Fabien Barthez Photo: VCG

Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter is likely better known by its English title The Goalkeeper's Fear of the Penalty.

The book, written by Peter Handke, was adapted by the author into the 1972 German-language film that remains a cult classic nearly 50 years on.

In it a goalkeeper named Joseph Bloch (played by Arthur Brauss) wanders from the field during the middle of a game to instead wander the streets of Berlin. From there the plot includes murder and the attempts to rekindle the affections of a former lover before hiding in plain sight.

The title of the film, which is also known as The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick, comes from a scene near the end.

The goalkeeper is in the crowd at a football match and explains to a traveling salesman he is with what goes through the mind of a goalkeeper as they await a penalty kick.

An existential crisis worthy of a detective film is the answer, or some would say you're better not knowing about the thought process of goalkeepers at all.

Outfield players - and managers who did not play in net during their own playing days - tend to be of the opinion that it takes a certain mental makeup to play in goals.

Of all the positions in football it is the one where you are most likely to be blamed if something goes wrong and the one with the least room for error.

As football fans we so rarely remember the saves, even if they can have just as big an effect on changing the momentum or scoreline of a game. We remember the mistakes, well enough. They get compiled into end-of-season video reminders for posterity, or at least they used to, now they tend to be shared immediately on social media.

But what of the point where there is no blame to apportion (as long as no goalkeeping coaches are reading, of course), those goals where nothing can be done?

The goalkeeper here often remains forgotten, despite playing as big a part as the scorer of said goal.

Who for instance remembers the goalkeeper who was playing when Roberto Carlos scored that free kick at Le Tournoi in 1997?

Carlos dined out on that for years - he probably still is, truth be told - and it also earned him a reputation for being a free kick taker feared throughout the football world. That reputation might deserve being looked at again after his career ended without another physics defying free kick of note.

The answer to who was the victim of a shot that bypassed the wall by appearing to be going wide before altering direction in the manner that most footballers save for mid-season tour taxi journeys (or commitments to see out a contract) was Fabien Barthez.

France's keeper that fateful day would have his revenge 12 months later when the two sides met in the World Cup final in Paris and the game ended with the hosts crowned world champions.

Barthez would go on to play his club football for Manchester United where he summed up everthing memorable about goalkeepers. There was the same pre-match ritual with Laurent Blanc where the defender kissed his head that had won France the World Cup, there were catastrophic errors, and there were some astounding saves.

The forgettable



There was also the forgettable - and not the time he tried to get manager Alex Ferguson to play him up front for the side in a preseason friendly.

Barthez was the United goalkeeper on the afternoon of October 1, 2000 when his France teammate Thierry Henry got the ball with his back to goal, flicked it around the corner and before it had bounced, volleyed it on the turn over Barthez into the Highbury goal.

It is one of the English Premier League's defining goals and Henry is rightly lauded for the daring, ingenuity and impudence to try it. Barthez for his part, and he probably had the best view of it in the house, has been forgotten.

The same could be said of those who have been the poor soul to pick the ball out of the net after the greatest goals in the game.

Wherever there is a goal, there is a goalkeeper with his head in his hands or looking in disbelief or screaming at his defenders before getting the ball out of the goal for the restart.

Olvier Kahn will definitely remember the final 90 seconds or so of the 1999 UEFA Champions League final against Manchester United. The German keeper did little wrong but had to pick the ball out of his goal twice as the English club came back from 1-0 down going into injury time to win 2-1. When the collective memories are exercised by United fans on May 26 this year, the 21st anniversary, few will recall Kahn.

It will be the same way with the England fans who recount Paul Gascoigne's terrific solo goal agaisnt Scotland at Euro '96. Gascoine gets the ball from Darren Anderton and takes it his stride as he advances up the Wembley turf towards the Scotland goal. One touch and the ball sails over Colin Hendry before Gascoigne volleys home. The next image is the ball hitting the back of the net and then that iconic celebration. Scotland keeper Andy Goram is forgotten, despite having one of the most eye-catching goalkeeper kits that set a new benchmark for visibility.

Pick any goal - and we are watching an awful lot of them as the break from football because of the coronavirus threatens to extend everywhere bar the few countries who have got back to the game - and try to remember who was in goals. It's not that easy, is it? They will definitely remember, as they probably remember every goal they have conceded, but can you?

Never mind the goalkeeper's fear of the penalty kick, they have a legitimate fear of being forgotten in this current wave of football nostalgia.