Is there a right time for a Panenka - as Brentford pay the price?

The article traces the Panenka to Antonin Panenka's chipped penalty that won the 1976 European Championship for Czechoslovakia against West Germany, noting Panenka had used the technique for Bohemians a month earlier.

“It is a moment Brentford's Dango Ouattara will want to forget”

BBC

Commentators such as Lee Trundle described the Panenka as "just another way to score a penalty" and discussed the psychological factors behind choosing it.

BBC

Statistics cited in the piece show 84% of penalties down the middle have scored at World Cups (since 1966) and the Euros (since 1980), compared with 78% left and 74% right.

The article lists high-profile successful Panenkas by Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry, Francesco Totti and Zinedine Zidane, whose 2006 World Cup final penalty hit the underside of the crossbar and crossed the line.

It also highlights turning moments such as Andrea Pirlo's Panenka against Joe Hart in Euro 2012 and Fabinho's dink in the 2022 EFL Cup shootout.

The piece records notable failures, including Gary Lineker in 1992, Sergio Aguero in May 2021 when Edouard Mendy saved, and Brahim Diaz in January when his stoppage-time Panenka was saved and Senegal won the Africa Cup of Nations.