After the most recent win over Sparta in the UEFA Champions League with a score of 5-0, Man City have marked their 26th unbeaten match in Europe's most prestigious playground. When this number was given, there was a lot of controversy because last season, Pep Guardiola's team stopped by Real Madrid in the quarter-finals on penalties, after a 4-4 draw.
So should losing on penalties be counted as a defeat? Or is the series of penalty shootouts created just to determine the team to continue, not to determine the winner - loser?
According to the International Football Association Board (IAFB), the football law enforcement agency, a penalty shootout failure is not counted as a loss in the record. According to Article 10.2, a penalty shootout is one of three procedures to determine the team to continue, in addition to the number of away goals or goals in extra time. This means that when a team is defeated on penalties, they can still claim not to have lost.
This was once controversial, similar to the inadequacy of the away goals rule (now abolished by UEFA). Strangely, when UEFA changed their thinking about away goals, they ignored the issue related to penalty shootouts to calculate achievements.
One of the agreed viewpoints to explain this is luck in each "fight". However, from the perspective of professional football players, luck is of course there, but it only accounts for a very small proportion of success or failure on penalty shootouts.
"There are more things than luck in that streak. You have to go through a psychological battle, you have to study who the shooter is, what their shooting habits are, how to get momentum,...
People still think rotation is luck, but in my opinion, only amateur players say that. I think at the highest level, a good goalkeeper can definitely overcome luck on the penalty spot. They know what to do to bring victory" - Croatia goalkeeper Joe Didulia shared.
In 2022, the Barca Innovation Hub compiled data on how to increase the chance of success for even penalties. It believes that when taking the first penalty, how to celebrate will create good psychological momentum for teammates to take the remaining shots. Even how the first fruit will affect the last fruit will increase the likelihood of victory.
That said, it is not just luck on the rotation. On the contrary, it requires very careful research with reason and numbers, no longer simply a free kick series, no basis on any strategy. Each player must also overcome a psychological torture and cannot just shoot, so the failure rate is almost certain.
It is impossible to say that Real Madrid was much better than Man City in the quarter-finals last season, but they were the team that went on, then won the championship while their opponent was at home. This also does not prove that Pep Guardiola's team is inferior to Carlo Ancelotti. However, Man City lost in a lucky match but also came with tactics, calculations and psychological exercises.
Is it time to consider penalty shootouts as a form of winning and losing in statistics because it is not "wild" or born just to determine the team that advances when they are winless after 120 minutes?
