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Football

09th May 2017

Liverpool child takes football to the face as Georginio Wijnaldum’s needless showboat backfires

So quick, you may miss it

Ben Kiely

You know what they say, it’s all fun and games until a child gets smacked in the face by a football.

30 Liverpool u-9s vs two senior Liverpool senior players… what could possibly go wrong?

Georginio Wijnaldum and Philippe Coutinho played a very unusual game the other day as they took on 30 children from Liverpool’s youth team. It was a nice gesture and a lovely way for the youngsters to meet their heroes, but while there’s strength in numbers, there’s far more strength in… well, strength.

Liverpool tweeted out a brief highlights package and we noticed one moment that may pass you by on the first viewing involving Wijnaldum. It happened in the blink of an eye, but it was a very memorable moment for all the wrong reasons.

The Dutchman was one on one with one of the kids when he decided to use his sheer size to his advantage.

Rather than put in a tackle and risk tears and a lawsuit, he thought the best course of action would be to use the youngin’s momentum against him. He dropped to the mat to create a barrier that could not be passed.

The ballsy move was a success… well, sort of.

The ball bounced loose, making it tricky to regain possession.

And then it happened.

Boom!

The ball hit some poor kid in the face, and that’s when the clip moved swiftly onto another segment of the game.

Check it out in the video embedded below. It starts at around the 44 second mark.

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