Who is responsible for the greatest penalty ever scored in football history? There are many contenders for that particular accolade.
One that immediately springs to mind is Zinedine Zidane’s remarkable Panenka in the 2006 World Cup final. Having the audacity to produce a chip in football’s biggest match, against arguably the world’s best goalkeeper at the time in Gianluigi Buffon, took absolute balls of steel.
Zidane’s shot only just crossed the line, but the most important thing is it *did* cross the line. Unfortunately, Zidane’s moment of magic from 12 yards was completely overshadowed by his headbutt on Marco Materazzi, resulting in football’s most infamous red card.
Other great penalties that we’ve previously looked at here at GIVEMESPORT include Joe Hart’s spot-kick for Man City vs AS Roma in 2015, Aritz Aduriz’s audacious penalty for Athletic Bilbao in 2018, and Virgil van Dijk’s ice-cold strike against Chelsea in last season’s Carabao Cup final.