Best Penalty Shoot-outs in History

Surely everyone can remember a few games, when the winner was decided after the extra-time with penalties. At that moment it doesn’t matter who is playing and which stars shoot the penalties as anyone can miss them, even the biggest footballers. In the best penalty shoot-outs in history we find some really memorable moments from World Cups to Champions League games. 

Penalty shoot-outs are the most exciting parts of football, even people with less interest for the game are watching them. It’s the ultimate hurdle to tackle, with players under lots of pressure to score. Not everyone can handle this stress, we can find the biggest names within players who missed them on important occasions. England are legendary bad at the shoot-outs, but Italy and France have also lost a world cup final in the penalties. 

5. 1994 World Cup final

In the 1994 World Cup Brazil and Italy, two big football powers and former world champions played against each other. It was a disappointing game with no goals in the normal and extra time. So for the first time in history, a World Cup final went into penalties. The Brazil players kept their cool even though the first shooter, Marcio Santos missed his penalty. All the following players managed to score. After three Italian players including Roberto Baggio missed theirs, Brazil won the duel 3-2 at the end. It also meant they won their fourth world cup titles after 24 years. In 1970 they also defeated Italy in the final, 4-1 where Pele was still a member of the team. 

4. First English defeat

In the 1990 World Cup semi-final West Germany played against England. The English team had some luck in earlier games. Like scoring the winner against Belgium in the 119th minute. And receiving two penalties in the game against Cameroon. But in the semi-final, they had to come back from 0-1, which they did thank to the goal of Gary Lineker. In the extra time both teams had chances but neither of them could score. So it went to penalties, where everything went well for England until the 4th player. But then Stuart Pearce missed it. Chris Waddle did the same so England was out and finished in 4th place. Online sportsbooks in the UK are hoping for a better result in next year’s European Championship, where England is in the favorites at 1xBet Sportsbook. 

3. 2005 Champions League final

We could see an exciting penalty shoot-out in the 2005 Champions League final as well, being the cherry on a cake at the end. In the 120 minutes preceding the penalties, fans could witness an amazing comeback from Liverpool who were 3-0 down against AC Milan at halftime. The Italian team was the favorite before the game and played according to the expectations. They got the lead in the first minute thanks to team captain Paolo Maldini’s header, then Hernan Crespo scored twice at the end of the first 45 minutes. But the Reds with the lead of Steven Gerrard who scored the first English goal and won a penalty for the team. By the 60th minute they managed to equalize and hold on to this result in the remaining time and in the extra time. 

In one of the best penalty shoot-out in history, Milan had a bad start with missing their first two penalties, while Liverpool scored theirs. Then their third shooter, Riise missed it, while Milan managed to score the next two, equaling the result to 2-2. Before their last shooter, Andriy Shevcenko Liverpool was leading again, so he had to score unless they were out. But the Ukrainian forward’s shot was saved by Liverpool goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek so they won the game. Though Liverpool are out of this year’s Champions League, they are the big favorites to win the Premier League by online gambling sites in the UK. 

2. The most famous penalty 

In the final of the 1976 European Championship, Czechoslovakia met West Germany. The Eastern Europeans were leading 2-0 but of course the German team came back and equalized. But they couldn’t overturn the game so for the first time in the history of the European Championship finals the teams were heading to penalties. To everyone’s surprise the Czech players handled the pressure better and scored all their penalties. The German players were doing great as well until the fourth shooter, Uli Hoenes who shot over the bar. The last  crucial Czech penalty was shot by Antonin Panenka, with a move no one has produced before. While the German goalkeeper moved to his left, Panenka chipped the ball into the middle of the net. Czechoslovakia won the tournament for the first time. The way Panenka shot was named after him and still used by the best players during penalties. 

1. Penalties in the 2006 World Cup final

The second World Cup final which was decided by a penalty shoot-out was a much more exciting game. France met Italy in the 2006 World Cup final in Berlin. The two teams had a long rivalry going on. This game was a rematch of the 2000 European Championship final where France defeated Italy. The final was also the last game of Ballon d’Or winner French footballer, Zinedine Zidane who had a key role during the match. First Zizu scored a penalty for France in the 7th minute with a Panenka, demonstrating his superb skills.  But Italian defender Marco Materazzi soon equalized for the Azzurri, with a header after Andrea Pirlo’s corner. 

There was no more goal in the 90 minutes, so the team went to extra time. The two goal scorers became the main participants in the 110th minute when Zidane headbutted Materazzi after he was provoking him. The French captain received a red card and couldn’t even watch his teammates during the penalties. All Italian players scored their penalties, while David Trezeguet missed his, which meant Italy won 5-3 and became the world champion for the 4th time. In the next 2022 World Cup in Qatar France is in the favorites to win the tournament with the odds of 6.50. While Italy has the odds of only 15.00 to win at 1xBet Sportsbook. 

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