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Jose Mourinho is undoubtedly a managerial great – when you manage clubs like Real Madrid, Inter and Chelsea, spending daft amounts of money comes with the territory.

The Portuguese’s two spells at Chelsea brought the club incredible success, including some of the most important transfers in the club’s history.

Didier Drogba, Ricardo Carvalho and Cesc Fabregas are all players Mourinho helped lure to west London, but for every hit, there were a couple of misses.

And with the January transfer window fast approaching, Football FanCast has taken a look at Mourinho’s top 10 worst Chelsea signings.

11 stars Chelsea will rue selling, including £172k talent now £82m

Chelsea have made some huge mistakes in letting these players leave, we at Football FanCast have taken a look.

By
Finley Harlow

Oct 4, 2023

10

Steve Sidwell

Free from Reading, 2007

This one might be a little harsh. Steve Sidwell had a solid career, featuring heavily for fellow London clubs Reading and Fulham, while he established himself as a Premier League mainstay. His move to Chelsea was just a bit of an odd one.

Financially, it made sense. Sidwell joined on a free transfer from Reading, who had been yo-yo-ing between the Championship and the Premier League at the time, but he was never going to become more than a squad player at Stamford Bridge.

The midfielder only completed 90 minutes twice during his time at Chelsea despite featuring 25 times in the 2007/08 season. He did manage to score a goal in a 4-0 League Cup win against Hull City, but other than that, he didn’t make much of a mark.

He was sold to Aston Villa in the summer of 2008 for a fee believed to be in the region of £5m, so Chelsea did make a tidy profit.

Interestingly, he was given the number 9 shirt at Chelsea – something that will feature heavily in this list.

9

Khalid Boulahrouz

£6m from Hamburg, 2006

Again, another weird Chelsea number 9. Dutch defender Khalid Boulahrouz inherited the seemingly cursed shirt number from Hernan Crespo. The Argentine may not have been amazing at Chelsea, but that’s quite a downgrade.

Even before he signed for the club, Mourinho pretty much admitted Boulahrouz wouldn’t be more than a squad player. Eventually, he was signed for a fee thought to be around £6m from German giants Hamburg in August 2006.

To be fair to Boulahrouz, he had a promising start to his Chelsea career, featuring heavily early on, including a solid defensive display against fellow top-four rivals Liverpool.

Unfortunately, a knee injury followed by a shoulder injury kept him out for a prolonged period, allowing John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho to maintain their status in the starting XI.

After a season-long loan at Sevilla, he was sold off to Stuttgart.

8

Asier del Horno

£8m from Athletic Club, 2005

Sometimes with transfers, it’s the hope that kills you. Del Horno was meant to be a major upgrade on Wayne Bridge. He was versatile, could play as a left-sided centre-back, or as an out-and-out left-back.

He was 24 years old when Mourinho and Chelsea signed him from Athletic Club for £8m; old enough to know the game, but young enough for Mourinho to mould into a top defender. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.

It wasn’t all bad, though, he managed to score the only goal of his Chelsea career in a 2-0 win against Spurs at White Hart Lane. He also played a respectable amount during his one season at the club, featuring 34 times.

Sadly for Del Horno, he’s mostly remembered for his straight red card in Chelsea’s Champions League round-of-16 game against Barcelona. The defender’s tackle on Lionel Messi played a pivotal role in their elimination from the competition that year.

Valencia came calling the next summer, and Del Horno returned to Spain.

7

Radamel Falcao

£4m loan from Monaco, 2015

This move was all about timing. Colombian frontman Radamel Falcao was heavily linked with Chelsea while still at Porto, but he chose Spanish side Atletico Madrid instead. He was amazing at both clubs, but injuries meant he lost a yard of pace and his confidence was shot.

He had spent the year prior on loan at Manchester United, where he also underwhelmed, scoring just four goals in 26 league appearances. If anyone could get the best out of him, it was Mourinho, right?

Wrong. Chelsea paid Monaco a massive £4m for a season-long loan. They also had a £38m option to buy, which they didn’t take up for obvious reasons. He scored just once, in a 2-1 loss against Crystal Palace.

Falcao lasted longer than Mourinho, as the manager was sacked mid-season, but he returned to the south of France that summer. He did have a bit of a renaissance, but he never again reached the heights he had at Porto and Atletico Madrid.

6

Filipe Luis

£15.8m from Atletico Madrid, 2014

Filipe Luis had big boots to fill. Champions League-winning left-back Ashley Cole had just left the club for Roma, and on paper, Filipe Luis was a solid replacement. But, like so many Chelsea signings, it just didn’t work out.

