Italian Media Highlight Penalty Records Of Inter Milan & AC Milan Players In Event That Supercoppa Italiana Goes To A Shootout

There is a very real chance that this evening’s Supercoppa Italiana match between Inter and AC Milan could go to a penalty shootout, in which case the records of the two squads could become a factor.

This is highlighted in today’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, via FCInterNews, who note that both Nerazzurri keeper Andre Onana and Rossoneri shot-stopper Ciprian Tatarusanu have a decent record of saving spot kicks.

As far as who would step up to take a penalty in shootout for Inter, the likes of Lautaro Martinez and Hakan Calhanoglu would be the first names on the list.

Meanwhile, Romelu Lukaku’s record of fifteen penalties taken and fifteen scored means that, if the Belgian is on the pitch, he would be a prime candidate.

Striker Edin Dzeko is not actually known to be particularly accurate from the spot, and so the Gazzetta propose that Federico Dimarco and Henrikh Mkhitaryan would be more probable to be in the Nerazzurri’s initial list of five penalty-takers.

On the Rossoneri end, Olivier Giroud’s experience and reliability would make the Frenchman one of the first names on the list, although beyond this it is less certain who would be entrusted with a penalty in a shootout.

Left-back Theo Hernandez has taken four penalties in his Rossoneri career, scoring three of them, and would likely be on the team’s list of takers in the event of a shootout against Inter.

As far as the two keepers, Milan’s Tatarusanu has in fact already saved an Inter penalty, keeping out Lautaro Martinez’s effort in a vital derby win last season.

Moreover, the 36-year-old Romanian has saved efforts by Tomas Rincon for Torino in the Coppa Italia last season, as well as keeping out Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe from the spot in the Coupe de France whilst playing for Nantes.

On the Nerazzurri side, the Gazzetta note that Andre Onana was most recently involved in a shootout with the Cameroonian national team at the semi-final stage of last year’s African Cup of Nations.

Cameroon failed to progress to the final as Egypt scored all of their penalty kicks on that occasion.

However, more positively, the Gazzetta note that the 26-year-old has a career record of saving around 20% of the penalties that he’s faced, keeping out seven of the total 33 that have been taken against him.