FAMOUS QUOTES

"They (penalties) are to sport what Love Island is to Romeo and Juliet." 22

Simon Jenkins
Writing in The Guardian

"When you go into extra time, we're talking about drama.
But when we reach the penalty shootout, it's a tragedy." 23

Joseph S. Blatter
Former FIFA President

"A football match should be decided by an action of play.
Not some contrived process whose end result is to mark a fine player such as Bossis,
Baresi or Baggio for the rest of his career." 6

Michel Platini
Former French Player

"You know players miss penalties all the time, but you still feel guilty.
I would rather we lost in extra-time.
I've never taken another penalty since then." 8

Maxime Bossis
Former French Player

"At a certain point it gets too much.
You are forty-five but people still see you as missing the penalty.
I had difficulty finding a job because they said, 'That one is unstable.'
And all that has come from this missed penalty kick." 8

Didier Six
Former French Player

"It affected me for years.
It is the worst moment of my career. I still dream about it.
If I could erase a moment, it would be that one." 7

Roberto Baggio
Former Italian Player

"My heart shrank to nothing and I was psychologically destroyed." 8

Bruno Conti
Former A.S. Roma Player

"It is loading a bullet into the chamber of a gun and asking everyone to pull the trigger.
Someone will get the bullet, you know that. And it will reduce them to nothing." 6

Christian Karembeu
Former French Player

"So far, penalty shootouts have been used.
When or if someone clever comes up with something more interesting,
something the players will find more alluring or psychologically more demanding,
perhaps we can change the current system." 24

Antonin Panenka
Former Czechoslovakian Player

"It (NASL shootout) makes the game more emotional." 11

Carlos Alberto
Former Brazilian Player

"I thought it (NASL shootout) was fantastic!
I still think in Europe they should try it." 11

Johan Cruyff
Former Dutch Player

"They (FIFA) wanted to whip America into line with the rest of the world.
(The NASL shootout is) unbelievably exciting.
Can you imagine Lionel Messi against Tim Howard, or something like that?
It would be unbelievable to see that, fantastic.
FIFA's extremely reluctant to change and it's crazy." 13

Winston DuBose
Former USA Goalkeeper

"I don't think you can give anyone advice for penalty shootouts." 8

Gianluigi Buffon
Former Italian Goalkeeper

"Penalty kicks don't necessarily mean the best team came out on top." 25

Claudio Taffarel
Former Brazil Goalkeeper

"The main factor in a penalty shootout is luck again.
You need to stay calm and focussed, but the biggest thing you need is luck." 26

Peter Shilton
Former England Goalkeeper

"It is neither fair nor right to decide a match on penalties." 27

Miguel Munoz
Former Manager of Spain

"Penalty shooting is always an uncertain affair because there is a lot of luck involved." 28

Franz Beckenbauer
Former Manager of West Germany

"Everyone knows it's unfair to have games decided by a penalty shootout." 25

Gerardo Martino
Former Manager of Paraguay

"We ought not be subjecting people to this kind of pressure.
Penalties put too much strain on one player.
It could ruin his career if he's not a strong character.
If you feel for the rest of your life that everyone
could of had a winners' medal but for you,
it's a hard thing to get over." 6

Terry Venables
Former Manager of England

"Penalty shootouts have nothing to do with football.
It's like shooting poor wee ducks at a fairground." 6

Alex Smith
Former Manager of Aberdeen

"We realised we could not really beat Marseille unless they made a mistake,
so I told my players to be patient and to wait for penalties.
We practiced penalties a lot in our closed training session on Tuesday and it paid off." 29

Ljupko Petrovic
Former Manager of Red Star Belgrade

"We can walk away with our heads held high.
I don't have a reason (to resign), we only lost a game on penalties." 30

Roberto Donadoni
Former Manager of Italy

"The penalties are always a lottery." 31

Luiz Felipe Scolari
Former Manager of Portugal

"Every manager would like to see a match decided in 90 minutes.
Because I don't think there's any way you can prepare for penalty kicks." 25

Joachim Loew
Manager of Germany

"One does not remember the winners.
One remains haunted by the losers." 9

A.S. Byatt
Writing in The Observer

"Penalties are not football.
They are not even as television people keep telling us, great drama.
They are cheap melodrama." 6

Simon Barnes
Writing in The Times

"If they have a better solution, let them tell me." 8

Yosef Dagan
Former Israeli Football Administrator

"I am happy that we have penalties now, of course.
Everyone is enthusiastic and no one is against it." 32

Karl Wald
Former German Referee

"So the 15th World Cup was over,
the championship decided in favor of Brazil by penalty kicks,
which was the equivalent of taking Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson
off the Augusta National after 72 even holes and ordering them to
settle The Masters at the Putt-Putt miniature golf course." 33

Ian Thomsen
Writing in The New York Times

"We don't consider we lost on football but to a circus turn." 6

Jock Stein
Former Celtic Manager

"I do not want any match to go to penalty kicks.
It makes no sense to play 120 minutes of football and then to decide a winner in such a manner." 6

Enzo Bearzot
Former Manager of Italy

"I did not volunteer to take the penalty. Nobody does.
It is roulette, but you have to accept that before you step up to take the penalty." 6

Clarence Seedorf
Former Dutch Player

"Of course coaches like shootouts because they can say that defeat was not their fault.
But the people who run the game should take the long-term view." 6

Michel Platini
Former UEFA President

"Penalties are awful, unfair, but what else is there?" 6

Laurent Blanc
Former French Player


"The main factor in a penalty shootout is luck again.
You need to stay calm and focussed, but the biggest thing you need is luck."

Peter Shilton
Former England Goalkeeper