VIDEO: A very expensive penalty fail

A SPOT OF BOTHER – The moment when Maicosuel executed his crap penalty (pic: YouTube)

If there’s one thing in life better than a successful Panenka penalty, it’s a Panenka penalty going badly wrong. And if there’s one thing better than that, it’s a Panenka failure that costs a club several million euros in lost revenue.

With home advantage on their side and an away goal in the bag, Udinese were heavy favourites to book their place milking the cash cow of the Champions League in the group stages by seeing off Sporting Braga of Portugal. It didn’t go to plan however and after a 1-1 draw after extra time, the match went to penalties.

Then Udinese midfielder, Maicosuel had a brain wave, deciding to go for the casual chip down the middle invented by the Czechoslovakian player who the penalty is named after. Sadly for the Brazilian, it was easier to read than a large print edition of Little Red Riding Hood and Beto, the goalkeeper, stood still and coolly caught the smartass penalty. To make matters worse, everyone else scored their penalties, making the exit directly attributable to this moment.

Still though, it’s not all bad news for the Zebras. They’ve booked their place in the Europa League for the season ahead. ‘Canale 5, Giovedi notti‘ as they probably don’t say in Italy.