5 famous 'two-man' penalties in footballing history

Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez scored a two-man penalty against Celta VigoPenalties are usually a one-on-one battle between a goalkeeper and the penalty taker. It’s a duel of nerves, although when the tension is taken out of the situation, footballers can come up with quite cheeky attempts at a penalty, most notably the ‘two-man’ penalty.‘Tandem’ penalties, ‘tap’ penalties – whatever moniker you ascribe to this rare footballing occurrence, one can be in no doubt that it takes an ingenious footballing brain to come with the idea and a rare bravado to actually execute it on the football pitch.Lionel Messi added to his extensive highlights reel with an exquisite touch that was originally aimed at Neymar, but Luis Suarez rushed to slot the ball into the bottom corner. Barcelona’s impish penalty against Celta Vigo in La Liga wasn’t the first time this had occurred, with an effort in 1957 being the earliest one could trace it back.Here are five ‘tap’ penalties that have become infamous:

#1 Rik Coppens and Andre Piters - Belgium

The Belgian duo scored the earliest recorded two man penalty

June 5, 1957 – this was the date where the earliest recorded two-man penalty took place. Belgium faced Iceland in a qualifying tie for the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden, and the hosts earned a penalty towards the end of the first half. The Red Devils were already leading 6-1, so there wasn’t much at stake when Rik Coppens stepped up to take the penalty in the 44th minute.

The Belgian, who was 27 years old then, had a penchant for the flamboyant, as he tapped the ball to an onrushing Andre Piters, drawing Icelandic keeper Bjorgvin Hermannson of his line, allowing Piters to astonishingly tap the ball back to Coppens, who duly scored into an empty net. The match eventually finished 8-3, yet the scoreline wasn’t the one that would go on to grab the headlines.

The crowd were naturally incredulous, and so was Coppen’s former teammate Theo van Rooy, who said “He was a real extrovert on the pitch. He loved doing things to make people say ‘wow’, and the whole stadium was saying ‘wow’ that day. It’s a good job he pulled it off mind – can you imagine what they’d have said if he missed doing something like that?”

Thankfully he never had to – here’s a video of Coppen‘s effort.

#2 Johnny Newman - Plymouth Argyle

Mike Trebilcock scored a two-man penalty for Plymouth Argyle

Johnny Newman is the man credited with introducing the ‘two-man’ penalty to English shores. On the 6th of February, 1961, the Plymouth Argyle captain, scored the first tap penalty in England, as the Pilgrims went down 3-5 away to Aston Villa in a fourth round replay of the 1961/62 League Cup. Wilf Carter was the man who was assigned penalty duties on that day, and tapped the ball to the side, allowing Newman to run in and score.

Three years later, on the 21st of November, 1964, Newman was at it again, although this time he was the provider, as he tapped the ball to an onrushing Mike Trebilcock to score Argyle’s second ‘tandem’ penalty in three years. The opponents this time were Manchester City, as the Pilgrims eventually beat the Citizens 3-2 in a Division Two clash at Home Park.

Trebilcock, who later won the FA Cup with Everton, recalls the incident, but perhaps mistakenly credits his manager with the idea, saying “I was playing for Plymouth Argyle at the time and Malcolm Allison was the manager. It was one of his mad ideas.”

“Our captain, John Newman, was the man to run forward and touch the ball, while I was assigned to follow up and knock it into the net. We'd practised it a few times during training and, coincidentally, it was a match against Manchester City when we got the chance to try it out for real. We won the game 3-2, but I think it was 0-0 at the time when we did it.”

Here is the video of the effort:

#3 Johan Cruyff and Jesper Olsen - Ajax

Johan Cruyff became synonymous with the two-man penalty

Perhaps the most famous one of the list, Johan Cruyff’s impudent effort in an Eredivisie game against Helmond Sport in December, 1982 has gone down as one for the highlight reels. Cruyff had returned to his beloved Ajax at the end of his career, and the 35 year old stepped up to take a penalty that was awarded when the score was 1-0.

Given the need to ensure the win, what followed was incredibly courageous of the Dutchman, as Cruyff placed the ball down on the pitch and immediately tapped the ball to his left, allowing Ajax’s Danish winger Jesper Olsen to rush onto the ball and draw Helmond keeper Otto Versfeld out of his goal. Olsen then passed the ball to Cruyff, who impudently tapped the ball into an empty net, leaving Versfeld in disbelief, as Ajax ended the game 5-0 winners.

The goalkeeper was still in shock, much like the rest of the crowd, later saying “I was totally flabbergasted. I was trying to work out what had just happened!” Johan Cruyff for his part, had a far more entertaining goal, saying "It was just before Christmas, so we wanted to give our supporters a gift to remember!"

Here is a video of the penalty:

#4 Thierry Henry and Robert Pires - Arsenal

Thierry Henry and Robert Pires fluffed their lines at Highbury

What is it with two man penalties and Manchester City? English football’s most infamous attempt at a tandem penalty involved Arsenal duo Thierry Henry and Robert Pires in a Premier League fixture against the Sky Blues on 22nd October, 2005.

With the score at 1-0, and with Arsenal amidst a Premier League title race, this was perhaps the wrong time to attempt this routine which has the potential to make one look foolish. That was what precisely transpired, as Pires miskicked the ball, with Henry not realizing that he had and couldn’t take a second touch, City defender Sylvain Distin rushed in to clear, thus leaving the Arsenal duo red-faced with embarrassment.

Pires later recalled the incident in an interview, saying “Thierry knows all the rules of football. He’d seen Cruyff take that penalty, and he wanted to do it. I didn’t want to do it because it was a serious, competitive match – and there was only one goal in it – so for me it was risky.”

“I said, ‘no Titi, I don’t want to’. ‘Yes, come on, we have to – like yesterday, except that this time you make the pass, and I come in and score’. For me it wasn’t going to work and lots of things were going through my mind. I don’t know why, but my foot said ‘no!’.”

However, Arsenal legend Henry had his redemption years later, as in a friendly between a Messi XI and a World XI, the Frenchman tapped the ball perfectly for Florent Malouda to score. Here’s a video of the incident:

#5 Youssef Mouihbi and Baghdad Bounedjah - Etouile du Sahel

Tunisian side Etoile du Sahel pre-empted Barcelona

The two-man penalty has already made an appearance this season. Although the origins are rather less illustrious than the others in this list, Tunisian giants Etoile du Sahel have plenty to crow about, having prefaced Barcelona in the penalty stakes this season.

The striking duo of Youssef Mouihbi and Baghdad Bounedjah bamboozled Marseille goalkeeper Steve Mandanda in a pre-season friendly, with their skills on the ball, if not their names. July 18th, 2015 was the date when the Tunisians took on their French counterparts, but the penalty routine was all but a consolation as Etoile du Sahel were at the wrong end of a 5-1 drubbing.

When the penalty was awarded midway through the game, Youssef Mouihbi stepped up and backheeled the ball into the path of his teammate Baounedjah, who slotted home after Mandanda had already dived the wrong way.

Here is a video of the incident: