Diego Alves, penalty master
Is there a better penalty saver than Flamengo’s Cup hero?
Last week’s Brazilian Super Cup final between Flamengo and Palmeiras went to penalties after a 2-2 draw. Flamengo won a dramatic shoot-out 6-5, after nine players from each side took penalties, thanks to Fla goalkeeper Diego Alves saving three penalties.
Photo: Getty Images
This will come as no surprise to fans of Valencia, or indeed any of the Spanish teams that Alves, now 35, faced during a record-breaking ten-year spell in La Liga (four seasons at Almeria, six at Valencia). In Spain, Alves stopped an impressive 24 of the 50 penalties he faced, with two missing the target. Penalty conversion rates against Alves were 52 per cent, way ahead of La Liga’s all-time next best, Vicente Biurrun (Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao) on 72 per cent, and Andres Palop (Sevilla), 73 per cent.
In 2014, he was asked by Spanish radio show El Larguero about his technique:
"It is a bit about intuition. I always see it as a psychological war. There is no specific work for it. It is a moment in the game when nerves come into it. You have to try and win that war."
Three years later, he opened up to Murad Ahmed in this fascinating interview with the Financial Times. He told the story of how he saved Antoine Griezmann’s spot-kick for Atletico Madrid in late-2016. Griezmann had missed his previous penalty and Alves got into his head:
“I like to feel out the player in the moment, find out if he’s nervous. I like to talk to him, get a sense of him, to see if he is going to do what I’m thinking he’s going to do…. I told him [Griezmann] that if he missed again, it would be terrible for him, and that I understood the pressure he was under.”
Of course, Alves saved it. While at Valencia, he saved penalties from Lionel Messi, Mario Mandzukic, Diego Costa, and famously, kept out Cristiano Ronaldo in three out of four penalties.On one occasion, he told Ronaldo not to kick the ball to his right. Ronaldo kicked it to his right, and Alves saved it. Well, he did warn him!
Photo: AFP/Getty Images
It got to the point where Neymar and Marcelo, Brazilian team-mates of Messi and Ronaldo, would ask Alves for his secret. “They are unsure when they face me,” he told the FT. “They ask how to shoot against me. Neymar and Marcelo don’t know my tricks.”
On two occasions, Alves has saved two penalties in one game: keeping out Griezmann and Gabi in a 2-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid – “I don’t care about the penalty saves,” he said after the game – and stopping Vasco da Gama’s Yago Pikachu and Bruno César in a 4-1 win for Flamengo.
In penalty shoot-outs, Alves has a different strategy: “I start putting together a story in my head before the game about what could happen if the game goes to penalty kicks. I put together a few stories; a few situations.” That strategy also worked when Flamengo beat Emelec 4-2 in a 2019 Copa Libertadores shoot-out.
Alves has had to change his strategy since the rule-change that goalkeepers must keep one foot on the line when the penalty is struck – but the trademark tactic of shimmying as the player approaches, and waving his arms at shoulder-height remains. Short of telling Ahmed that he likes to jump off his line to narrow the angle, he did not reveal his other “short-cuts” to success.
And so, to the Flamengo-Palmeiras shoot-out: after three penalties each, Palmeiras were 3-1 up. Then Alves made great saves from Luan and Gabriel Menino (while Danilo missed) to pull it back to 3-3 after five kicks. There followed another four rounds of sudden-death, and after Alves kept out Mayke’s effort, Rodrigo Caio made no mistake. You can see it in full here (it’s a good one):
Alves only ever won 10 caps for Brazil. He missed the boat in the 2013 Copa America, as he was called up to the squad but withdrew with an injury. Shame, as Brazil reached the quarter-finals and lost to Paraguay… after a penalty shoot-out. If you could bring Diego Alves off the bench for a shoot-out, you would!
Alves’s current total is 44 stopped penalties out of 99 faced. Twelve months ago, he posted this great video of 35 of his penalty saves.
His response this week was short and sweet. “This video needs updating, right?”
PEN PALS:
Fulham striker Josh Maja became his team’s fourth different penalty-taker to have a go this season, and he made no mistake to put his team ahead against Arsenal. Maja went GK-Independent and blasted the ball high to his natural side. After misses from Aleksandr Mitrovic (vs Sheffield United), Ademola Lookman (vs West Ham) and Ivan Cavaleiro (vs Everton), he might well have the job now. The penalty was also the 87th scored in the Premier League this season, equalling the record number from 2006-07. Thanks OptaJoe!
Kudos to Paul Carr, who provided a swift answer to Caitlin Murray’s question on the recent penalty records of USA, the women’s world champions. It turns out Megan Rapinoe is 7/7 for USWNT since 2016, while Carli Lloyd is 2/5. The complete record from the last five years is here. Thanks Paul!
Ciro Immobile has scored more penalties than any other player in Lazio history (41). He scored two goals but missed a spot-kick in Lazio’s eventful 5-3 win over Benevento (this was also the Inzaghi derby, with Lazio coached by Simone and Benevento by brother Pippo). Immobile went GK-Independent, smashing the ball to his natural side, but it was saved. It was his third miss of the season out of nine (a 67 per cent conversion record).
Before this weekend, Erling Haaland had only taken two penalties in the Bundesliga, and he missed his last one, against Augsburg. He made no mistake in Sunday’s 4-1 win over Werder Breman, with a slight change of technique. Kicking left-footed, he went GK-Independent (as opposed to recent GK-Dependent efforts), scoring to his non-natural side. It was his 50th goal for the club, in game number 54.
Please share any penalty thoughts or further questions to me either by commenting below or at @benlyt.
If you enjoyed this post, please spread the word about Twelve Yards and share this with your network. If you’re new, you can see recent pieces including: Pep Guardiola’s surprisingly impressive record in penalty shoot-outs, which players will be next to score penalties with both feet, the Chilean defender who hates penalties but keeps scoring, the Argentine penalty tradition sweeping across empty stadia in Europe, why Lionel Messi is average at penalties, how Robert Lewandowski became a penalty killer, who really invented the two-touch penalty (and Robert Pires relives his trauma), why it’s better to aim high than low, the great Ederson penalty debate, an interview with Antonin Panenka, how to define a true Panenka, how to end Antoine Griezmann’s run of five missed penalties in a row, penalty records in empty stadia, and Barcelona’s first shoot-out win in 23 years. Thank you!
Ben Lyttleton is the author of Twelve Yards: The Art and Psychology of the Perfect Penalty
