Expert reveals 'secret' to perfect penalty after spotting pattern in Arsenal and Atletico Madrid wins

The 'secret' to the perfect penalty has been revealed after a pattern emerged during Arsenal and Atletico Madrid's shootout victories.

The conclusion of the Champions League round of 16 this week produced plenty of drama, with two ties going all the way to penalties.

There hadn't been a penalty shootout in the knockout stages of the competition since the 2016 final before Arsenal's home tie with Porto on Tuesday went the distance.

The following evening Atletico Madrid vs Inter Milan went the same way after a 2-2 aggregate draw.

Arsenal and Atleti won 4-2 and 3-2 on penalties respectively, with both sides despatching some superb spot-kicks.

There were some poor efforts as well, not least the penalty that Inter captain Lautaro Martinez blazed over the crossbar.

After watching both shootouts, journalist Michael Cox took to X to share a theory about how to improve the chances of a successful penalty.

Cox referenced Ben Lyttleton's book Twelve Yards, which explains a theory that the longer a penalty taker waits after the referee's whistle before taking the kick, the more likely they are to score.

Cox took timings for each penalty in the two shootouts this week, and noticed that they generally fitted the pattern.

In the Atletico vs Inter shootout, Hakan Calhanoglu and Memphis Depay waited roughly 7.5 and 7 seconds respectively and both produced unstoppable penalties.

The other truly unstoppable effort, smashed off the underside of the crossbar by Angel Correa, involved a 6.5 second wait.

Jorginho and Martin Odegaard embrace after Arsenal's victory over Porto. Image: Getty

Meanwhile, three of the four penalties with the shortest wait times were missed or saved, with Martinez waiting just 2.8 seconds before he smashed his attempt over the bar.

As Cox said: "The three completely unsavable penalties are the top three. The only one that missed the target is the bottom one."

The pattern was noticeable at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday as well.

The takers with the four longest waits all scored. They were: Bukayo Saka (10.6s), Pepe (9.8s), Martin Odegaard (7.3s), Declan Rice (7.1s).

Two of the four longest waits resulted in saves, while Marko Grujic's penalty - which involved the shorted wait at 5.7s - was almost saved by David Raya.

Some fans speculated that longer run ups make things harder for goalkeepers, as they have to stay stationary for and have longer to keep their concentration.