Close, but no cigar… not even a goal for his troubles.
Whenever an athlete tries something that strays from the conventional thinking of their respective field (sound the football pun klaxon!), there are always two possibilities.
Either it comes off and they’re praised for being innovative, and having the requisite cojones to attempt it during an actual competitive game.
Or, they come up short and they’re shamed for trying something “so stupid”. The latter happened to Neymar on Wednesday night.
While Barca were 3-0 up in the Copa del Rey against Valencia, Neymar had the chance to convert a spot-kick after Valencia had a man red carded.
For some reason, the Brazilian decided the best technique to employ was to take a couple of steps back and wait, and presumably keep waiting until the goalkeeper had slipped it a long sleep.
Aeons passed, civilisations crumbled and were rebuilt, there were a couple more Ice Ages (the geological period, not more installments of the children’s movie franchise) and then Neymar started his short run-up and struck the penalty.
It hit the post and went down as a miss.
Ouch.
Despite the game finishing 7-0 in favour of Barca, Neymar’s penalty is quickly going viral.
