Victor Valdes Penalty Save v Racing Santander
Victor Valdes the goalkeeper for FC Barcelona made this terrific penalty save against Racing Santander on 11 February 2007. The sides were at 0-0.
Valdes went on to record a clean sheet in this match, which Barcelona won 2-0 (Ronaldinho scored both goals) - a crucial intervention, and one of the best penalty saves you’re ever likely to see: extremely well hit, and extremely well saved; the ball being put well into safety.
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February 11th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Ugh. I know Valdes is a good keeper, but I can’t stand the guy. I still remember seeing an exhibition between Barca and Man U in Philadelphia. Valdes collected a ball in front of Roy Keane, who jumped over him. Valdes promptly started rolling around as if shot in the head, while the 100foot high Jumbotron behind him kept showing replays that clearly showed he wasn’t touched. After 10 minutes of “treatment” he got up with a “I’m wounded, but I am a warrior look.” Please. Let’s leave the diving to the strikers. Oh, and that means you too, Dida!
February 11th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Dida’s dive was a shocker - I’ll have to look up the Keane incident, though he has dished out a few “late” tackles over the years!
Valdes’ reaction to his save here is perhaps indicative of a rather inflated opinion of himself, rather than anything else. However, that is a feature that has been present in most great keepers of the past century. Just today I heard a tale about a player who went over to Koln in Germany to play with the great Harald Schumacher, at the time thinking the German was not a good keeper.
He quickly changed his mind, and asked Schumacher “who is the best (keeper) in the world?” “Schumacher is number one!” came the reply, “But what about Clem(ence) and Shilton?” he asked, “Schumacher is number one!” he repeated.
Conceited? A little. A great keeper? Undoubtedly yes. Valdes is not in Schumacher’s league (neither, for that matter, is Dida) but confidence is a most important attribute for a goalkeeper.