Czech football legend Antonin
Panenka He was admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) of a hospital of Prague after contracting COVID-19, reported the Bohemians, the club in which he played the most games.
“Antonín Panenka was in serious condition today and has been transferred to the UCI. We will not comment on his condition yet. Tondo, fight!” The Prague club wrote on social media about the 71-year-old former footballer.
Panenka began his sports career in the Bohemians in 1968 and played 678 games with the Verdiblanco team until 1981, when he signed for the Fast
of
Vienna, the club where he ended his career in 1985.
It was international with the selection of the extinct Czechoslovakia on 59 occasions, in which he scored 12 goals.
Became a legend in the 1976 Euro final
Panenka, known for his unmistakable mustache, became a star when he scored a penalty with a soft, choppy kick down the middle in the final of the Eurocup
of
Yugoslavia 1976.
(+) This was Antonin Panenka's legendary penalty:
That goal gave his country the title in the final against Germany and to him a place in the history of football by baptizing one of the most imitated and risky throws from the eleven meters.
“I had practiced it for two years before. I just realized that all the goalkeepers always jumped to one side or the other, so it would be nice to throw it down the middle,” he said on one occasion.