Bournemouth forward Justin Kluivert has admitted he used to be terrified of penalties, a problem he clearly doesn’t have anymore.
Voetbal Primeur cover comments from the Bournemouth star today after a big weekend for the 25-year-old.
He became the first player in Premier League history to score a hattrick of penalties in the same game, scoring three times from the spot in the 4-2 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
It was a big day for the Bournemouth man, who took his tally to five goals and two assists in 14 games this season and added to his growing collection of very individual records. For those that don’t know, Kluivert is one of only two players to have scored in all of Europe’s top five leagues in the 21st century.
He’s now very much established in the Premier League, finding his feet with Bournemouth after a career which had previously threatened to never take off or see him establish himself anywhere.
That came after he emerged from Ajax’s youth ranks, where he admits he used to shy away from penalty taking duty, something he’ll no longer be able to do after his weekend heroics.
“Strangely enough, I didn’t even know I was a specialist,” he told Algemeen Dagblad.
“In the past, in Ajax’s youth, I was often too scared to take one. I was young then and I found it all far too exciting. Over the years, I taught myself how to do it and I mainly trained for it. So far, it’s going very well. I’m happy with that.
“These are moments that you will never forget. Even after your career, you think back to this as one of the highlights. I thought it was wonderful to hear after a match in which I was allowed to take three penalty shots and score that this had never happened before.”