He had a great time at Atletico Madrid. He was part of a stellar backline that only conceded 26 goals in 38 games, helping the Madrid side win the La Liga title for the first time in 18 years in 2014. He also played a huge role in getting his side to the Champions League final that season, a game they lost 4-1 to city rivals Real Madrid.

He didn’t get his first start until mid-September – an uneventful 1-1 draw in the Champions League against Schalke.

Come the end of the season, Mourinho confirmed that Luis would be leaving the club after just one year. He returned to Atletico Madrid for an undisclosed fee.

5

Papy Djilobodji

£2.7m from Nantes, 2015

The Senegalese centre-back might have claim to the most peculiar transfer in Chelsea’s history, which is quite a statement. He joined from French side Nantes, and was omitted from Chelsea’s Champions League squad the very next day.

Perhaps the wildest statistic about his Chelsea career is that he only touched the ball during a game twice, and that was in a League Cup game against Walsall.

In the 2014/15 January transfer window, he was loaned out to Werder Bremen, where at least he played. He made 16 overall appearances for the German club, scoring twice.

Astonishingly, Chelsea managed to make a profit on Djilobodji, selling him to Sunderland for £8m in the summer of 2015.

4

Baba Rahman

£14m from Augsburg, 2015

Again, it turns out that replacing Ashley Cole was pretty hard. Ghanaian left-back Rahman joined the club from Bundesliga side Augsburg for an initial fee of £14m, rising to a potential fee of £22m if certain clauses were met.

Loan after loan means that Rahman is technically the longest-serving Chelsea player on this list. Since joining in 2015, he went on a whopping seven loans to five different clubs. He only left after Chelsea terminated his contract this past summer.

During his eight years contracted to Chelsea, he only played 23 times, of which four were as a substitute. Although this mess of a deal can’t be totally blamed on Mourinho, he was the man who started it.

3

Jiri Jarosik

£3m from CSKA Moscow, 2005

Now this is a throwback. Most Chelsea fans would be able to name a vast majority of the 2004/05 Premier League-winning squad, but they’d have to be a real diehard to remember Czech midfielder Jiri Jarosik.

Signed in January 2005 from CSKA Moscow for a reported £3m, Jarosik made his debut fairly quickly, but didn’t make much of an impact. He came on in the 68th minute against Scunthorpe United in the FA Cup third round.

He even started in the League Cup final against Liverpool, a game that Chelsea went on to win 3-2, but was unceremoniously replaced at half-time by Eidur Gudjohnsen.

It may be unfair to say that Jarosik was bad at Chelsea, he just didn’t really do anything, and for that reason, it’s hard to keep him out of this list. He did get a Premier League winners' medal, though, with his only full 90 minutes of the season being the game against Bolton Wanderers that secured Chelsea the league title.

Despite joining Chelsea in January, he was loaned to Birmingham City the following August. Following their relegation in 2005/06, Jarosik moved permanently to Celtic.

2

Mateja Kezman

£5m from PSV, 2004

Chelsea have had a lot of disappointing strikers in their time, but Kezman might be one of the worst. The Serbian forward was unplayable at PSV, and all of Europe’s elite were circling after he scored 35 goals in 33 Eredivisie appearances.

Mourinho and Chelsea thought they had the next big thing when they signed him for £5m – they even entrusted him with the number nine shirt that had just been vacated by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.

Kezman had the world at his feet, but simply couldn’t adapt to English football. It took until December for Kezman to get his first Chelsea goal, a last-minute penalty in a 4-0 home win against Newcastle.

Another player that only lasted a single season, he was sold to Atletico Madrid the next summer for £5.3m.

1

Andriy Shevchenko

£30m from Milan, 2006

We have to be fair to Mourinho on this one, Shevchenko was more of a Roman Abramovich signing, but it was so catastrophic, no one else could be number one.

It’s hard to put into words just how good Shevchenko was. Before Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi came along and blew everyone away, Shevchenko had to be considered as one of the best players of the 2000s, winning the Ballon d’Or in 2004.

Chelsea have a habit of signing forwards just as they are starting to decline, and that’s exactly what happened with Shevchenko. Despite the Ukrainian’s Chelsea career never really taking off, he spent three years at Stamford Bridge.

He went back to Milan on loan in 2008/09 before re-signing for boyhood club Dynamo Kyiv on a free in August 2009.

Jose Mourinho did a lot of great things at Chelsea, but ultimately, you can’t win them all.

