UCL: Interesting Pattern in Arsenal, Atletico Shootout Wins Suggests How to Take Perfect Penalty

• Arsenal and Atletico Madrid advanced to the Champions League quarters through penalties
• It would have been a different case if their respective opponents were clinical from 12 yards
• An expert has now broken down how to increase the chances of scoring a decisive spot-kick

There is a cliché in football about penalty shootouts which claims it all boils down to luck.

While this is true to some degree, a team can actually improve their chances of beating their opponents via penalties.

This week, the Champions League witnessed two penalty shootouts as Arsenal overcame FC Porto 4-2, while Atletico Madrid beat runaway Serie A league leaders 3-2 Inter to advance to the last eight.

On both occasions, the shootout boiled down to some FC Porto and Inter players taking wayward spot kicks, ultimately costing their respective teams.

7 Chelsea stars who could be sold as club seeks to avoid breaching financial rules

Football

Notably these were the first shootouts in the Champions League knockout stage since 2016.

The common pattern

After Arsenal and Atletico Madrid triumphed via penalties, experts have since established a very familiar pattern in shootouts.

According to journalist Michael Cox, the longer a player takes to strike the ball the time the referee blows the whistle, the higher the chances of converting the penalty.

This theory is perfectly summed up in Ben Lyttleton's book Twelve Yards, which Cox referenced and used Arsenal and Atletico Madrid as examples.

For Los Colchineros, two of their penalty takers, Hakan Calhanoglu and Memphis Depay waited roughly 7.5 and 7 seconds before taking their spot kicks and ended up scoring.

Angel Correa also had a six-second wait before firing in an unstoppable penalty.

In contrast, three of the four penalties that had the shortest time between the referee’s whistle and when the ball was struck were saved.

Victor Osimhen: World's best players who take poor penalties as Napoli star misses again

Football

Inter’s Lautaro Martinez hit the ball 2.8 seconds after the whistle and ended up blasting over the bar. Alexis Sanchez’s tame effort which was easily saved by Jan Oblak was struck after 4.0 seconds.

From Cox’s analysis, the sweet spot for hitting a perfect penalty was between seven and 10 seconds, with any penalty taken less than five seconds after the whistle at risk of getting saved.

Griezmann appears to insult Alexis Sanchez

Sports Brief also reported on an incident where Antoine Griezmann appeared to insult Alexis Sanchez.

Cameras caught Griezmann muttering some words immediately Sanchez had his spot kick saved by Jan Oblak.