Wayne Rooney has made the surprising claim that Chelsea legend John Terry was one of the best penalty takers he has ever seen.
The former Blues’ captain is notoriously remembered for missing a crucial penalty in the 2008 Champions League final against Manchester United.
- England team to face Denmark ‘leaked’ as Gareth Southgate makes two big decisions
- Lampard reveals reason he recently stayed away from Ronaldo despite being in same hotel
Terry had the chance to secure victory for his team but slipped in the rain-soaked conditions, sending his shot wide of the goal.
The sight of the devastated Chelsea captain collapsing to his knees and crying in the Moscow rain is unforgettable, particularly for Rooney, who revealed he couldn’t believe his former England teammate had missed.
‘How can Jamie Carragher be taking a penalty in a shootout? That is shocking!’ said Rooney, talking to SkyBet, mocking the pundit failing from the penalty spot in a 2006 World Cup quarter final shootout, before detailing his Terry revelation.
‘The only thing I would say is John Terry was one of the best penalty takers I’ve ever seen, honestly, in training.
‘I went off the pitch in the Champions League final, I’m looking at him because I’ve seen him in training with England. I’m watching him walking up and I’m thinking, ‘It’s over’ – thankfully he slipped!’
Rooney was a regular penalty taker for both club and country and revealed the secrets behind his fail-safe style.
He added: ‘I’ve practiced penalties where I’d tell the goalkeeper what way I’m going and do it properly, but it does frustrate you when players come up and try and mess around.
‘I say to my players now, ‘If you’re practicing, do it properly how you’d do it in a game’ and you can do as much practice, but you can’t put in places the stadium, the fans, the pressure of it – obviously it’s completely different when you’re stepping up to what it is on a training pitch.’
England’s record in shootouts at major tournaments is dreadful with the scars from their most recent heartbreak – defeat in the Euro 2020 final on home soil – still to fully heal.
‘When you go out five out of eight tournaments on penalties, it becomes more than just luck,’ confessed Rooney’s long-time colleague Gary Neville.
‘I recognise now looking back, we used to go out and think, ‘Penalties is a 50-50’, it’s not – it really isn’t. You’ve got to have really good technical players on the pitch.’
‘In Brazil, when we were practicing penalties the day before the game, the press had photographers taking pictures and filming us practicing our penalties and they were printing it in the newspaper the next day – what way every player was going,’ revealed Rooney.
‘We were telling people, ‘What are you doing?’ They [the press] were like, ‘Well if I don’t print it, then someone else will’.’
‘I, at the time, snapped at that [the press taking photos of penalty practice] because there was a little room [and] it was basically a closed session where we were practicing penalties and two journalists basically snuck into a little room, it was like a peep hole type thing,’ added Neville.
‘I couldn’t believe that had happened. That’s probably a rare incident, but with penalties we tried everything.’
