Following Jason Puncheon’s memorable missed spot kick for Crystal Palace against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon, here are ten equally tame penalties that also failed to find the back of the net too …
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10) David Beckham
The England midfielder fluffed his lines just when his country needed him most, in the shootout to decide the winner of the 2004 European championship semi-final against host nation Portugal, with the Manchester United star’s effort
rising so high that it almost went out of the Estadio da Luz.
9) Robert Pires
The Frenchman made himself look like a complete fool in a Premier League contest against Manchester City at Highbury in 2005 as he cheekily attempted to side-foot the ball into compatriot Thierry Henry’s path to score, only for the playmaker to make a hash of the pre-conceived plan, with the result being the award of a free kick to the visitors instead.
8) Charlie Adam
The Liverpool midfielder skied his spot kick horribly in the Reds’ penalty shootout against Cardiff City at Wembley in the 2012 League Cup final, although luckily for the Scotland international, the Merseysiders did go on to win the contest.
7) Pat Nevin
Talk about underhitting your penalty, with Chelsea’s diminutive wide man failing to generate any power whatsoever behind this spot kick in a League Cup tie against Manchester City at Stamford Bridge back in 1984.
6) John Terry
There is no bigger club match that the final of the Uefa Champions League, with the Chelsea captain’s foot slipping on the wet turf in Moscow at a time when a converted penalty would have handed the west London club the European Cup for the very first time in their history, only for the defender’s effort to strike the post instead.
5) Gareth Southgate
Another Englishman, another missed spot kick in a penalty shootout, with this agonising failure coming in the semi-finals of the 1996 European championship against arch-enemy Germany once again as the centre back’s limp shot is easily kept out by keeper Andreas Kopke at Wembley Stadium.
4) Roberto Baggio
The Divine Ponytail’s badly judged spot kick handed Brazil a record fifth World Cup at USA 94, although in fairness to the forward, he was not the only Italian to fail to score in the shootout at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California that day.
3) Gary Lineker
The England striker rarely, if ever, missed from the spot, which made this howler in a friendly international against Brazil at Wembley in 1992 all the more painful from the then Tottenham Hotspur star as it would have drawn him level with Bobby Charlton at the top of the Three Lions goalscoring charts – as it was, Lineker never scored again for his country, retiring with 48 internationals goals to his name, one behind the Manchester United legend.
2) David Beckham
The England and United midfielder makes his second appearance on this list after a remarkably similar effort to his aforementioned missed spot kick against Portugal back in 2004.
On this occasion, against Turkey in a crucial Euro 2004 qualifier in Istanbul, the wide man once again slipped up just as he was about to make contact with the ball, with his resultant effort flying high over the bar.
However, luckily for the Three Lions skipper his mistake did not cost his country, with Sven-Goran Eriksson’s side still making it through to that summer’s European championship finals in Portugal after the qualifier ended in a goalless stalemate.
1) Diana Ross
The legendary diva was asked to get the 1994 World Cup in the US under way by scoring a penalty into a miniature goal, with the successful spot kick meant to signal the start of the competition once it had hit the back of the net.
The only problem, though, was that Ross fluffed her lines by somehow missing the gaping target!