This is undoubtedly one of the most absurd penalties, which will find its place in the unusual archives of football. There are about ten minutes left to play in Avellaneda and Independiente and Colon are tied (1-1) on the 8th day of the first phase of the Argentine championship.
On a six-yard clearance, visitor goalkeeper Inacio Chicco shifts the ball for his defender Paolo Goltz, placed just to his right. The Argentinian veteran (37 years old) then grabs it… with his hands, to calmly put it back at the corner of the six-meter line and restart, having won a few seconds in passing.
The Independiente players then run in all directions and raise their arms to the sky to demand a penalty from the referee, already under pressure for disputed decisions since the start of the match and a first penalty kick awarded to the hosts ( and transformed) in the first period.
Despite the immense bronca that invades the stadium, Mr. Lamolina initially refuses to whistle. Then, under pressure, he decided to resort to VAR. So there is confusion. After a few palavers, the man in black (a shade of gray in this case) changes his mind and finally designates the penalty spot.
The Santafesinos then come out of their hinges, insisting that the referee had not yet given the order to play when Goltz took the ball in his hands. Furious, the coach of Colon Nestor Gorosito enters the lawn and receives a red card. And in the end, Matias Gimenez Rojas, the center forward of Independiente, transforms the curious sentence with a flat foot at mid-height by taking Chicco on the wrong foot (2-1).
The two teams finally left in a draw, with an equalizer from Ramon Abila after… eleven minutes of stoppage time.
