The fans voted Jonas Hector’s decisive winning penalty in the quarter-final of the European Champions against Italy as the Goal of the Year for 2016. The 26-year old FC Köln defender won with 37.7% of the votes for his winning penalty, beating Mario Gomez’s goal against England in March 2016 (19.1%) and Bastian Schweinsteiger’s goal against Ukraine at the Euros (17.3%) to win the award. Jonas Hector spoke to DFB.de about scoring from the spot and the pressure he was under before taking that penalty at the Euros.
DFB.de: Congratulations on winning Goal of the Year, Mr. Hector! What does it mean to you?
Jonas Hector: Thank you very much. It really means a lot that the fans voted for me to win Goal of the Year 2016. Thank you to all those who voted.
DFB.de: Can you comprehend why the fans would vote a goal scored from a penalty as their Goal of the Year for 2016? There were a lot of outstanding goals to choose from.
Hector: Yes, because it was the decisive goal in an extremely exciting and important match. It was the quarter-final of the European Championships and the match meant a lot for both sides. It was my penalty that sent us through to the next round.
DFB.de: How would you rank your qualities as a penalty taker?
Hector: Before the shootout, the head coach deemed by abilities as good enough to take a penalty.
DFB.de: How did you feel and what was going through your head on the way to the penalty spot, taking the shot and after the ball went in?
The fans voted Jonas Hector’s decisive winning penalty in the quarter-final of the European Champions against Italy as the Goal of the Year for 2016. The 26-year old FC Köln defender won with 37.7% of the votes for his winning penalty, beating Mario Gomez’s goal against England in March 2016 (19.1%) and Bastian Schweinsteiger’s goal against Ukraine at the Euros (17.3%) to win the award. Jonas Hector spoke to DFB.de about scoring from the spot and the pressure he was under before taking that penalty at the Euros.
DFB.de: Congratulations on winning Goal of the Year, Mr. Hector! What does it mean to you?
Jonas Hector: Thank you very much. It really means a lot that the fans voted for me to win Goal of the Year 2016. Thank you to all those who voted.
DFB.de: Can you comprehend why the fans would vote a goal scored from a penalty as their Goal of the Year for 2016? There were a lot of outstanding goals to choose from.
Hector: Yes, because it was the decisive goal in an extremely exciting and important match. It was the quarter-final of the European Championships and the match meant a lot for both sides. It was my penalty that sent us through to the next round.
DFB.de: How would you rank your qualities as a penalty taker?
Hector: Before the shootout, the head coach deemed by abilities as good enough to take a penalty.
DFB.de: How did you feel and what was going through your head on the way to the penalty spot, taking the shot and after the ball went in?
Hector: Before the penalty I felt a mixture of nervousness and concentration. On the way to the spot I was thinking about the corner I wanted to put the ball in. If I remember correctly, I changed my mind twice about where I wanted to go. After that, it was just about slotting the ball home. Once I scored, I just felt complete joy and relief. Then my teammates all came running after me.
DFB.de: You took the 18th penalty, with seven previous efforts already saved. After you, there was only Benedikt Höwedes and Manuel Neuer left to take one. How much were you hoping not to take a penalty? How was the decision reached?
Hector: Those things weren’t going through my mind. I just got the signal: “Now it’s your turn.” That’s all I did.
DFB.de: Let’s assume that you didn’t want to take the penalty and then subsequently lost the shootout. How angry would you have been with yourself? Or to put it another way: from your point of view, how important was it to have this experience of taking and then converting the penalty?
Hector: That’s all very hypothetical. The fact is that I stepped up and scored. Overall, it was a very intense experience. Nevertheless, we can’t change the fact that we went on to lose the semi-final against France.
DFB.de: Since that goal, have you practised penalties differently or more intensely?
Hector: No, neither of those two.
