By Chris Wright
We don’t think we’re being unfair in describing Benfica youngster Romario Balde’s run-out in the UEFA Youth League on Tuesday evening as a stone cold stinker.
Already 1-0 up over Shakhtar, Benfica won themselves a penalty which Balde manfully stepped up to convert.
However, demonstrating precisely none of his Brazilian namesake’s finesse, the 18-year-old winger proceeded to attempt an oh-so-fashionable “Panenka” penalty that was so dire it didn’t even reach the goal-line.
In fact, it was so poorly hit that the Shakhtar goalkeeper had time to dive the wrong way, get back up on his feet and then dive the other way to smother the bobbling ball before it came anywhere close to crossing his line…
The best bit? It took just nine minutes after Balde’s botched spot-kick for Shakhtar to find an equaliser, with the Benfica forward then getting to watch his U19 teammates go out on penalties after being subbed off with 20 minutes still to play.
What a bummer.