Whether it’s based on myth or reality, England and English teams really don’t like penalties.
Despite every single outfield player scoring, Manchester United became the latest victims of the curse after David de Gea missed in the Europa League final defeat to Villarreal on Wednesday night.
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Luckily for Manchester City and Chelsea, their opponents in the Champions League final this Saturday, live on talkSPORT, are also English.
It always seems to be penalties when the Blues are involved, they infamously lost a shootout to another Manchester team in 2008 with a cruel twist of fate.
After four expertly-taken penalties, John Terry had sent Edwin van der Sar the wrong way for the decisive fifth, only to slip and hit the post.
They made amends four years later by beating Bayern Munich, with Petr Cech and Didier Drogba the heroes in Germany.
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However, history does not paint a pretty picture for their record in shootouts.
In 28 attempts, they’ve won just 12, while Manchester City have won 11 out of 14 at a far better success rate.
Over the last five seasons, City have won all five of the shootouts they’ve been involved in, one of which came against the Blues in the 2019 Carabao Cup final.
Chelsea’s return of three wins out of their last seven makes for less impressive reading, but their record in regulation time is significantly better than City’s.
Over the last two seasons, they’ve scored 24 of their 28 penalties in all competitions at a conversion rate of 82 per cent.
Players likely to be involved on Saturday – Jorginho, Timo Werner, Mason Mount and Olivier Giroud – all have solid records.
Jorginho was actually Chelsea’s top scorer in the Premier League this season, with all seven of his goals coming from the spot.
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City, on the other hand, have only scored 17 of their 27 penalties over the last two campaigns, which amounts to 63 per cent.
You’ll remember Sergio Aguero’s failed Panenka in the Premier League earlier this month, but he’s not the only one to struggle from the spot recently.
Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling and Ilkay Gundogan have all missed more than they’ve scored over the last two campaigns, with City rotating the responsibility.
So it’s far to say both sets of players will probably be hoping to get the job done in normal time.
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