With five needed off the final ball, Brisbane Heat’s Haidee Birkett plucked a stunner at deep square off Jess Jonassen to deny Sydney Thunder

The Report by Melinda Farrell19-Jan-2019

Getty Images

Brisbane Heat topped Sydney Thunder in a thriller to enter their first-ever WBBL finals. The match came down to the final ball and could have gone the other way, but for a brilliant catch on the deep square leg boundary by Haidee Birkett to dismiss Nicola Carey to secure a four-run win.Heat’s bowlers had stifled the chase on a sluggish pitch, but a late flurry of runs from Carey took them within touching distance. Carey, who had powerfully slog-swept left-arm spinner Jemma Barsby over deep square in the precious over attempted the same shot, off Jess Jonassen. Birkett, sprinting from deep backward square, snatched the ball on the move to send the Heat players into rapturous celebrations.Set 141 for victory, Thunder had looked solid early in the chase, despite losing the dangerous Rachael Haynes in the first over. This was down to Rachel Priest’s blistering 33-ball 44. But Heat kept chipping away at the wickets and used their variations well to strangle the Thunder’s middle order. Alex Blackwell steadied the chase and was just beginning her late inning launch when she holed out to long-on off Jemma Barsby, who took 3 for 23 and was, at one stage, on a hat-trick.Sent into bat, Heat lost three early wickets: Grace Harris holed out to a full toss from Stafanie Taylor, while Beth Mooney and Kirby Short both found leading edges. With the ball stopping in the pitch, sweeps and slog sweeps were employed well by Sammy Jo Johnson, whose 37-run partnership with Jonassen led the recovery. When Johnson was caught at long-on off by Naomi Stalenberg – one of her three catches – Laura Harris chimed in with 32 off 25 to give the Heat a total they could defend.But Johnson – in a brilliant all round performance – hit the deck hard and successfully cramped Haynes into bunting the ball to a diving Dooley to be run out second ball. Naomi Stalenberg put on a sprightly 56-run partnership with Priest until she was fooled by Barsby’s dip and turn and was bowled through the gate.Priest, who had seen Johnson smash the ball over the leg side, employed the same tactic, smiting five boundaries and two sixes, but the shot that brought her success was also her undoing. She was caught at deep square leg by Birkett.The squeeze was on, led by Johnson – who conceded just 12 runs off her 4 overs – and Grace Harris, whose commentary on the Channel 7 player mic was the source for much entertainment. Her laconic insights during the over when she dropped a caught and bowled chance and then bowled a charging Stafanie Taylor were a highlight in a match that had plenty.Just as the Thunder seemed to have succumbed to the strangle, Carey lifted a gear. When she dropped to one knee in the penultimate over and powerfully flat-batted the ball for six the great escape seemed eminently possible. In the end it took a superb piece of fielding to deny her.

Hobart Hurricanes’ unbeaten run at the top of the Big Bash League table was summarily ended by Melbourne Renegades, as the home side’s incisive start with the ball and even contributions with the bat overshadowed a salvaging stand between George Bailey and Ben McDermott.Kane Richardson tilted things the way of the Renegades by defeating Matthew Wade and Alex Doolan in the second over of the game, before D’Arcy Short was pinned by a bouncer from Usman Shinwari. Bailey and McDermott did well to manufacture a tally as high as 145, but the Hurricanes needed a similarly fruitful start in the field to defend it.Instead they were sent chasing the white ball by Sam Harper and the returning Aaron Finch, before Dan Christian and Mohammad Nabi eased out of a middle-order wobble to secure victory with four balls remaining, and pull the Renegades up into a group of four teams with three wins apiece behind Hobart (five) and Sydney Sixers (four).Richardson’s PowerplayUnbeaten after five matches in the BBL, the Hurricanes’ success had been characterised by dominant Powerplays, especially with the bat. Leading into Monday night they had only lost four wickets in the Powerplays in the whole tournament to date, as D’Arcy Short and the captain Matthew Wade led from the top of the order. However the Docklands drop-in surface has proven challenging to start on so far this season, and in Kane Richardson the Renegades had an operator capable of finding the right niggling lines and lengths to exploit it.So it was that he was able to coax edges in successive balls from Wade and Alex Doolan, before Short was pinned on the gloves by a well-directed bouncer from Shinwari – amid queries over whether the ball had hit glove or helmet, the umpire Simon Lightbody hesitated to make a decision until he saw Short motion to walk, and then raised his finger before the opener could change his mind. A Powerplay of 3 for 29 meant it was now the Hurricanes’ turn to play catch-up.Bailey goes GeronimoFrom these uncertain beginnings, Bailey and McDermott had little choice but to hasten slowly in rebuilding the innings. Rotating the strike but taking few risks, they allowed the scoreboard to meander to 3 for 65 after 13 overs before deciding that was the time to accelerate. An inside-out drive over cover by McDermott off Dan Christian signalled the start of the counter-attack, and 80 runs came from the final seven overs of the innings.McDermott, he of the epic innings at Docklands two summers ago, was unable to see it through to the end of the innings, but Bailey remained to see 26 collected from the final two overs, in the process going on to his first fifty of the tournament.Harper ferries FinchSome discussion has been had about the standard of the BBL relative to international cricket this season, with Peter Handscomb one of the players to go from looking in serious Test match trouble against India to a relatively assured presence in the T20 league. His fellow Victorian, Aaron Finch made his first Renegades appearance since dropping out of the Test XI for the SCG, and took some time to get himself going.He was helped in no small part by the fluency of the wicketkeeper Sam Harper following the early departure of Mackenzie Harvey. Riley Meredith’s pace on the ball was to Harper’s liking, and his 32 while striking at 177.77 meant that the Renegades were able to stride to 1 for 52 from their Powerplay overs. All the while Finch was able to work his way into the match, collecting a useful 42 before his run-out by Johan Botha’s direct hit gave the Hurricanes a glimpse of winning.Renegades master their finishThe final three overs had the Renegades needing 26 runs, knowing that one of those overs was to be bowled by the excellent Jofra Archer. Dan Christian, his bat resplendent in a newly unveiled indigenous design by Emma MacNeil, wielded it like a sabre to swing boundaries to midwicket and backward point. Those eight runs were pivotal to the remaining equation, leaving Meredith and James Faulkner with no margin for any error.Christian duly capitalised when Meredith strayed wide with his speed, carving a flat six over the gully region and then cover driving magnificently into the Docklands second tier. Faulkner was subsequently left with a mere three runs to defend in the final over, and Nabi happily hoisted the allrounder’s second ball beyond the boundary for the win.

