6️⃣ of football's most bizarre performances | OneFootball

Ismalia Sarr had a somewhat eventful night during Watford’s 1-1 draw with West Brom in the Championship on Tuesday night.

The 24-year-old had the audacity to score from the halfway line to put the Hornets 1-0 up before missing a penalty later on in the game.

It got us thinking about some other crazy performances we’ve been blessed with in the past, so here are six of the best you may have forgotten about.

Jonathan Woodgate (Real Madrid v Athletic Club, 2005)

It was a proud moment in the career of Jonathan Woodgate when in 2004 Real Madrid paid Newcastle £13.4m for his services to bring him to the bright lights of the Santiago Bernabéu.

Sadly, due to injury the centre-back didn’t end up making his debut for Los Blancos until 2005 but his first appearance for the club proved to be worth the wait … for all the wrong reasons.

25 minutes in, he stooped to head Joseba Exteberria’s cross past Iker Casillas but the misfortune didn’t stop there.

By the 66th minute his night was over as Woodgate was sent off for a second bookable offence, making his first showing in the historic white shirt memorable, just not for Woodgate himself.

Martin Palermo (Argentina v Colombia, 1999)

It must be some performance if it ends up in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Martin Palermo was one of the hottest properties in Argentina at the turn of the century, and led the line at Copa America. However, it won’t be the nine goals in 15 international appearances that the former Boca Juniors striker will be remembered for – it will be the three missed penalties against Colombia.

His first struck the crossbar before he blazed the second over. As luck would have it, Palermo had a third bite of the cherry in the second half. Third time lucky?

No goal again. This time, goalkeeper Miguel Calero saved Palermo’s effort to ensure the striker made a weird bit of footballing history.

Zinedine Zidane (France v Italy, 2006)

Zinedine Zidane is considered one of the greatest players to have ever graced the green grass, so it seemed fitting that his last-ever appearance was to come in the 2006 World Cup final.

And after seven minutes it looked as if the Frenchman was about to have the perfect ending to his illustrious career. The midfielder produced a stunning Paneka penalty to fool Gianluigi Buffon and give France the lead after the ball bounced over the line off the crossbar.

There was one final twist, though, and it turned out to be the final chapter of Zidane’s in the game. He head-butted Italian defender Marco Materazzi and was shown a red card in the 110th minute, pulling down the curtain on his career in controversial circumstances, with Italy going on to win the World Cup.

Meikayla Moore (New Zealand v USA, 2022)

New Zealand defender Meikayla Moore achieved something remarkable earlier this year when she netted the perfect hat-trick.

Sadly for Moore, the goals went in the other end as the USA stormed to a 5-0 win in the SheBelieves cup match.

A first half hat-trick consisting of a left-foot, right-foot and header led Moore to achieving the stunning but unwanted feat.

Jonathan Walters (Stoke City v Chelsea, 2013)

Jon Walters had a hell of a time on a wet and windy Saturday afternoon in Stoke as Chelsea put the Potters to the sword in a 4-0 drubbing. Unfortunately for Walters, the blame for the defeat lay at his door.

An acrobatic header into his own net opened the scoring for Chelsea at the end of a tight first-half before he again headed past his own goalkeeper at the start of the second half.

Frank Lampard and Eden Hazard extended the visitors’ lead to take the game away from Stoke, but Walters wasn’t done.

John Terry gave away a penalty in the 90th minute and up stepped Walters to blaze the spot-kick over the bar. All in a day’s work.

Harry Kane (Tottenham v Asteras Tripolis, October 2013)

Your eyes do not deceive you, Harry Kane donned the goalkeeper shirt and gloves in a Europa League clash with Greek side Asteras Tripolis.

The Spurs striker had to take position in net after Hugo Lloris was sent off and had a nightmare straight away, fumbling a free-kick into his own net.

Thankfully for Kane, it came off the back of himself scoring a hat-trick as Spurs went on to win the tie 5-1.