How Penalty Shootouts Decide Knockout Football Matches
The PSG versus Aston Villa reference needs a factual distinction. Their 2025 UEFA Champions League quarterfinal was played over two legs: Paris won the first leg 3-1, and Aston Villa won the second 3-2. Paris advanced 5-4 on aggregate, so the tie did not go to a penalty shootout. The available match reports and competition records also do not establish that Christos Tzolis took a penalty in that fixture. A social post mentioning a Tzolis kick may be referring to another match or may have combined separate clips. It should not be treated as proof of an incident in PSG-Aston Villa.
A shootout is used only when a knockout competition's regulations require a winner and the teams remain level after the permitted match time, including extra time where applicable. It is separate from a penalty awarded during open play. The referee conducts a coin toss to choose the goal, and another toss determines which team kicks first. Teams then take five kicks each, alternating. The team with more successful kicks after the same number wins. If the score remains level, the contest continues one kick per team in sudden-death rounds until one team leads after both have taken the same number.
Only eligible players can participate. In general, that means players who were on the field when the match ended, subject to the competition's rules for temporary injury absences and substitutions. Every eligible player must take a kick before any player takes a second. A goalkeeper takes a turn like any other eligible player, and a team may replace a goalkeeper who cannot continue under the applicable rules. Teams may also have to reduce their number of eligible players if one side has fewer players because of a sending-off.
The goalkeeper has a limited advantage at the moment of the kick. Under the Laws of the Game, the keeper must remain on the goal line, between the posts, facing the kicker, with part of at least one foot touching, in line with, or behind the line when the ball is kicked. The keeper may move laterally, but cannot unfairly distract the kicker or leave early. Depending on what happens, an infringement can produce a retake or disciplinary action. The kicker must be clearly identified, cannot touch the ball again until another player does, and the kick ends when the ball stops, goes out, or the goalkeeper controls it.
That structure makes a shootout both decisive and limited. It tests a small set of individual kicks after a team contest, but it does not prove which side was superior for 120 minutes. A missed attempt can eliminate a team even when the match was balanced, which is why a single kick can decide a knockout tie without making the surrounding social-media narrative reliable.