USA men’s team defeated Kenya for the first time in history as they vaulted past Oman to the top of the tournament table by virtue of a superior net run-rate

Peter Della Penna in Muscat12-Nov-2018

Aaron Jones heaves a six over long-on•Peter Della Penna

A half-century from Aaron Jones was followed by a searing spell of fast bowling from Man of the Match Ali Khan as USA men’s team defeated Kenya for the first time in history, to win by a whopping 154 runs, vaulting past Oman to the top of the WCL Division Three tournament table by virtue of a superior net run-rate.Prior to Monday, USA had been bowled out by Kenya in three previous losses in one-day cricket for totals of 162, 32 and most recently 63 in just 18.3 overs at Abu Dhabi last December. Kenya sent USA in at the toss hoping to do more of the same but USA capitalized on poor fielding from the opposition for the second match in a row to build up a commanding total of 254.Kenya gave away more than 100 runs in missed chances in the field to let USA off the hook. Monank Patel, who survived a missed run-out chance on the third ball of USA’s win over Uganda to make 107, was dropped on a return chance by Elijah Otieno in the third over on 9 and went on to make 25.An even more costly let-off was given to Steven Taylor, who should have been run-out for 12 at 69 for 2 but captain Shem Ngoche’s throw from 15 yards at midwicket missed by a whisker, and he went on to make 41 off 34 balls.However, the biggest reprieve of the day was given to Jones. The Barbados-based batsman had been out edging behind a cut for 4 against Uganda and gave a carbon-copy chance on 14, but on this occasion Kenya wicketkeeper Irfan Karim could not hang on.Jones battled through the rest of Ngoche’s spell, reaching 34 off 99 balls before slogging Dhiren Gondaria’s part-time spin for six over long-on for his first boundary. It began a stirring flurry in which Jones struck 35 off his next 19 balls, including two more sixes over long-on.USA were 182 for 4 after 44 overs before Hayden Walsh Jr provided a similar burst, hitting a pair of sixes and fours down the ground in the 45th off Rakep Patel to spark a sequence of 63 runs in four overs, taking USA past 200. A belated Kenya fightback resulted in USA bowled out by the final ball, though 254 was more than enough to defend behind their dynamic pace attack led by Khan.The Ohio fast bowler, who surged to stardom through the Global T20 Canada and CPL this summer, overwhelmed Kenya in his opening six-over spell. He started by inducing an edge behind from Narendra Patel, followed by a cunning inswinger that trapped Karim leg before without offering a shot and finally a top-edge to mid-on by Alex Obanda for three wickets in the Powerplay.At the opposite end, captain Saurabh Netravalkar claimed two wickets with disciplined lines and by the end of the ninth over Kenya were 21 for 5 from which they never recovered. They were eventually bowled out for 96 in just 26 overs.Aritra Dutta and Arjun Mutreja’s 140-run opening partnership in just 23 overs after being sent in at the toss gave Singapore a dominant position that they never relinquished in a 94-run win over Denmark on Monday at the Oman Cricket Academy.Dutta made just 23 runs in three matches on his 50-over debut during the Asia Cup Qualifier in Malaysia this August and followed up his 38 against Oman in Singapore’s opening match at Division Three with another impressive effort to top score with 87, including nine fours and three sixes.Denmark did not help matters by missing three chances in the field early in their innings as Singapore’s opening pair continued to heap pressure on their bowling unit. Offspinner Anique Uddin finally broke the partnership with his first ball in the 24th over to deny Dutta a century and claimed Mutreja for 57 six overs later caught at deep midwicket.Fellow spinners Saif Ahmad (3 for 46) and Nicolaj Laegsgaard (2 for 36) helped Denmark fight back further in the field as Singapore failed to last their full 50 overs, eventually being bowled out for 254.Amjad Mahboob took the first of his three wickets in the third over when Zameer Khan was beaten flicking across the line to be pinned lbw for 2. Captain Hamid Shah fought a lone battle from the top, making 85, and he was the ninth man out. He could only watch helplessly while legspinner Anantha Krishna decimated the middle-order with 4 for 37 as Denmark capitulated for 160 in 35.4 overs.

