shootout. Juventus keeper Angelo Peruzzi recalled: “Before the final I was given a video of Ajax’s penalties against Grêmio in the Intercontinental Cup final. In that match the De Boer twins, Patrick Kluivert and Danny Blind shot. None of them took a penalty in Rome. That’s why in the end I went with instinct.” Peruzzi’s instinct served him well: he saved twice as Juventus won the shootout 4-2. It was harsh on Ajax keeper Van der Sar, who guessed the right way every time, but didn’t make a save.

4. The spot-kick

Incredibly, many players say they have no recollection of the moment they actually strike the ball. John Terry remembers nothing of his fateful slip in 2008. He can recall walking to the spot, stamping down the turf where he would put his left foot and focusing on the moment he would smash the ball beyond Van der Sar, then nothing – only horror at seeing the ball rebound off the post, no memory of the moment, of how or why he slipped on the soaked turf. Sigmund Freud suggested the mind can block out bad memories, yet even players who score often remember little about the moment they struck the ball. Oliver Kahn, who saved three spot-kicks for FC Bayern München in 2001, said: “I’m not sure how I did it. Since I was five, I more or less just jump into my favourite corner every time.” Right was usually his favourite, but he dived to his left to make his second save. Maybe the peak of anxiety and the surge of emotion immediately before and after the moment drowns out the memory.

5. The aftermath

and left him stranded. For any keeper, a bent knee is the point of no return.” So, wait for the keeper to make his move, or devise a strategy and stick to it? Basque economist Ignacio Palacios-Huerta sent a study of Manchester United’s penalty takers to Avram Grant ahead of the 2008 UEFA Champions League final. He identified that Edwin van der Sar nearly always dived to the penalty taker’s natural side – so all of Chelsea’s right-footed players should shoot to the United keeper’s left. Whether following his advice or not, Chelsea’s first six takers all went to his left. Ashley Cole, the only left-footed player, also went left, as did Van der Sar to no avail. After the sixth spot-kick, the Dutchman thought he’d figured out Chelsea’s strategy: they had all been told to hit the ball to his

left. So, as Anelka stepped up to take the seventh, Van der Sar pointed with a knowing smile to the left-hand corner. Anelka faced a dilemma: aim to the keeper’s left as planned, or surprise him and shoot to his right. Van der Sar usually dived to his right against a right-footed player – as he did on this occasion – and that was exactly where Anelka placed the ball. Had the Chelsea striker stuck to the plan, he’d have succeeded, but he had no way of knowing that. At moments such as these, something called game theory comes into play: the study of how people interact with another in various situations and how that influences their actions. Research doesn’t always help. In 1996, with the score at 1-1 after 120 minutes, Juventus and AFC Ajax prepared for the

After his miss, Terry apologised in an open letter on the Chelsea website: “I have only slept a few hours and wake up every time hoping it’s all been a bad dream. That night in Moscow will haunt me forever.” If takers are haunted by their misses, keepers are lionised for their saves. Like FC Steaua Bucuresti’s Helmut Duckadam in 1986. Dubbed ‘the hero of Seville’, he was the first keeper to save four consecutive spot-kicks in a major European competition as the Romanians beat FC Barcelona. Sadly, Duckadam’s luck deserted him.

He retired with a rare vascular disease in his right arm and had to sell his winner’s medal. Yet he insists he would not swap his heroics in Seville for anything in the world: “To experience such emotion I would be ready to lose everything else all over again. Other people dream of fortunes, money, big houses, cars. But the memory of those penalties will always be my fortune – and because of this I am the lucky man.”

Guillem Balagué is a football correspondent

for AS, broadcaster with Revista de la Liga

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