTheSpot for no reason, so here are some of the most memorable penalties from European Championships and beyond.
Simone Zaza [v Germany]
Embed from Getty ImagesLet’s start with another rather calamitous fumble. Italy and Germany locked horns in the quarterfinals back in 2016, and after 120 minutes they simply could not be separated. Mesut Özil and Leonardo Bonucci had scored in regular time, but the rest of the game was scoreless. With penalties approaching, Italy boss Antonio Conte rolled the dice by making a very, very late substitution.
In the very last minute of extra time, striker Simone Zaza was introduced for Giorgio Chiellini. Zaza had only ever missed one penalty in his entire career to this point, so he seemed a sure-fire bet to give the Azzurri a decent chance in the shootout.
Lorenzo Insigne took first and scored. Toni Kroos came next and dispatched his too. It was 1-1, as it was after 120 minutes, and up stepped Simone Zaza.
What he did next took everyone by surprise. His run up was long – very long. He tiptoed towards the dead ball almost in slow motion. It took an age for him to take the penalty but once he did, he knew he had to make up for the spectacle he was putting the Stade de Bordeaux through. He definitely did that – but not in the way he might’ve hoped.
Once he hit the ball, it flew and flew and didn’t stop flying until it crashed into the stands. It was miles over the bar, and he trudged back to the halfway line with his tail between his legs. He made a meal of the run up and quite frankly did not finish his dinner.
He’s not taken a penalty since.
Andrea Pirlo [v England]
Embed from Getty ImagesSticking with Italy, but this time a tad more successful, Andrea Pirlo certainly made his abilities known when they took on England in a scoreless draw back in 2012.
It was – to be polite – a quite awful game of football. It was one of those games where penalties would be the only possible saving grace by the time you’d hit the 75th minute.
So, when they did come, it was something of a relief. But England had never won a penalty shootout at a major tournament before. They’d have to do something different.
The man who took up that gauntlet was Joe Hart. When Andrea Pirlo stepped up to take the fourth penalty, the then Manchester City keeper hopped around, waved his hands and did everything he could to put his opponent off. He was confident. Too confident.
Remember, this is Andrea Pirlo we’re talking about. This is a man with veins made of icicles, who gave a new definition to the word ‘nonchalant.’ He wasn’t about to let some dancing mess with his M.O.
So, he stepped up and ran towards the ball. Hart eagerly dived to his right, and then could only watch helplessly as the ball tricked ever-so-delicately over the middle of the line. It was a gorgeous little dink, and it was one which left the keeper wholly embarrassed.
Italy won, England went out on penalties yet again, and Andrea Pirlo was once more the coolest man in the room.
Antonín Panenka [v West Germany]
Embed from Getty ImagesThere’s no point talking about Panenka penalties without talking about the Panenka penalty.
Nobody expected Czechoslovakia to reach the final of the European Championships back in 1976. They were a competent, gritty outfit, and that worked perfectly for western media talking about a country in the shadow of the Iron Curtain.
But they had one individual who didn’t quite fit the stereotype. Antonín Panenka had been having penalty competitions with goalkeeper Zdeněk Hruška every day after training back at club side Bohemians. Most days he would lose – but he soon realised something. Hruška would gamble. He’d dive every time, which meant inevitably he’d save something.
So Panenka decided to put the ball down the middle. Not with power, but rather he’d float it in with a delicate chip. And it worked. A lot.
Come the final of EURO1976, he’d given it a go every now and then in friendlies and club matches, but now he had an opportunity on the biggest stage.
With the score stuck at 2-2, penalties followed. They weren’t even supposed to happen; there was supposed to be a replay. But the German players had holidays booked, so a shootout was the decided outcome in the event of a draw.
This was Panenka’s moment. 2-2 was the penalty scoreline, and with Uli Hoeneß having just blazed his effort over the bar, all he needed to do was score to win the underdogs the ultimate prize.
You know what happened next. Panenka sprinted up to the ball as if he was going to put his everything into the strike – but he didn’t. Instead, he watched keeper Sepp Maier dive to his left before he lifted it over him. The net bulged, Panenka sprinted away in celebration, and Czechoslovakia had reached the promised land in unprecedented circumstances.
Nowadays, when we hear about a Panenka, you might think of Pirlo or Zidane or Benzema. But spare a thought for Antonín, the man who invented a phenomenon and won the EUROs in the process.
Roberto Baggio [v Brazil]
Embed from Getty ImagesAdmittedly, this wasn’t at the EUROs – but we started with a miss, so let’s end on a miss, and what better miss than the ultimate penalty blunder?
Roberto Baggio. The divine ponytail. For his whole career he’d been nothing but revered as one of the most cultured and supremely talented footballers of a generation. To an extent, that’s still true now: but there’s one very big caveat.
Italy had beaten Nigeria, Spain and Bulgaria on their way to the final of the World Cup in 1994. It was the ultimate spectacle: Brazil, gunning for an unheard-of fourth title, and Italy after their third. With a packed Rose Bowl the venue, this was always going to be a classic.
But it wasn’t a classic. It was a 0-0 draw, and penalties would decide who would win the World Cup for the first time in history.
Brazil led 3-2, and up stepped Baggio. He had to score to keep Italy in it, and who better to take a crucial spot kick? At this point in his career, he’d scored 66 times from the spot, missing only eight. He was as sure a bet as anyone.
But then the unthinkable happened. He ran up to the ball, leant back, and watched it sail over the bar, taking Italy’s World Cup dream with it. Brazil leapt into celebration; Baggio stood, hands on hips, staring expressionless down at the ground.
He says it still haunts him to this day. He scored 101 penalties in his career, but the one he’s remembered for is the one he’s so desperate to forget.
You can keep up with all the rest of the penalty drama at EURO2024 right here at FromTheSpot.