Mumbai will be without Ajinkya Rahane, Prithvi Shaw and Shardul Thakur for the quarter-finals because of the ongoing Test series

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Oct-2018Mumbai have received a shot in the arm ahead of the knockouts of the Vijay Hazare Trophy – India’s domestic one-day competition – after Rohit Sharma made himself available for his home side. Mumbai will play their quarter-final next week and Rohit will play for Mumbai until they are alive in the tournament or until he has to join the India ODI squad to face West Indies.Rohit was “very keen” to play for Mumbai last week itself against Maharashtra, chief selector Ajit Agarkar said, but they decided to play him in the quarter-finals as Mumbai had already qualified for the knockouts then. Rohit last played in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in the 2016-17 season, with scores of 16 against Andhra and 4 against Goa. Those were Mumbai’s last two league games that season and they won both but could not make it to the knockouts.This season, they stormed into the knockouts with an unbeaten run in Group A, registering six wins from as many completed matches. They were boosted with the presence of three internationals in their batting line-up – Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer and Prithvi Shaw – even before Rohit joined them. The three batsmen have been among the top four run-scorers for Mumbai, with Rahane scoring 230 runs from three innings, Iyer smashing two centuries in his tally of 311 runs from four innings and Shaw accumulating 287 runs in three innings. While Rahane averaged the highest among them, his strike rate (83.03) was much lower compared to Iyer’s 114.76 and Shaw’s 143.50.Rahane led the side initially, before Iyer took over when Rahane left for the West Indies Tests and Dhawal Kulkarni led them when Iyer played the two-day warm-up before the Test series. Iyer is going to lead them again in the knockouts, despite the presence of Rohit, who led India’s ODI side in the victorious Asia Cup campaign.The quarter-finals begin on October 14, making them clash with the second Test against West Indies, leaving Mumbai without Rahane, Shaw and Shardul Thakur again.

Pele once had the nerve to suggest that "a penalty is a cowardly way to score". Yet, any striker or footballer would be foolish to refuse the opportunity of scoring from 12 yards – especially since, for those unfamiliar with the pressures of a spot-kick situation, such a glaring chance to score appears so elementary.

But as history has often told us, this turns out to be quite the opposite. No matter how much work is done on the training ground, even the greatest football players in the world have been subject to the worst penalty misses of all time, and often in storylines that emanate the highest pressures for the shiniest rewards.

From Baggio to Waddle, Ronaldo to Terry, and, curiously, Pat Nevin to Diana Ross – penalties have provided viewers with some of the best humour and second-hand embarrassments in football and television history. The job here was to whittle down so many glorious flashpoints into 10 of the greatest.

Here's what Football FanCast came up with…

10

Cristiano Ronaldo vs Chelsea, May 2008

Monday morning's newspaper front pages read "Relieved Ronaldo Spared Worst Day" – and for good reason, after his stuttered penalty against Chelsea in the 2008 Champions League final shootout barely evoked effort from opposition goalkeeper Petr Cech to keep the Blues in with a shot of their first European triumph.

That year's eventual Ballon d'Or winner, Cristiano Ronaldo should have ditched the over complex run-up and stutter and just smashed it into the back of the net. But 'Mr Champions League', as his adoring fans now know him, never did things simply, even when the objective of a 12-yard penalty was facilitated easily.

Luckily, as a later entry proves, this wasn't the worst penalty in the shootout, even if Ronaldo is to admit himself that his overconfidence got the better of him. Later in the night, Chelsea's fifth penalty proved far more humiliating and costly as rain lashed it down in Moscow.

