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It is a moment Brentford’s Dango Ouattara will want to forget.

While West Ham are celebrating their place in the FA Cup quarter-finals, Ouattara will be regretting his costly decision to try a Panenka in Monday night’s tense penalty shootout after a 2-2 draw.

His weak, dinked effort was simply caught by Hammers goalkeeper Alphonse Areola for the only missed spot-kick as Brentford’s dreams of a first major cup final vanished for another season.

Igor Thiago twice cancelled out Jarrod Bowen goals in normal time but, fielding a strong side, Brentford ultimately lost out to a much-changed West Ham.

Bees boss Keith Andrews was quick to defend the 24-year-old forward, though.

He said: “When you miss a penalty it is a tough moment, but it is easier to not take a penalty than take a penalty.

“We’ve had it in the past when people have been persecuted and ridiculed for missing a penalty on the biggest stage and that’s ridiculous.

“He practices that technique a lot and will have the utmost support from me and everyone around.”

Former West Ham forward Joe Cole told TNT: “He [Dango Ouattara] looked so confident, he took his time and looked in complete control and he did that – it’s unexplainable.

“He was outstanding, really good, but that does not matter when you miss a penalty in a shootout. You don’t want to chastise the lad – I hope he doesn’t do it again in his career.”

The Panenka takes its name from Antonin Panenka, who famously chipped his penalty down the middle to win the 1976 European Championship for Czechoslovakia.

The game against reigning champions West Germany had ended 2-2 after extra time in Yugoslavia, with a penalty shootout to decide the winner.

When Uli Hoeness smashed his spot-kick over the bar, Czech midfielder Panenka had the chance to win for the underdogs.

After a quick run-up, Panenka floated a delicate chip down the middle to befuddle goalkeeper Sepp Maier and win the trophy for Czechoslovakia.

It was not the first time Panenka had attempted such a penalty. In fact, he had scored for his club side Bohemians against local rival Dukla Prague in the same manner just a month earlier.

There is no doubt that if a player misses a Panenka, the criticism seems to be more severe than if a tame effort towards the corner was saved.

“You will get people moaning because they see it as something different,” former Bristol City and Swansea striker Lee Trundle told BBC Sport.

Trundle, who was known for attempting eye-catching flicks and tricks, took penalties throughout his career and although he never took a Panenka as a pro, he did so successful playing semi-professionally.

“My thinking of it is that it’s just another way to score a penalty,” he said.

“If you put it left or right and the keeper dives and guesses the right way and he saves it, that’s the same if you do a Panenka and he stays in the middle and saves it.

“If it goes in then everyone says how brilliant it is.”

The stats suggest that going down the middle might actually be the way to go, whether that is going for a Panenka or with power, with 84% of such spot-kicks at the World Cup (since 1966) and the Euros (since 1980) finding the net.

So what is the thought process behind opting for a Panenka? Is it an instinctive decision or something that will have been planned ahead of time?

“When I’ve done it, it’s been about how the game is going,” Trundle added.

“You could be playing really well and have that confidence. I think later on in the game as well, I think that’s where it’s better because the keeper will usually dive.

In the 50 years since Panenka brought the dinked penalty to prominence, it has gradually become more common.

A number of top players, including Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry and Francesco Totti, have successfully used the technique from the spot.

France legend Zinedine Zidane has a claim for taking the most high-pressure Panenka, in the 2006 World Cup final with his penalty hitting the underside of the crossbar and just crossing the line.

It’s probably not what he is most remembered for that night, though.

England have suffered at the hands of the Panenka a couple of times in shootouts, most famously when Italy midfielder Andrea Pirlo nonchalantly beat Joe Hart to change the momentum of the shootout in the Euro 2012 quarter-final.

“For me, Hart seemed to be very confident in himself,” Pirlo said. “I needed to do something to beat him.

“Penalties are a very personal thing but, when I saw him move, I decided to do that. It seemed to be a psychological blow for us.”

Similarly in the 2022 EFL Cup final, with Chelsea keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga making a show of trying to distract the Liverpool players, Fabinho responded by calmly dinking his kick down the middle, much to the delight of the Reds fans behind the goal.

A psychological blow? Well, every Liverpool player proceeded to score as they won 11-10 on penalties.

But for all the notable successes, Ouattara is not the first high-profile miss.

In 1992, Gary Lineker had the chance to match Sir Bobby Charlton’s 49 goals for England in a friendly against Brazil but fluffed his attempted Panenka and ended up one shy of the then-record.

Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero was usually pretty reliable from the spot but was made to look foolish when he attempted a Panenka in May 2021 as Chelsea went on to win 2-1 after the penalty save from Edouard Mendy.

Wing Tom Roebuck denies that England’s squad unity is fracturing under the pressure of successive losses against Scotland, Ireland and Italy, and the subsequent scrutiny.

Saturday’s defeat by Italy, a first in 33 Test meetings between the teams, has left England on the brink of the worst Six Nations campaign in their history.

An argument between captain Maro Itoje and Fin Smith over whether to kick for goal or to the corner from a second-half penalty was picked up on the referee’s microphone, with Itoje tetchily telling his fly-half “don’t argue with me, take the three”.

In the wake of the defeat, the Rugby Football Union released a statement backing head coach Steve Borthwick, while admitting results had been “hugely disappointing” and insisting it would attempt to “understand and rectify” the reasons behind their underwhelming campaign.

Sam Warburton told BBC Rugby Special that he thinks there is more to England’s nose-diving form than is apparent from outside.

“Something is going on, I think, behind closed doors,” said the former Wales and British and Irish Lions captain.

Roebuck insists however that the players remain united.

