Joe Hart willing to take a penalty

England goalkeeper Joe Hart has admitted that he would be willing to take a penalty against Italy if he had to.

The Three Lions take on the Azzurri on Sunday night in the Euro 2012 quarter-finals, and the match could well go to penalties if a winner cannot be decided in 120 minutes of play.

Despite England’s poor track record of taking spot-kicks at international tournaments, the Manchester City stopper has revealed that he would not be reluctant to step up if required.

“If I were to walk up, it wouldn’t be a random blast,’’ The Telegraph quote Hart as saying, who converted his kick in the 2009 Euro Under-21s semi-final in Gothenburg. “I picked my way as best I could. When I practice them, I put them in all parts of the goal.

“I missed one for Shrewsbury in a League Cup game [against Sheffield United in 2005] but it hit the stanchion and came out. It was a good penalty.

“I’ll definitely put my name forward but we’ve got some quality players in this squad and if there are five other potentially better than me, I’ll be cool with that.

“Penalties are a lottery. There’s this jinx about us never beating the Germans in a shoot-out and then Chelsea went and blew that out the water,” he concluded.

By Gareth McKnight

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