From detailed video analysis to having the penalty takers’ habits broken down in minutiae on a piece of paper taped onto a water bottle, nothing is left to chance when it comes to saving penalties in football these days.

Keeping out a spot kick may have been an art in the past but, like almost every other aspect of the beautiful game, it is very much an exact science now.

And yet, even in the age of marginal gains, there’s still enough room for some glorious, off-the-cuff improvisation. Just ask Jonathan Klinsmann.

With seven minutes remaining of Cesena’s clash against Salernitana on Saturday and the scoreboard still untroubled, the visitors were awarded a penalty with potentially enormous implications at both ends of the table.

Score and Salernitana would temporarily drag themselves out of the relegation quagmire, while simultaneously derailing the Bianconeri‘s promotion push.

As Alberto Cerri stepped up, Klinsmann took a moment to exchange a few words with Ivan. Stood behind the goal in front of the Curva Ferrovia at the Stadio Dino Manuzzi, Ivan was not Cesena’s goalkeeping coach, nor a substitute. Rather, he is a 12-year-old ballboy, who plays for Cesena’s Under-14 team.

“Which way do you think he’ll go?” Klinsmann asked.

The reply was as swift as it was assertive. “He’ll go to your right, I reckon you’ll save it,” replied little Ivan.

“I agree, he’ll go that way,” Klinsmann shot back.

Their exchange proved prescient as the US international guessed the right direction and saved Cerri’s effort, before reacting the quickest to prevent a tap-in by smothering the ball.

Mobbed by his teammates, Klinsmann turned around towards Ivan as he celebrated, pointing his finger at the teenager with a knowing nod. As it turns out, the son of Inter Milan and Tottenham Hotspur legend Jurgen Klinsmann had promised the ballboy his shirt and duly obliged after the final whistle, embracing Ivan and handing over his jersey.

Klinsmann’s save was far more crucial than he or Ivan may have imagined at the time, as barely a minute later Cesena finally broke Salernitana’s resistance through captain Giuseppe Prestia, who headed home Simone Bastoni’s corner to spark absolute pandemonium at the Manuzzi.

Mirko Antenucci then added a second deep into injury time as the Bianconeri sealed a third win in their last four matches and climbed up to sixth, their highest position on the Serie B table since the end of last year.

One of the surprise packages of the first half of the season, the Seahorses‘ hope of a second promotion on the bounce looked dead and buried after a run of five defeats in six matches in December, but they have lost just once in 2025 so far.

With the win against Salernitana, Cesena moved up to 40 points, just three adrift of fourth-placed Catanzaro and in the thick of the play-offs race. Such are the fine margins in Serie B, however, that they only have a two-point buffer over ninth-placed Bari, who are currently the first team outside the play-off spots.

When Klinsmann spoke to Destination Calcio back in November, he stressed he and his teammates weren’t getting carried away despite their excellent start to the season.

“Serie B is a league where anyone can beat anyone on any day,” Klinsmann said.

“So you have to focus on the game in front of you. You can’t worry about the next one after that. Any team can really come out and play well on any day. It’s a fight every time you go out on the field.”

It makes a difference when you can get some help, even if it comes from a ballboy.