Joe Hart taking a penalty like a goal kick in a shootout vs Roma will always be iconic

As anyone who has played football will know, taking a penalty kick is anything but easy.

To the naked eye, it looks as if it should be simple. Firing the ball past just one man stationed in a goal that’s eight yards wide from just 12 yards away? Easy peasy when you put it like that.

But it really isn’t, as any professional footballer will testify to – including greats like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

That’s why many try and be inventive to get the edge over the goalkeeper, an example being the Panenka skill move, which has become commonplace in recent years.

However, sometimes it is best to just smash the ball as hard as possible with the required amount of accuracy.

One of the best showings of that very tactic came not from a world-class striker, but from goalkeeper Joe Hart.

Back in 2015 during Manchester City‘s pre-season tour, the former England number one stepped up in a shootout against AS Roma and took a magnificent penalty.

It was more like a goal kick from the spot and Hart’s opposing number had no chance whatsoever of getting anywhere near the ball.

Check out the penalty in the video clip below…

What. A. Penalty.

There could have been three goalkeepers on the line attempting to block the effort and all of them would have failed to lay a glove on it.

After smashing the ball into the back of the net with his hammer of a right peg, Hart secured a shootout victory for City by saving spot kicks from Seydou Doumbia and Seydou Keita.

A pretty decent night’s work all told, eh?

Hart’s heroics booked City’s place in the final of the 2015 International Champions Cup in Australia, although they failed to get their hands on the trophy.

Real Madrid thrashed them 4-1 in the final, with Karim Benzema and Ronaldo both