TAFFAREL, the craggy Brazilian goalkeeper, has more reason than most to wax lyrical about penalty shoot-outs.

He was, after all, standing between the posts when Roberto Baggio fired Italy’s fifth and final spot-kick high into the Los Angeles evening to gift Brazil the 1994 World Cup.
Moments earlier, he had sprawled to save from Daniele Massaro, the predatory striker who had won that season’s Champions League final for AC Milan.
Yet as ticker tape rained on the Rose Bowl, the born-again Christian shrugged off his part in Brazil’s triumph.

SPOT OF BOTHER: Claudio Taffarel saves a penalty ki...