Keep calm and carry on playing like the Netherlands' Dean Huijsen

Sitting watching a penalty shoot-out is nerve-wracking for fans, and many players are terrified by what they feel is a trial from 12 yards. But give Dean Huijsen the opportunity to score a spot-kick and the towering Netherlands defender will take it all in his giant stride.

The Dutch squad boasts attacking players from clubs like Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord, but it is the Juventus centre-back who has the team's spot-kick duties. In the heat of Israel, he executed them icily in group-stage defeats of Poland and France, as well as with the all-important first penalty in the semi-final shoot-out with Serbia.

"Usually, I'm really calm when I play. I trust myself, and I just think I'm going to score. I don't think about what if I miss, because you only get stressed," the 17-year-old tells UEFA.com in a measured tone that mirrors his playing style.

"I practise a few penalties before the game, and during the week too. But I think that if you can't shoot a penalty here, how are you going to shoot a penalty when you're in the Champions League final? What are you going to do? I think to myself that if you can't shoot a penalty now, you can't consider yourself a big-game player."

Calm though he is, Huijsen's uncanny ability to handle pressure — the cornerstone to becoming a top footballer — betrays the single-mindedness and maturity also required to make it in the game.

That perhaps stems in part from being moved out of his comfort zone when his parents emigrated from the Netherlands to Spain when he was just five. Having become fluent in Spanish, Huijsen also developed his football skills at the Malaga youth academy to the point that Juventus became his next port of call in summer 2021.

"I don't think about what if I miss, because you only get stressed," says Dean Huijsen of his penalty-taking mindset

"It's a big difference," says Huijsen, who has opted out of the usual educational cycle of aspiring footballers over the last 12 months to focus on learning Italian to ensure he would settle in quickly in Turin.

"Firstly, in Italy, as a defender, it's different, I've seen that in the last year. Real details, little things that I've learned that I don't think I'd learn anywhere else. It's about positioning; when you get a long ball played in behind you, how to turn quicker, how to block a shot. It's really little things, but it helps."

Having unfolded his 1.95m frame out of the armchair to demonstrate how his Italian coaches have taught him to block a shot, Huijsen settles into it again just as smoothly as he and the rest of Mischa Visser's squad have eased their way into the final.

"It's gone great. The first match, we were losing 1-0 from the start, and came back and dominated the game. We've dominated games since, been the better team in my opinion. You can see we are becoming more of a team with each game we play, and everyone is happy for each other," adds Huijsen, part of a side that has turned scoring late goals into an art form.

"We always keep believing, fight to the end. Against France, we scored three times in the closing stages, and we scored in the last minute against Poland. We just keep on playing. We don't stress too much, we don't change our tactics for no reason."