Who knows how it would have ended Bologna – Shakhtar Donetsk without his miracle. Debut in the Champions League for Vincenzo Italiano’s team, just a handful of minutes pass and Posch commits the infraction that causes the penalty for the Ukrainians. From the spot it goes George Sudakov, but in front of him he finds what in recent years has become a real rolling shutter, especially when the opponent is about to kick from the spot: Lukasz Skorupski. Who, little by little, has been good at gaining a well-deserved reputation as a penalty saver.
Yes, because Sudakov is only the last and, no offence, certainly not the most important. Because in this list there are some high-sounding names, not insignificant: Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Lautaro Martinez, Ciro Immobile, Dries Mertens, Olivier Giroud. And not only that. The list is long, it consists of 15 players, 12 if you look only at Serie A. Of course, you can’t save all the penalties, in total there are 53 scored by the opponents, but the average of one penalty saved out of four is far from bad.
Furthermore, this year, in a start with the handbrake on by Bologna, the one who really stood out was the Polish goalkeeper, who in the meantime has also become a regular in the national team (by the way, Mbappé’s penalty in the match between Poland and France, well that was impossible to take), certainly one of his best of this start of the season. On the first day another penalty was neutralized: it was August 18th and then it was Florian Thauvin to be hypnotized by Skorupski, a decisive episode in the final 1-1 against Udinese. Exactly one month later the same thing: from Thauvin to Sudakov, on the point conquered by Bologna there is still the signature of the former Roma and Empoli player. An increasingly strong penalty save.