9

Chris Waddle vs West Germany, July 1990

England have a depressingly bad record in penalty shootouts, and it was Chris Waddle's blaze over the crossbar to send the Three Lions packing their bags for the airport the next morning after their 1990 World Cup semi-final against West Germany that captured the nation's 12-yard heartbreak.

It was the closest England had come to a major final since 1966's coronation – but after Gary Lineker, Peter Beardsley, and David Platt scored in the shootout, Franz Beckenbauer's eventual tournament winners rose to the occasion to stop Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle, who ended a brilliant campaign with a soured finish.

8

Mehmet Aurélio, Circa 2010

This one is so atrocious that context won't make it better or worse. It's honestly as if Aurélio needs to be told where the goal is after a side-footed attempt that was closer to being a throw-in than a goal.

As with many of these failures from the spot, the benefit of the doubt is given because of a slip. However, it really is a shocker. So much so, that the only way it could have been worse was if the Turkish-Brazilian midfielder, who plied his trade for Besiktas, examined the turf after to alleviate his discernible embarrassment.

Undoubtedly, his teammates still bring this one up at get-togethers.

7

John Terry vs Manchester United, May 2008

Whereas Cristiano Ronaldo's miss didn't change the course of his first Champions League triumph too much, John Terry's sure did. Certainly, nobody else in Moscow on that fateful night seemed bothered by the rain. But for the Chelsea captain, when it rained, it poured.

With a chance to lift Old Big Ears on the line had he scored, his backside finished closer to goal after he slipped and missed the all-important penalty. It bore him the sobriquet 'Slippy T' – which is no longer used by many after another infamous, more contemporary, slip by an Englishman eclipses 2008's comedic value, with Chelsea this time benefiting at Steven Gerrard's expense on that occasion.

2008 Champions League final penalty shootout
Man Utd 6	Chelsea 5
Tevez scored	Ballack scored
Carrick scored	Belletti scored
Ronaldo missed	Lampard scored
Hargreaves scored	Ashley Cole scored
Nani scored	Terry missed
Anderson scored	Kalou scored
Giggs scored	Anelka missed

6

Diana Ross, June 1994

When presented with the debate over who is the best penalty-taking option for a 90th-minute World Cup-winning spot-kick, the chances are that nobody in the history of humankind has picked The Supremes' lead singer, Diana Ross.

But if anyone needed any more reason not to pick her, then watching her run across a football pitch, whilst singing her hit single 'I'm Coming Out' before dragging a weak penalty effort wide of the left post, would all but confirm her position on the bench.

Thankfully, the unavailing strike wasn't for a Jules Rimet trophy. It was, however, to open the 1994 World Cup in the US, which was attended by 61,500 people at Chicago's Soldier Field stadium.

5

Pat Nevin vs Manchester City, November 1984

If the decision to award this penalty in the first place was soft, then it still had nothing on the attempt itself. When Pat Nevin stepped up to the penalty mark, it could have been by fault of the commentator's curse when Barry Davies remarks: "They haven't had a good record, last season and this, with taking penalties."

Pat Nevin, Chelsea's diminutive Scottish winger, took the shortest imaginable run-up – if it could even be described as a run-up – before rolling the ball through the thick mud and apologetically into the gloves of Man City's Alex Williams.

"Nevin….Oh, dear oh dear, I don't believe it," Davies sighed after the ball struggled to reach the goal. "I hope I'm not being too unkind to Pat Nevin, a player of undoubted quality. But that has to be the worst penalty I've ever seen at this level of football."

In total, Chelsea would have a dirty dozen of missed penalties in the 1983-85 period, but it was Nevin's damp squib that sticks out in the memory.

4

Neymar vs Colombia, November 2012

Neymar was the young player to watch in 2012, with his dazzling showboating talents a testament to a blossoming Brazilian ready to take on the world with his feet.

At the time, he was also one of 10 players up for a Puskas Award. But had FIFA seen his penalty against Colombia late into this friendly, they might've wanted to reconsider their decision.

The 20-year-old had an opportunity to put his nation in front from 12 yards, but the penalty was sent so high that nobody is sure, even now, in 2023, whether the ball has returned to Earth or if it's still in orbit.

Better yet, it was only a friendly, which tells you everything you need to know about just how awful the miss was when it still made it this high on the list.

3

Ademola Lookman vs West Ham, November 2020

Ademola Lookman knew his penalty miss against West Ham was bad when Pat Nevin joined in on the gag, joking that at least his reached the goal. But if it was the shot power that got the brunt of criticism when he misfired a spot-kick during the behind-closed-doors era of the Premier League against West Ham, the context and technique is sure to only add to the blushes.

