Interview

Don’t expect a scorpion kick from David Ospina

David Ospina

He’s set to start his second major cup final for us on Sunday, and it’s clear that Arsène Wenger has full faith in David Ospina.

He isn’t the first Colombian goalkeeper to line up at Wembley - compatriot Rene Higuita wowed everyone inside the stadium when he performed an outrageous scorpion kick in a friendly with England - but we’re unlikely to see anything similar from our No 13 on Sunday.

“I wouldn’t really be happy [if he tried it], no!” Wenger said. “I think that shows as well that football has changed. These kind of characters have disappeared from the game. 

“With the importance of every single result, there is less room for this kind of improvisation and more individual responsibility on the players.

“We would all agree that the quality of the game has gone up. It has gone up. This kind of distraction, yes, it is detrimental to this kind of distraction that everybody talks about. It is like there are some people have given their name to some technical movements that you would not dare to think about the possibility today. Like a Panenka in a European Championship final. 

“These kind of things, you don’t see them anymore because of the risk. The balance between creativity and the risk has become in favour of, “Let’s be cool”. The press conferences are an example of that as well. You can be less free in your talk than you were 20 years ago.”

So how does Wenger decide which of his goalkeepers will play in certain competitions?

“I tell them at the start,” he explained. “There is a competition before the first league game starts, I tell them who will start in the Premier League. If the keeper does not perform I get them in and say look you cannot play in the next game. 

“Cech has performed well. If Ospina becomes No 1, Cech will become the cup goalkeeper.”