The goalie’s anxiety at the penalty kick

Perhaps the only consolation for David de Gea during the penalty shootout that decided the Europa League in Villarreal’s favour was that the Manchester United goalkeeper did not have to walk all the way from the centre-line of the football field to the spot in the box. Don’t underestimate the harrowing effect of the penalty walk. Ask the great Italian midfielder Andrea Pirlo – who won and lost major finals on penalties and had this to say in his memoir about the walk: “It’s barely 50 metres, but it’s a truly terrible journey, right through the heart of your fear. The comparison with the dead man walking is exaggerated, but it does get the idea across.”

De Gea’s walk was shorter, exactly 12 yards, or the distance between the goal-line and the penalty-spot, but as he made that walk, he still had to pass his counterpart from Villarreal in Geronimo Rulli, who had just a moment ago slotted one past de Gea to make it 21 consecutive penalty strikes in a row – a finals record in Europe.

The 30-year-old, Man United’s second-choice goalie this season, had witnessed Villarreal’s entire playing eleven shoot past him in the space of minutes and now he had to do the same against Rulli to complete the unprecedented set of all 22 players on the pitch scoring during penalties in a match of such consequence (and in turn restarting the whole shootout process, albeit in the ongoing, sudden-death format).

Spare a thought here for the Argentine Rulli as well, who, incidentally, has also been kept on the bench by Villareal’s first-choice goalie Sergio Asenjo for almost the entirety of the 2020-21 La Liga season. But Unai Emery is known to be a player’s manager for a reason. Because Rulli had stood between the sticks for almost all of Villarreal’s Europa League fixtures (including in the semifinals against Emery’s former club Arsenal), the manager picked him for Villarreal’s first ever European final. It was sink or swim time for Rulli, but he does after all play for a team known as the Yellow Submarines.

For each of the first six penalties – taken by Villarreal’s Gerard Moreno, Daniel Raba and Paco Alcacer and United’s Juan Mata, Alex Telles and Bruno Fernandes respectively and in that order – the shooter chose to go to his left, or the goalie’s right. Only Rulli managed to get more than a fingertip on any of the shots when he nearly stopped Fernandes (captain on the night in Harry Maguire’s absence), but the ball squirted under him anyway.

Yet by the time it was down to the two goalies at 10-10, the Villarreal stopper was brimming with a whole lot of confidence, after having nearly blocked Luke Shaw’s attempt as well (this was at 8-7). There is no denying that he took that courage to the spot and lashed the ball against the preferred direction of the night – which is to his right. The left-bound de Gea stood no chance.

Absolutely no one in their right minds will blame De Gea for all that went down on Wednesday night; but one can bet that Gdansk will be largely remembered for him. That’s just how penalty shootouts work – they skew the very nature of the sport: from 11-versus-11 to, in the case of Gdansk, 11-versus-1. Tennis and cricket have their versions of end-game punishments too; but tiebreaks and super-overs don’t alter the essence of the sport.

So, there de Gea was, facing his Villarreal equivalent for the second time in a few seconds, but now from the other direction. He stuttered halfway through his run-up and chose the same direction that Rulli did. This kick was goal-bound too but lacked both power and elevation, so Rulli easily swatted it away. Rulli could climb up to his knees only for a few seconds, for he was soon to be hacked down by the weight of an entire team that had charged in unison from the centre-line. Villarreal were now European champions, thanks to not just to their second-choice goalie’s hands, but also his foot.