In the 98th minute, the Fulham striker decided to show off and attempt a Panenka in the hope of equalising and earning a valuable point away from home early into the winter's fixture congestion. But the result was an overconfident blunder that barely reached the goal, as fancy doesn't always breed success.

2

Asamoah Gyan vs Uruguay, July 2010

Had Asamoah Gyan scored this penalty against Uruguay in the 2010 World Cup quarter-finals, Ghana would have become the first-ever African team to advance to a World Cup semi. Instead, the miss, which the now-retired striker reverberated the crossbar with, will haunt him forever.

After Luis Suárez pulled off a trademark Luis Suárez moment when he used his hand to claw the ball off the goalline and stop a certain goal, the Uruguayan maverick slowly back-pedalled into the changing rooms, keeping his eyes on the unfolding drama to get a clearer picture of his nation's fortunes before his early bath.

Gyan's resulting miss meant that Ghana slumped out of the World Cup when Uruguay ironically went on to win the resulting penalty shootout. Incredibly, the Ghanaian explained in the weeks that followed that he took 20 penalties in training the day before and scored every single one of them.

But when it mattered most, nerves vanquished mental steel.

1

Roberto Baggio vs Brazil, July 1994

There's a saying in Italy: "Socrates died poisoned; Baggio died standing."

The saying is often used to suggest that there are two different ways to face death: with courage and acceptance, or with fear and regret. Socrates’ death is seen as an example of the former, while Baggio’s (footballing) demise is seen as an example of the latter, reflecting the most costly penalty miss in football history as he ballooned his turn over the crossbar to hand the World Cup to Brazil in the 1994 World Cup final.

Perhaps not the worst miss of all time considering plenty have come before and after him to blaze a 12-yard attempt into row Z. However, context makes this one a stone-cold favourite.

After winning her first England cap in February, the centre-back put in a display that Sarina Wiegman will have enjoyed in a close victory

Manchester United quietly crept to within six points of Arsenal, with six Women's Super League games to go, in the hunt for the European places on Sunday thanks to a rather uneventful 2-0 win over bottom club Bristol City. Lisa Naalsund gave the Red Devils the lead with a nice finish after just nine minutes, and though her team created little in a bid to extend that lead, she doubled the lead deep into stoppage-time to secure a first WSL win since early February.

Bristol showed glimpses of quality in the first half and they came close to an equaliser early in the second period when Shania Gayles struck the post from close-range. However, any chance of them getting something from the game to aid their fight for survival disappeared when Jamie-Lee Napier received a second yellow card with fewer than 10 minutes remaining.

United made that advantage count late on when Naalsund produced a lovely finish from Katie Zelem's corner, confirming a victory that closes the admittedly large gap to Arsenal, following the Gunners' defeat at Chelsea on Friday night.

GOAL rates United's players from Leigh Sports Village…

Getty ImagesGoalkeeper & Defence

Mary Earps (6/10):

Had very little to do as she racked up a sixth clean sheet of the season.

Jayde Riviere (6/10):

Didn't do much wrong defensively, but had couple of loose touches and passes here and there. Not her usually electric self.

Maya Le Tissier (7/10):

Played some nice, quarterback-esque passes from the back line and was defensively sound.

Millie Turner (8/10):

Thwarted almost every promising moment Bristol had on the attack. Solid as a rock.

Hannah Blundell (6/10):

Like Riviere, didn't make many errors but couldn't really get going down the wing like usual.

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Katie Zelem (6/10):

Not her best day for set-pieces, but she delivered a fantastic corner for Naalsund's second of the day.

Lisa Naalsund (8/10):

Lovely bit of skill and a confident finish for her first goal. Her second was wonderfully taken, too. Great performance.

Ella Toone (6/10):

Got on the ball plenty, around the box and in deeper positions, to keep possession ticking and tried to make things happen.

Getty ImagesAttack

Lucia Garcia (7/10):

Some bright moments down the right, including the link-up with Naalsund for the first goal. Pressed brilliantly.

Nikita Parris (5/10):

Received very little service.

Melvine Malard (5/10):

Evidently frustrated that she didn't get the ball more often.

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Subs & Manager

Geyse (5/10):

Had a good half an hour to make an impact but was regularly stopped in her tracks by Napier down Bristol's left.

Rachel Williams (N/A):

Only on for the final 15 minutes.

Marc Skinner (6/10):

Rewarded Naalsund with a league start after her goal-scoring performance against Brighton in the FA Cup, and it paid dividends. But his team were lacklustre despite her early strike and he struggled to get them going or make an impact with his subs.

Phil Parkinson has warned Wrexham’s rivals in League Two that his side are “licking their lips” at the prospect of securing another promotion.

