THIS is the bizarre moment a footballer gifts his rivals a last-gasp penalty after touching the ball with his hand as he congratulates his keeper on a save.
Yann Baldez rushed up to goalie Moises Freitas to pat him on the head after he helped make sure the scoresheet stayed at 2-1 in favour of Maranhao in the dying minutes of their cup match against ABC on Sunday.
But in the emotion of the moment he managed to touch the ball as well as his teammate as he lay on the ground in his own penalty area.
The ref pointed to the 12-yard spot and ABC’s Chilean striker Javier Parraguez saw his shot saved first time round before equalising with the rebound, seven minutes into second-half stoppage time.
The extraordinary moment, which was being described by local media today as one of the most bizarre penalties ever, occurred during a Brazilian football competition involving Northeastern region teams called the Copa do Nordeste.
Serie C side ABC was playing at home at the Frasqueirao Stadium in the city of Natal.
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Footage of the moment Baldez gave away a penalty appeared to show him patting the ball TWICE as his keeper lay on the ground shielding it after an ABC defender put in a key tackle to stop a Maranhao attack.
The astonished goalie was filmed looking at his teammate in disbelief as he saw him make contact with the ball before the ref awarded a penalty.
One social media user, calling the penalty “the most bizarre I’ve ever seen in my life,” said: “The fact the keeper saved the spot kick and the Maranhao striker scored with the rebound made it even more painful.”
Another claimed: “Half the players don’t know the rules of the sport they practice.”
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In March last year soccer fans in Argentina were left baffled after witnessing a spot kick dubbed at the time as the “most stupid penalty in football history”.
Top-flight team Independiente was awarded the bizarre penalty during a clash with Colon.
Watch hilarious moment player gives away bizarre penalty
Colon goalkeeper Ignacio Chicco initially placed the ball on the six-yard line before teammate Paulo Goltz motioned he should take it.
Chicco passed the ball a yard to his right, with Goltz picking it up to place the ball himself.
The Independiente players started jumping up and down appealing for a penalty, claiming Chicco had taken the kick therefore Goltz had handballed it.
The referee initially waved away the home side protesters, motioning for players to stop surrounding him.
But incredibly VAR intervened and eventually opted to give a spot kick which Martin Cauteruccio converted to level the game at 1-1.
Like Sunday’s cup game in Brazil the match finished 2-2.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
