• Champions League

Drogba: I considered 'Panenka' penalty in final

ESPN staff
December 10, 2013
Drogba scored the equaliser in the Champions League final before going on to take the decisive penalty © PA Photos
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Former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba has revealed that he considered doing a 'Panenka' penalty in the Blues' Champions League final shootout with Bayern Munich.

Drogba stepped up and scored the decisive spot kick in the 2012 final - in what turned out to be his final kick as a Chelsea player.

But in a documentary, called Didier Drogba: Sports Life Stories to be aired on ITV4 on Tuesday, the Ivorian explains what was going through his mind and that he considered copying Czech player Antonin Panenka's - who famously chipped the ball into the net during a penalty shootout in the 1976 European Championship final.

Drogba said: "I was thinking, 'OK, OK, now it is my turn, what do I do? The goalkeeper has gone everywhere we shoot everywhere, every time you take a long run he goes in the right direction.'

"So I decided to do a Panenka. I thought, 'OK - Panenka. No, no, no, no, Panenka.'

"But I decided to take a two-step then I will not give the goalkeeper any time to read my run and I will see where he is going, so after my first step I could see he had already gone on my right [so] I put the ball on the left and then I think that was it. I was like no it is not possible, no it is not possible."

Drogba now plays for Turkish side Galatasaray, having left Chelsea for Chinese side Shanghai Shenhua.

Didier Drogba: Sports Life Stories will be aired on Tuesday on ITV4 at 11.15pm

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