“We had a conversation on the pitch [after the Italy defeat], just the players, about making sure that we stay tight,” he told Rugby Union Weekly.

“We’ve got to stay together, and we’ve got to make sure that it’s us as players who puts things right.

“We get clear messages [from the coaches] every week. We may tweak little bits, depending on the team we play, but as a whole, we know the gameplan that we want to go out and implement.

Roebuck, 25, believes the team spirit built up over a year-long 12-match winning run that ended three weeks ago at Murrayfield will now help England climb out of their slump.

“I think the more tight you are, the more honest conversations you can have,” he added.

“When you are that tight, you almost know that it’s not meant in a malicious way or a bad way.

“When you have those honest conversations, they come from a place of love, which is always a good thing, and you can really understand each other better.”

England’s faltering attack has been a focus of attention.

Highly rated Bath attack coach Lee Blackett was appointed to the England set-up in September after a successful secondment on the summer tour of Argentina and the United States.

Scrum-half Ben Spencer, who worked under him at Bath, insists Blackett is operating as he did at club level.

“He’s definitely been himself,” said Spencer.

“He’s a great guy, he’s brilliant around the lads and he’s one of those guys who really gets the best out of people.

“He’s always speaking really positively around the group about scoring four tries in every game that we play.

“So in terms of that, I’ve definitely seen the same side of Lee that we saw at Bath.

“We’re all in this together, coaches, players, we’re going through a tough time at the minute. We had a great 2025 and that’s where we want to get back to and the only way we’re going to do it is together.”

Spencer says the faith is mutual, with the coaches giving the players freedom to go off-script and ignore a gameplan in which contestable high balls are a key way of moving up the pitch, if they see another opportunity.

“We’re absolutely given the licence,” said Spencer, who kicked the ball 14 times out of hand, the most of any player, in the defeat by Italy.

“It’s something that Lee talks about and Steve talks about in terms of playing what we see.

Jack Draper will continue his Indian Wells title defence against Novak Djokovic after an impressive win on Monday – while Cameron Norrie claimed a major third-round scalp.

British number one Draper beat Argentina’s world number 20 Francisco Cerundolo 6-1 7-5 to set up a last-16 meeting with 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic.

Djokovic, the world number three, overcame American Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-4 1-6 6-4 to keep his own campaign going.

Draper, 24, returned last week after an eight-month absence from the ATP Tour because of an arm injury.

And the world number 14 continued his comeback with a more commanding performance than he delivered during his second-round win over Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut.

He is glad to be back but eager to stress these are early days in his mission to recover prime form.

“I’m only just getting to the point where I’m playing without pain in my arm, so it’s not easy to feel really confident,” Draper told Sky Sports.

Draper claimed the first set inside 32 minutes before Cerundolo provided a sterner test in the second, breaking Draper’s serve in the opening game.

A further break meant Cerundolo had the chance to serve for the set at 5-4 up, but Draper resisted and took the next three games to clinch victory on his first match point.

Draper’s win means he will face 38-year-old Djokovic for the first time since he took the first set off the defending champion on his Wimbledon debut in 2021.

“I’ve been watching him since I was a young boy and in my opinion he’s the greatest player of all time,” said Draper.

“When you come up against him you know he’s going to be there mentally, you know he’s going to make it an incredibly tough match and play some crazy tennis. I’m going to have to be ready for that.”

The victories for Norrie and Draper came a day on from fellow Briton Emma Raducanu being well beaten by American Amanda Anisimova, winning only two games and being ousted in 52 minutes.

Norrie is the 27th seed in the men’s draw but played above that status as he earned three breaks en route to victory over De Minaur.

Tottenham‘s Djed Spence a target for Juventus, Real Madrid put Mauricio Pochettino on managerial shortlist, Liverpool consider move for French winger Moussa Diaby.

Juventus are interested in signing Tottenham and England full-back Djed Spence, 25, in the summer. (Gazzetta dello Sport – in Italian)

Liverpool are giving serious thought to signing 26-year-old Al-Ittihad and France winger Moussa Diaby, with the former Aston Villa man keen to leave the Saudi Pro League club this summer. (Teamtalk)

Real Madrid have the USA head coach and former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino on the shortlist of candidates to replace Alvaro Arbeloa in the Bernabeu hot seat ahead of next season. (ESPN)

Newcastle are determined to hold on to midfielder Bruno Guimaraes, 28, and are engaged with contract talks with the Brazil international despite Manchester United‘s interest. (Caughtoffside)

Manchester United will will not rush into appointing a permanent manager despite interim boss Michael Carrick advancing his case. (The Athletic – subscription required)

Newcastle and England defender Tino Livramento, 23, is not close to agreeing to join Manchester City in a summer deal despite speculation. (Fabrizio Romano)

Argentina midfielder Alexis Mac Allister, 27, is not planning to hold talks with Liverpool over a new contract this summer but is happy at Anfield despite links with Real Madrid. (Mundo Deportivo – in Spanish)

Napoli want to extend the contract of Scotland midfielder Scott McTominay until 2030 in a bid to ward off any interest in the 29-year-old this summer. (Il Mattino – in Italian – subscription required)

West Ham striker Callum Wilson has verbally agreed terms on a new one-year contract despite Celtic’s interest in the 34-year-old Englishman. (Sky Sports)

Manchester City are unlikely to trigger a clause which would see talented 16-year-old American midfielder Cavan Sullivan join them from MLS outfit Philadelphia Union next season. (The I – subscription required)

Former Tottenham midfielder Ryan Mason is a leading candidate to replace Igor Tudor as interim boss at Spurs. (Football Insider)