AC Milan and Inter will contest a penalty shootout tonight if neither side emerge as winners after 90 minutes plus extra-time, but what is the precedent for the two goalkeepers that would be involved?
La Gazzetta dello Sport (via Calciomercato.com) report that Ciprian Tatarusanu has an encouraging record, as in the first league derby of the last season – which finished 1-1 – the Romanian saved a spot kick from Lautaro Martinez.
Tatarusanu saves more or less one penalty in every five he has faced in his career. At the beginning of 2021, Milan qualified for the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia because he saved from Rincon in the shootout win over Torino, and in 2019 he even thwarted Kylian Mbappé in the semi-finals of the Coupe de France.
In 2018 for his national team he chose the right way against Dusan Tadic who shot over the bar, while in 2017 he was the protagonist of a similar scene against Andrea Belotti and Torino.
On the other side, Andre Onana will get the nod to start given Samir Handanovic is out, but his record is not exactly as positive. In February 2022 when he was in goal for Cameroon, they lost the semi-final of the African Cup of Nations against Egypt on penalties as he did not save a single one.
His record is not terrible, with 7 penalties saved out of a total of 33, which is more or less 20%. If he were to keep this average then it would mean he is likely to save one of five penalties in a shootout, but pressure does strange things to those involved.
