Gabriel Paletta spot kick shocker in Chinese FA Cup joins pantheon of worst penalties ever
Despite Italian’s miss, Jiangsu Suning go through to the next round after edging thriller with Tianjin Quanjian by winning 8-7 in the shoot-out
The Buenos Aires-born Italy international stepped up for his side’s fifth penalty but instead of winning the shoot-out for his team he struck the ball well over the bar, although the former Italy international could at least point to the pitch as a contributing factor after he had taken a divot out of a playing surface that had seen heavy rain in Tianjin.
Former AC Milan defender Paletta steps up to take a penalty in China. Shoots over the moon. SergioRamosesque, right? The pitch played a big role, though. #ACMilan #SerieA pic.twitter.com/FG6QamKRwk— Emanuel Roşu (@Emishor) May 1, 2018
The visitors won in the end, triumphing 8-7 on spot kicks after the game had finished 2-2 in normal time, but it will be remembered for Paletta’s penalty – one is sure to end up on Youtube compilations.
He’s in illustrious company, at least.
There were shades of David Beckham’s penalty at Euro 2004 when England were knocked out by Portugal.