Khaberni - Edouard Mendy, goalkeeper for the Senegal national team, successfully saved a penalty during the Teranga Lions' match against Morocco in the African Nations Cup final.
Moroccan striker Brahim Diaz missed a penalty in injury time of the 2025 African Nations Cup final, which Mendy saved, leading the match into extra time.
Diaz relied on the famous Panenka-style shot, named after a former Czechoslovakian international player in the 1970s.
Antonin Panenka used an exceptional technique at that time, where he lobbed the ball towards the center of the goal without steering it to the usual left or right.
This penalty was the fifth and declared Czechoslovakia the winner over Germany in the 1976 European Nations Cup final.
But it seems that Mendy is not among the goalkeepers who are fooled by this type of shot, as he had a previous encounter with it when he was playing for Chelsea in England, and he saved a similar penalty from Argentine Sergio Aguero, the former star and all-time top scorer of Manchester City.
This occurred in a match between the Blues and the Citizens at the Etihad Stadium played on May 8, 2021, where Aguero played the ball in the same way as Diaz, only for the Senegalese goalkeeper to catch it easily.
Just as this penalty played a role in crowning Senegal, Aguero’s penalty prevented City from extending their lead from 1-0 to 2-0, before scoring twice in the second half and clinching the victory.
Interestingly, Morocco has only won the African Nations Cup once in its history, in 1976, the very same year that the Panenka penalty was born.
