Thibaut Courtois impressed from the spot in training before his dreadful penalty at Wembley sent Chelsea towards Community Shield defeat.
Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte insisted goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was one of his squad's best penalty takers in practice before his shoot-out horror show at Wembley in the Community Shield.
Belgium international Courtois had the chance to be the Premier League champions' hero between the posts in the traditional season curtain raiser after Arsenal newboy Sead Kolasinac cancelled out Victor Moses' opener to secure a 1-1 draw but he stepped forward to face down opposite number Petr Cech from 12 yards, blazing horribly over the bar to allow their city rivals run away with the first title of the season.
However Antonio Conte has refused to blame his goalkeeper for the miss, claiming the Belgian is one of his best penalty takers.
"Courtois is one of the best players to kick a penalty," Conte told a post-match news conference.
"If you have a player that shows you during the training session to be one of the best, you pick him to play, to shoot the penalty. Don't forget also that Morata is a forward and he did the same."
Chelsea lost 4-1 on penalties in a game between last season’s Premier League winners and the FA Cup kings. \
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