“Worst miss” Erling Haaland’s bitter Gomez moment
March 4, 2024, 6:17 a.m
Erling Haaland is a goal monster. Most of the time unstoppable, ice cold in the finish. But against Manchester United, in the emotional derby, the Norwegian briefly showed the other side and made an unbelievable miss. An icon is stunned.
There is no shortage of iconic role models. The Dortmund cult footballer Jakub Blaszczykowski once shot the ball over it from eleven meters while standing alone in front of the goal in Freiburg. Even better known in this country is Mario Gomez’s action, which can only be considered a shot on goal with a lot of love for the striker. Standing in front of the goal line, he hit the ball in the international match against Austria. A very bitter moment for eternity. The striker also had no opponent anywhere. And this team of goal-denying artists now has a prominent entry: Erling Haaland.
Yes, actually Haaland. The Norwegian, who usually mercilessly pushes his way through the opponent’s defenses only to strike coldly, caused great surprise in the emotional Manchester derby on Sunday afternoon (3-1 for City). Just before the break, the super striker received the ball headered by his outstanding teammate Phil Foden, but Haaland pushed the ball past from about two meters unchallenged. Teammate Rodri turned away with gestures and coach Josep Guardiola looked for a few hairs on his head that he could pull out.
“That was probably the worst missed shot I’ve ever seen at this level,” marveled former world-class attacker Gary Lineker, who has long since made a name for himself as an opinionated social media icon, at X. “I don’t have any for that explanations,” added former United captain Roy Keane. And so the Red Devils actually went into the dressing room with a lead. Marcus Rashford made sure of this after just eight minutes with a brilliant shot from around 25 meters under the crossbar.
Guardiola raves about Haaland and Foden
But after the break, things finally turned in favor of the favorites, who had already been the better team in the first half, but also despaired of United keeper André Onana a few times. First Foden equalized with an outstanding long-range strike, almost as good as Rashford’s goal, then he completed a remarkable attack with a low shot, Onana didn’t necessarily look good doing it. And finally Haaland made up for his mistake and scored in stoppage time to make it 3-1. Coldly, he spotted the keeper and pushed the ball past him perfectly.
Guardiola didn’t want to begrudge his top striker the blackout in the 45th minute. On the contrary, he was thrilled by the 23-year-old’s reaction. “The great players I’ve met – and I’ve been lucky enough to coach some of them – have this ability to forget that in an instant,” Guardiola explained. “And if he misses five more chances, he can think about it for ten seconds. Then he has to delete it and it continues.” Said, done, done.
And once in a chatting mood, Guardiola, as usual, found a few superlatives. This time he addressed it to the Foden. “He is the best player in the Premier League at the moment.” The lively 23-year-old has scored 18 goals and assisted ten in 40 competitive games for City this season. The England international is having the best season of his career to date. “It’s unbelievable,” said Guardiola. The victory kept the defending champions close to league leaders Liverpool FC. Next Sunday there will be a direct duel at Anfield Road. Liverpool are one point ahead of Manchester.
2024-03-04 05:17:00
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