No matter how good a footballer can score goals, there is no player that has not had a course to miss a very clear scoring opportunity. Even Cristiano Ronaldo with 5 Ballon d’Or and Lionel Messi with a record 6 Ballon d’Or, have missed a couple of scoring opportunities in their illustrious football careers. In fact, their misses are among the worst misses in football history.
Though one can easily identify Ronaldo and Messi due to their iconic status in the game, the list of players who have missed beautiful scoring opportunities in football history can not be wide enough to cover all the great misses in the history of the game. Hence, we have painstakingly dug as deeply as possible to come up with the 10 worst misses in football history.
Below is the list of Worst Misses in Football History
1. Fernando Torres (Chelsea) vs. Manchester United
Fernando Torres struggled throughout his £50 million transfer to Chelsea as he was labeled different kinds of names. However, the worst that happened to him was missing an open net after a beautiful run into Manchester United’s eighteen-yard box.
2. Diego Forlan (Manchester United) vs. Juventus
Diego Forlan was arguably one of the best strikers that ever played football. However, he struggled at the beginning of his career. One of the worst moments in his career was his days at Manchester United. His open net miss against Juventus is a perfect summary of how much he struggled at United.
3. Yakubu (Nigeria) vs. South Korea
Yakubu Ayegbeni used to be one of the biggest strikers in Nigeria’s national football team until the 2010 World Cup in South Africa where he decided to throw away a golden opportunity which would have given Nigeria three points that would have qualified the country to the next round of the tournament.
Now pep can feel the pain we (Nigeria) felt when Raheem yakubu Sterling miss this empty net#ManCityOL #ChampionsLeague pic.twitter.com/JO939Ytn7q
— MattyBrown◽ (@itz_mattybrown) August 15, 2020
4. Raheem Sterling (Manchester City) vs. Lyon
Raheem Sterling will surely find it hard to sleep for a very long time as he lost a clear chance that would have given Manchester City the early lead in their Champions League match against Lyon. Unfortunately for him and his team, they ended up losing 3-1 and crashed out of the competition.
How’s Raheem Sterling missed this chance😭 pic.twitter.com/pIjkOorHoS
— Tяυsτ №¹-Yahya™ (@RealistYahz) August 15, 2020
5. Neymar (PSG) vs. Atalanta
Neymar was the man of the match when Paris Saint Germain faced Atalanta in the quarter-final round of the UEFA Champions League 2019-2020. Despite his man of the match performance, he lost one of the biggest scoring opportunities of the match which he wouldn’t have forgotten if PSG had crashed out of the competition at the end of the match.
Oh my NEYMAR!! 😭😭😂😂😂😂
— ᴅᴀɴ ᴏғ ᴏᴋᴏᴛᴀ🔱 | 📌⚖️♊ (@K_Danielz01) August 12, 2020
what a dumb miss 💔💔🤣 pic.twitter.com/roBuFyOSpC
6. Freddie Ljungberg (Arsenal) vs. Bolton
Freddie Ljungberg was the key member of Arsenal’s team during his time but sometimes, life happens. He encountered the magic of nature when he couldn’t score an open net against Bolton.
7. Jakub Błaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund) vs. Freiburg
Jakub Blaszczykowski is one of those superstars who sometimes encounter a very bad day in football. One of such bad days happened when he led Borussia Dortmund to face Freiburg. To the dismay of those who followed the match, he kicked away a golden opportunity to score a beautiful goal.
8. Ilija Sivonjic (Dinamo Zagreb) vs. Cibalia
Ilija Sivonjic might not be very famous as a footballer but one thing that is more famous than his name is the miss he decided to produce while playing for Dinamo Zagreb. As a striker who likes to score goals, the Croatian failed to allow a ball which was goal bound to continue its journey to the net. He decided to aid the movement of the ball and ended up clearing the line for his opponent, Cibalia.
9. Lionel Messi (Argentina) vs. Trinidad and Tobago
Lionel Messi is arguably the greatest footballer of all time but sometimes, being the greatest is not enough. He is fond of showing the human part of him whenever he is playing for his country Argentina. Such occasion was when he decided to throw away a golden chance to score against Trinidad and Tobago.
10. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the best humans to ever play football but sometimes, the part of him that is human overshadow the part of him that is a football great. While playing for Manchester United, the Portuguese wasted Wayne Rooney’s effort as intentionally as he could to record one of the biggest misses in world football.
