SIMON SAYS REVISION IS KEY TO PASSING HIS PENALTY EXAMS

PENALTY shoot-outs are like exams, according to Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon. He who revises, fares better, and unlike your maths A-Level you can take a cheat sheet into the test. England take note.

Simon speaks from a position of authority, having saved two Swiss spot-kicks in Spain’s Euro 2020 quarter-final victory last summer and one in their semifinal defeat to Italy.

The Athletic Bilbao star says: ‘I study penalties not just to know where they usually kick, but to know how.’

The logic is that if a kicker looks only at the ball, it is probably best to dive early. Whereas a player who looks at the goalkeeper will see which way you are diving and adjust their kick, so it is best to delay the dive as long as possible. ‘Before I studied penalties, says Simon, ‘I was never sure when to commit, when to dive, and I would dive late. Now at least knowing the penalty style I know when I have to dive.’

Simon believes that deciding in advance which side to dive to, while no guarantee of success, does steady a goalkeeper’s nerves before a penalty. ‘Before the kick I know I’m diving to the right and that gives me confidence,’ he says. ‘I know that if he takes the kick to that side, I will save it. If he doesn’t put it that side, OK, I did all I could do.

‘I get far more annoyed with myself if I guess right but don’t reach the ball.

‘I remember against Italy I was facing Andrea Belotti. I knew he hit it very hard and to which side and I dived early and even then I didn’t get there.’

Simon says no one escapes the pre-match research. ‘Against Switzerland and Italy we had information on all the players,’ he says. ‘With Switzerland we even had info on the goalkeeper Yann Sommer in case he had to take a penalty.’ The research is extensive and there are two very good reasons for writing it all down. Simon tells us that if we give him a list of takers now, he would memorise it in half and hour, but after 120 minutes of football it has to be written down.

And then there is the essential element of bluff. Unai says: ‘The act of looking at my piece of paper makes the player a little nervous, and the piece of paper could be blank. I’ve spoken to forwards who say, “When I see the goalkeeper looking at his cheat sheet he knows where I’m going to put the penalty”.’ Maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t — it is all part of the game, which, by the way, Simon would change if he could. ‘I would prefer one-on-ones,’ he says. ‘In youth football we did that. The forward had eight seconds to score with five touches. I would prefer almost any other situation but the rule is penalties so we have to work hard at it — and study!’