If you want to score in the nervewracking atmosphere of a penalty shootout then don't play for English Premiership side Aston Villa.

Swedish captain Olof Mellberg followed English clubmate Darius Vassell in having his spotkick saved in a shootout at Euro 2004, Dutch keeper Edwin van der Sar stopped his on Saturday and Arjen Robben then shot home the decisive penalty to send Sweden out 5-4 on penalties.

However they are not the first Villa players to suffer the awful feeling of having let your country and team-mates down after missing a penalty, Gareth Southgate did so in the Euro 96 semi-final when he missed against Germany.

While Vassell issued a statement to express his gratitude for the support he had received and say how devastated he was it will probably take him time to relate exactly what it felt like to go up and take it.

However the erudite Southgate, who would have been in Sven-Goran Eriksson's squad this time but for injury, described the nightmare experience in his autobiography.

"The walk seemed to take forever and it struck me how dark the night had become.

"Andreas Kopke (the German goalkeeper) threw the ball out, and it struck the crossbar and rebounded to the far side of the penalty area. I knew what he was doing; he was trying to spook me, to string the whole thing out. It worked," wrote Southgate, who is now with Middlesbrough.

However there could be an upside for both Vassell and Mellberg which may also prove to be therapeutic as they follow Southgate and other England players who missed penalties, Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle, into promoting a pizza restaurant - which might leave them a bit less cheesed off.