While Brice Samba might not be everyone’s favourite cup of tea at Nottingham Forest these days, there’s no denying the goalkeeper was one of the reasons the club made it back to the Premier League, as his penalty shootout heroics against Sheffield United in the Championship playoffs led to the Tricky Trees great return to the top flight, before he left for Lens in Ligue 1.
He has continued to establish himself as a reliable and strong goalkeeper away from Nottingham Forest, and has now been called up for the first time by Didier Deschamps to the France squad following the retirements of Steve Mandanda and Hugo Lloris.
To celebrate the occasion, he sat down with L’Equipe, where he was asked about various moments in his career.
One of those was the day where he ‘disheartened’ penalty takers on May 17th 2022, saving three penalties, ensuring that Nottingham Forest made it to the playoff final.
He said: “That day, I was blessed. In a career, it happens very few times. Those penalties, we’d worked them a lot. We’d had a one and a half hour video sessions. It was long. When I was facing them, I remembered a sentence from my goalkeeping coach: ‘There’s two types of penalties. There’s those with no pressure at 3-0 or those under pressure, and when you’re under pressure, you go back to the basics, and to your habits’.
“Penalties? It’s a really interesting psychological duel that I love. In training, I try to take some, and I see how hard it is. It’s difficult when a goalkeeper moves, talks to you, it unsettles you. Martínez in the final against France? It was borderline. He did what he could with his means. Every goalkeeper is different. He did that…”
Since leaving Nottingham Forest, Samba has helped Lens to a spectacular third place in Ligue 1, conceding just 21 goals in 28 league games, keeping 11 clean sheets along the way.
