The first leg of the Champions League semifinal between Manchester City and Real Madrid was a pulsating clash which ended up with City claiming a 4-3 victory to put them a step closer to a second consecutive appearance in the tournament's final. Led by outstanding performances from Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden, and Gabriel Jesus, City are now arguably the favourites to win the Champions League for the first time in the club's history.
However, the moment which set the football world ablaze during this match did not come from a City player; it was Real's Karim Benzema who more or less "broke the Internet". Late in the match, City defender Aymeric Laporte appeared to have committed a handball inside the penalty area with his team ahead 4-2. Referee István Kovács ruled in Real's favour, giving Los Merengues an opportunity to reduce the deficit heading into the second leg.
Benzema stepped forward to take the penalty kick and scored Real's third goal and his second of the match with a Panenka that left City goalkeeper Ederson with no chance at all. Given the technical skill required to pull off a successful Panenka as well as its extreme rarity and the message it sends to the opposing team, it should come as no surprise that within minutes, Benzema's goal had gone viral on social media the world over.
What truly makes a Panenka special is not merely its complexity. The true power of a Panenka rests in the psychological swing it wields. A converted Panenka is perhaps the ultimate form of trash talk: it clearly sends the message "I don't respect you one bit" while at the same time adding to the team's tally. Some matches that have hung in the balance have sometimes been tipped by a Panenka, while in others, a Panenka sparked a furious surge that led to an unlikely comeback.
Of course, the most legendary Panenka of them all was the original; it was scored by the player for whom this iconic technique would be named. The final of the 1976 European Championship between Czechoslovakia and West Germany came down to a penalty shootout. After West Germany's Uli Hoeneß missed his penalty, Antonín Panenka had the chance to win the tournament for Czechoslovakia. Using a technique which had never been seen up to that point, Panenka faked out West German goalkeeper Sepp Maier, then deftly chipped the ball down the middle to clinch the title.
Since then, countless penalty-takers have attempted this most daring of penalty techniques - some, of course, have experienced better results than have others. The likes of Zinedine Zidane, Andrea Pirlo, and Alexis Sánchez have all converted Panenkas under some of the most pressure-filled situations imaginable. Sánchez's was especially notable because just like Panenka's original, it was the winning penalty in the shootout of a continental tournament final. The Chilean's Panenka sealed a 4-1 shootout victory over arch-rivals Argentina in the 2015 Copa América final and in doing so, sealed his place in the region's football lore.
On the other hand, however, there have been countless instances when a Panenka did not go according to plan - often in humiliating ways. In 1992, Gary Lineker attempted a Panenka when playing for England against Brazil. A goal would have seen Lineker equal Bobby Charlton as England's all-time leading goalscorer. However, Lineker completely botched the execution; the penalty was easily saved.
More recently, former City striker Sergio Agüero missed a Panenka in a 2021 Premier League match against Chelsea. This penalty miss would go on to have far-reaching effects as the Chelsea players soon realized how little the City players thought of them. Thus, when the two teams had a rematch a few weeks later (this time in the Champions League final), Chelsea came out on top - they were almost certainly spurred on by the chip on their shoulder that Agüero's Panenka attempt gave them.
It may be a cliché, but it's true - the split-second before a Panenka attempt is one of the instances in football when it feels as though time is frozen. An iconic moment is almost certainly about to happen. The only question is if it will be iconic in a positive or negative way.
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