Antonín Panenka

"When we got home, we felt a little bit anxious. I felt that even though I had a name and a position, I was still so little here, and that they could do whatever they wanted with me, with us. It happened to me several times when crossing the border, when they found out that I had a few crowns they wanted to take my passport, because they thought that I was carrying money and things like that. It was typical for them - to degrade a man and harm him. Whereas, when we crossed the border into Austria, optimism fell on us, we felt free, we knew that they would leave us alone, that there would be no such things. Even the children felt it and said: 'We cross the border and everything is nice here. Fields tidy, villages nice.' It was a completely different world, really like waving with a magic wand. I was happy at home, but so many times a man was humiliated. At the border, they even stripped me completely naked once. I was the best player in Austria and in this way they wanted to show their power. It was terribly humiliating and unpleasant."

"I came home and in the evening I received a telegram: 'Come here, you are nominated for the national team.' It was a huge surprise for me, it was not usual to go from the second league to the national team. I accepted it with pleasure. The next day I went to a meeting. I think that we were flying to Copenhagen in the afternoon or the following day. They told me, 'You have to put on a suit like everyone else.' They took me to a warehouse somewhere and said, 'We only have one suit of Olda Urban here.' Olda Urban was a two-meter strong man, a huge body, and when I took his jacket, I had it as a coat. When I took the pants, I rolled them up about twelve times so that they fit in my waist. I looked like I had a swimming ring there. In such clothes I went to Denmark for the qualification, but I didn't get the opportunity there, we played 1: 1. Then I started the match in Scotland, it was an incredible debut for me. I had never played in front of a hundred thousand people, in front of such a visit, in such an atmosphere. I played at Bohemians, where only eleven fourteen thousand people went. The match with the Scots was important, they had an incredible name. I was done. As we entered the pitch, Jordan, a Manchester United player, came to me and said, 'Vrr!' He had no teeth, only two and otherwise a completely empty mouth. You could have knocked me down with a feather, I got so scared. It was autumn, terribly cold. The stadium got full in an hour and a half before the match, hundred thousand people. The fans had short sleeves, red hands, red funny faces and sang. The Salvation Army was running around the pitch, carrying the fainted people on stretchers. When I saw it while warming up, I thought to myself: I may not even start playing. I was shaking like a leaf."

"I remember that we got to Náměstí Míru, where there were Russian tanks from Londýnská Street, from Bělehradská street. A lot of the boys - I wasn't so active - threw trash cans at them, threw cobblestones. They were against them. Suddenly, the tanks started going ahead and they began to push people and the whole Náměstí Míru was crammed into the church of St. Ludmila. There was silence really like in a church, it was crowded with people. There was only one aisle. Silence like in a church. Someone came with a submachine gun, he had a reed and he slapped it in his hand. They chose someone and examined their hands. And they found out that those who had dirty hands were throwing cobblestones. So, they picked them up and took them somewhere. It was blessing in disguise, that they chose me too. Fortunately, I didn't throw the cobblestones. My hands were clean, so they let me go. Perhaps, it was fate that I didn't have my hands dirty, for example from something else. Otherwise, I might not be here right now. No one knows."

"Before I started, I already almost finished, because I got a ball in the eye at the winter tournament in the Tatra Mountains in Smíchov. I didn't see it and they took me in a jersey right to a hospital, where I stayed for two months. I had to undergo quite a complicated eye surgery. Fortunately, it turned out well and I never doubted that I would be able to play football. I was optimistic about it, so it turned out well. I must say that the professor who operated on my eye said, 'It must have been a big punch, it looks like that a horse kicked you!' I just got a sharp ball that was covered in glazed frost and slag in my face without being able to react. My eye was open so I couldn't see. At that time, it was said that when a person got a ball in the face, in the nose, it was said that he was smoking. I got it in my nose and the boys laughed and said, 'Have an American cigarette!' And I didn't see, so I didn't laugh that much."