Antonín Panenka once hailed Messi’s ’Panenka’ penalty for Barcelona against Getafe in April 2015 as the best he has seen. In my case, I practised it for one or two years before [the 1976 Euro final in] Belgrade. Maybe it’s coincidence, but they also have the best penalty shootout record in world football. Was Panenka surprised to hear that Czech football was apparently riddled with corruption? He doesn’t sound very certain, I would say... .”Panenka went on: “But there was a big difference in my time.

Source: The Irish Times March 26, 2026 18:00 UTC