The image will no doubt be playing on a loop in Brahim Diaz’s head for a good while, like all those players who missed the inevitable at the worst time.
Sunday evening, the Moroccan striker from Real Madrid attempted – and completely missed – a panenka (a lobbed penalty, from a dive ball) at the last second of the CAN final against Senegal. A gesture which, attempted in this type of match, automatically makes you part of the legend, good or bad. Let Diaz rest assured: before him, others have tried it.
L’originale: Antonín Panenka
The first of all, the one who gave her name to the others. Final of the 1976 European Championship in Belgrade, between Czechoslovakia and West Germany (another era…). After Uli Hoeness’s miss for the Germans, Antonin Panenka rushes for the ultimate shot on goal, which can offer the coronation to the Czechoslovaks.
In front of the legendary Sepp Maier, Panenka rushes… And steals his ball! Never seen before. A gesture so revolutionary that Panenka gave it his name, eleven years before Rabah Madjer and his backheel which remained in the annals.
The Moroccan: Ilies Belmokhtar
Same jersey, same competition, same challenge, but not the same level: just a few months before Brahim Diaz, on April 19, 2025, the young AS Monaco player Ilies Belmokhtar offered the U17 CAN to Morocco by concluding the penalty shootout with a panenka, against Mali.
Among the Moroccan panenka, but not in the final, we can also recall that of Achraf Hakimi, during the 2022 World Cup, at the end of the penalty shootout in the 1/8 final against Spain.
The legendary: Zinedine Zidane
It takes courage to send a gesture like that into the World Cup final. But on July 9, 2006, for what would be the last match of his career against 75,550 people in Berlin, Zinedine Zidane decided to take the one he had in stock with both hands.
In the 7th minute, against Gianluigi Buffon, one of the greatest goalkeepers in history, the gesture is so pure that he hits the bar twice, first enters the goal then leaves. Without doubt the most beautiful Doll of football history.
The glorious one: Alexis Sánchez
Like Antonin Panenka, it was on the decisive shot on goal in a thrilling session that Alexis Sánchez decided to draw a panenka in the final of the Copa America 2015. Small element of additional pressure: it was a question of offering Chile, against the Argentine ogre, its very first continental title, during the competition organized at home.
The gesture is not extravagant: a very small dive which slowly dies in the back of the net. But it is successful, and that is the main thing: Alexis Sánchez can exult, and with him an entire nation.
The unusual: Mickaël Landreau
Eyes bigger than his stomach, Mickaël Landreau? In the final of the 2004 League Cup with FC Nantes, the goalkeeper could have been a hero: after two saved shots on goal, he presented himself as the 7th Nantes shooter and had the match ball at the end of his foot. But facing Teddy Richert, he tries the unthinkable: a Dolleasily captured by his colleague.
Cruel, history will make him regret this gesture: the following shot on goal is achieved by Pedretti on the Sochaux side, while Pascal Belhommeau misses his attempt for Nantes. Sochaux is sacred… and Landreau can take a beating.
Youthful mistake: Neymar
Before becoming one of the world’s leading figures in the sport, Neymar was also a young will-o’-the-wisp, as crazy as his crest. In the first leg of the 2010 Brazilian Cup final, the Brazilian prodigy gets a penalty and wants to take justice into his own hands… But his Doll do not deceive the opposing goalkeeper.
Fortunately for Ney, Santos won the first leg 2-0 and despite their defeat in the return leg (1-2), they were crowned. And Neymar, with 11 goals, finished top scorer in the competition.
The sentimental one: Dimitri Liénard
A local kid who scored a Doll to offer his club its first major trophy in almost 15 years. National champion (2016) and Ligue 2 (2017) with Strasbourg, Dimitri Liénard, born in Belfort 140 km away, also offered the RCSA a League Cup in 2019.
At the end of a terrible 0-0 at the Pierre-Mauroy stadium, Strasbourg and Guingamp settled the debates on penalties. A session which quickly turned to the advantage of Strasbourg, so much so that Liénard, third shooter, felt sufficiently confident to attempt – and succeed – in this gesture.
