Brice Samba has been explaining to L’Equipe exactly how he helped Nottingham Forest defeat Sheffield United in May. The stopper produced three penalty saves during a shootout against the Blades to send the Reds to Wembley for the final.
Samba announced his intention to leave the City Ground shortly after the promotion victory. He held a desire to return to France and didn’t agree to a new contract with the Reds.
The 28-year-old signed for Lens in Ligue 1. His form back in France has been so good that he was recently rewarded with a place in the France squad by Didier Deschamps.
Samba’s saves last season during that play-off clash with Sheffield United were remarkable. His last save came when he stopped Morgan Gibbs-White’s effort, with the 23-year-old now at Forest.
Now, the goalkeeper has been discussing those heroics. He has shared how he kept himself composed enough to save the penalties and claimed he has his coach’s words rining in his ears.
He told L’Equipe: “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 session. It was long.
“When I was facing them, I remembered a sentence from my goalkeeping coach: ‘There are 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’.”
Samba has explained how he helped Forest beat Sheffield United
The goalkeeper born in the Democratic Republic of Congo was a cult hero at Forest. It wasn’t always his goalkeeper that caught the eye, with the player a master of the dark arts.
Samba was a brilliant signing made by Sabri Lamouchi in 2019. He quickly became the first-choice custodian in the team and went on to make 133 appearances for the Reds.
Forest fans still wish Samba well. It really would be the icing on an unbelievable 12 months if he manages to get onto the pitch for France during their forthcoming games.