"As a player it is a little bit strange, because sometimes you need the feeling," he later told FIFA.

"I'd hardly touched the ball and wasn't even warm. Then you have to make that penalty in front of 80,000 who are against you and, of course, the whole world is watching it.

"That was the first time that I was a little bit nervous taking a penalty," he said.

"When I started running, I was thinking: 'which side am I going to shoot?' It was more or less always in the right side of the goal. At the last step, I thought 'no, I'm going to shoot the other way'. It was not my intention to kick the ball straight through the middle."

But, he also said: "If you're not sure, just hit it as hard as possible. If you don't know where it's going, neither will the keeper."

The West Germans fought back, equalizing with the second ever World Cup final penalty, converted by Paul Breitner, and winning with a goal by Gerd Muller.

Despite the loss, "that tournament was a dream", Neeskens told FIFA. "I was 22 and a key player."

The Dutch had caught the eye, but West Germany took the trophy.

"We lost that game, but everybody was talking about our team and our football," Neeskens recalled. "We deserved to win that final."