1986: Helmuth Duckadam becomes a hero

Not all penalty shootouts are as free scoring as the recent Europa League final between Villarreal and Manchester United. After 21 successful spot kicks, it would be goalkeeper David de Gea who missed the only penalty, the Spaniards winning 11-10 to claim their first European trophy.

Goalkeepers are often heroes in the drama of a penalty shootout. In Gdansk it was the turn of Geronimo Rulli to assume the role, even finding time to score a penalty, before saving the crucial kick. Conceding eleven penalties and then missing from the spot, De Gea would experience the other end of the emotional scale. Very much more Peter Shilton than Helmuth Duckadam.

Ah, Helmuth Duckadam, the Patron Saint of penalty shootout goalkeepers. The man who crushed the historic dream of Barcelona, became the Hero of Seville, the goalkeeper who helped to send the European Cup behind the Iron Curtain for the first time. May 7, 1986, is a date that provided Duckadam with his zenith. For Terry Venables and Barcelona fans it was a very different evening.

Steaua Bucharest had never progressed beyond the first round of the European Cup in their six attempts before the 1985/86 competition. An army team in communist Romania, the influence of Valentin Ceausescu - son of the Romanian leader Nicolae - as General Manager from 1983 onwards was felt throughout the domestic scene. Winning the title in 1984/85, Steaua would have another crack at the European Cup.

In all honesty, the draw was kind to the club managed by Emerich Jenei. Wins over Vejle Boldklub (Norway), Honved (Hungary), and Lahti (Finland) set up a semi-final clash with Anderlecht, and despite losing the first leg 1-0 in Belgium, Steaua won the return 3-0 to set up a trip to Seville to take on Terry Venables' Barcelona. 

If the progress of Steaua had been relatively comfortable, the same could not be said for the Catalan club. Away goals wins over Sparta Prague and Porto earned Barcelona a quarter final with holders Juventus. Winning 2-1 over the two legs, it seemed as if all the hard work had been undone when Gothenburg won the first leg of the semi-final 3-0 in Sweden. 

However, a Pichi Alonso hat-trick at the Nou Camp sent the match into extra-time and then penalties. The 5-4 win in the shootout saw Barcelona reach their first European Cup final since 1961, and with thousands of their fans flocking to Seville, Venables' team were seen as red-hot favourites.

The final would turn out to be the dampest of all squibs. Steaua stifled their opponents and watching the match live on ITV there seemed a dull inevitability that the match would eventually lead to penalties. Steve Archibald and Bernd Schuster had chances, but it would be a frustrating night for Barcelona and their German star. Substituted with five minutes of normal time remaining, Schuster walked straight down the tunnel and caught a taxi back to the team hotel.

The scrappy nature of the match was reflected in the fact that referee Michel Vautrot handed out six yellow cards. "It was never a classic," Venables would comment after the match. "None of these games are. I could never see the Romanians scoring and we made all the chances."

Steaua's preparations had been far from ideal. Struggling to find a hotel, the team were also locked out of their training ground, but their disciplined display in Seville showed how well drilled they were under Jenei. And Duckadam's extra practise sessions at the end of training would stand him in good stead. 

"After every training session I practised penalties with my team-mates, always trying to trick the taker by moving my body slightly in one direction," Duckadam said in this UEFA article in 2009. "He would then shoot the opposite way, as I knew he would, and I would jump and save it."

The 27-year-old had not seen the Barcelona penalties against Gothenburg, although Venables would later reveal that his team were far from confident as the teams gathered at the end of 120 minutes of dour football. "Against Gothenburg the players couldn't wait to take the penalties but tonight they were very nervous. I didn't envy any of them." Anxious they may have been, but the shootout started in ideal fashion for them.

 

 

Barcelona keeper Urruti saved a weak effort from Mihail Majearu, but skipper Alexanko was unable to force home the advantage. "I watched him closely and, judging from his body shape, felt he would shoot to my right," Duckadam said. "I waited for him to shoot and saved to my right." When Urruti then saved from Laszlo Boloni, you started to wonder if the match you had just witnessed was getting the penalty shootout it deserved.
 
Angel Pedraza, like Alexanko, had scored from the spot in the Gothenburg win. But Duckadam was about to enter the zone. "The other penalties were a question of psychology – putting myself in the position of the taker." Urruti had saved a penalty to his left and then to his right. Pedraza, Duckadam deduced, would assume that the Romanian would not dive the same way as he had for the first penalty. Duckadam saved to his right again. After four penalties the score was still 0-0.

At last the deadlock was broken when Marius Lacatus hammered home via the underside of the crossbar. Duckadam was now beginning to fully dive into the heads of his opponents. "The third was the easiest – it was logical that the player would think a goalkeeper, having already saved two to his right, would now go left. So [Pichi] Alonso shot to my right and I saved, second-guessing him." Launching the ball into the night sky after his save, Duckadam then sunk to his knees. Steaua were on the brink.

Gabi Balint's successful kick edged the Romanians closer to glory, as Marcos made the dreaded walk from the halfway line. "I put myself in the position of Marcos," Duckadam pondered at the time. "He would be thinking that this goalkeeper has saved everything to his right, so must have chosen his direction from the off and will not change. I realised then that he would shoot to my left and had already started in that direction when he took the shot."

Marcos' tame effort highlighted the mental torment his team were going through. Diving to his left, Duckadam easily blocked the attempt, before grabbing the ball and wheeling off in delight. Steaua had pooped the party and left Venables to reflect on what he described as "the biggest disappointment of my professional career."

The extraordinary nature of the shootout was hard to ignore. Writing in the Guardian, Stephen Bierley echoed the thoughts of many. "For a moment it was a vision of hell, an eternal penalty competition with nobody ever scoring. Hell it turned out to be for Barcelona." The wait would go on, finally ending in 1992 at Wembley.

There could be no doubting who the hero of the hour (or two hours) was. Duckadam would rightly be given the title "the Hero of Seville" and finished joint eighth with Marco van Basten in the Ballon d'Or. Understandably he would never touch these heights again. Yet his fall from grace after that final was alarming. 

After refusing to play in a match that was reportedly going to be fixed to ensure a Steaua player would finish top scorer in the league, Duckadam was banned from training for two weeks and fined two months wages. But there was worse to come.

An aneurysm was found in Duckadam's right arm, and his time at the club was over. Three years after his moment of glory in Seville, Duckadam would drop down a division to play for Vagonul Arad. But that legendary display in the penalty shootout lives on.

To be fair to Rulli and De Gea, there were plenty of well taken penalties in the shootout they were involved in. But it's on nights like the Europa League final - the mirror image of the 1986 European Cup final - that the mind drifts back to the heroics of Helmuth Duckadam.