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Held nerve to claim National League title in 2023Now riding high in the League Two tableRed Dragons have 11 games left to take in this termWHAT HAPPENED?

The Red Dragons have shown that they can hold their nerve at the business end of a gruelling campaign, with the threat of Notts County fended off last season when landing the National League title in record-breaking style. Wrexham are now enjoying life back in the EFL, with collective sights being set on securing a place in League One.

AdvertisementGetty/GOALWHAT PARKINSON SAID

Parkinson has said of that bid, with Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney and Co having 11 games left to take in: “It is all to play for and you can see the lads really licking their lips and ready for the run-in. We have got a group of players who enjoy this time of the season. They showed it last year and even during my first season at the club, we did well in the run-in and chased Stockport down. I just sense that the whole club is ready for the last 11 games. That is what a football season is all about, being involved at the cutting edge of the division come the last quarter of the season. That's where we wanted to be and that's where we are. Now we will give it everything in terms of our preparation, our training standards and everything we can to give ourselves the best chance in each and every game.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Wrexham only had to contend with County last season, but are part of a top-five pack in League Two that are separated by just five points. Parkinson added on a thrilling race to the finish: “Once we'd shaken Chesterfield off last year, it became a two-horse race and we didn't have to look at too many other results apart from Notts County. It's a slightly difference dynamic this season because you are looking at more teams but it's we are really enjoying being part of a very competitive division and it's a very exciting run-in ahead.”

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Getty ImagesWHAT NEXT FOR WREXHAM?

Wrexham sit third in the table as things stand, three points adrift of leaders Mansfield, and will be back in action on Saturday when taking in a trip to Morecambe – with Parkinson aware of the need to improve away form at a crucial stage of the campaign.

Abhishek Gupta, the Punjab wicketkeeper-batsman, has been handed a retrospective eight-month doping ban by the BCCI. A urine sample Gupta provided as part of the BCCI’s testing programme on January 15, when he was playing for Punjab in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, was found to contain terbutaline, which is among the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) list of prohibited substances.The BCCI charged Gupta with committing an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) on January 17 and provisionally suspended him. Gupta admitted to the violation, but said he took the substance inadvertently, as part of medication prescribed by his doctor to treat an upper-respiratory-tract infection, and not as a performance-enhancing drug. According to , terbutaline is a bronchodilator, which works by opening up breathing passages to make breathing easier.The BCCI was satisfied with Gupta’s explanation, and after considering all the evidence and taking expert external advice, has decided to suspend him for eight months, back-dating the start of the suspension to January 15, 2018. This means his records from matches played after January 15 – four T20s and six List A games – will be annulled. His suspension will end on September 14, 2018.Earlier this year, the BCCI suspended the Baroda allrounder Yusuf Pathan for five months for a similar offence, when his sample had been found to contain terbutaline.

حقق منتخب سلوفاكيا فوزًا مفاجئًا على نظيره بلجيكا، في المباراة التي جمعت بينهما ضمن منافسات بطولة يورو 2024.

منتخب سلوفاكيا واجه بلجيكا على ملعب دويتشه بانك، ضمن منافسات الجولة الأولى من المجموعة الخامسة ببطولة أمم أوروبا “يورو 2024” التي تقام في ألمانيا خلال الفترة من 14 يونيو حتى 14 يوليو.

شوط المباراة الأول بدأ سريعًا وأهدر منتخب بلجيكا هدفا عن طريق روميلو لوكاكو في الدقيقة 3، قبل انفراد تام أهدره البلجيكي مجددًا في الدقيقة 5.

بعد دقيقتين، مرر أونانا بالخطأ ليستغل الكرة إيفان تشارنز ويسجل هدف التقدم في مرمى المنتخب البلجيكي.

سدد نجم المنتخب البلجيكي دي بروين بعد ربع ساعة ولكنه فشل في التسجيل وذهبت الكرة بعيدة عن مرمى الحارس دوبرافكا، قبل أن يفشل تروسارد في استغلال خطأ حارس نيوكاسل ويرفض التمرير لـ لوكاكو ويسدد بعيدًا عن المرمى.

طالع أيضًا | يويفا يفتح تحقيقًا ضد صربيا بعد أحداث مباراة إنجلترا

الدقيقة 40 كادت أن تشهد هدفا ثانيا للمنتخب السلوفاكي، ولكن تسديدة كوتشكا تصدى لها الحارس دوبرافكا ببراعة.

مع أول 10 دقائق من زمن الشوط الثاني، سجل لوكاكو هدف التعادل برأسية من صناعة أونانا، قبل أن تلغيه تقنية الفيديو بسبب تسلل على مهاجم روما.

دخل باكايوكو مكان مانجالا في أول تغيير للمنتخب البلجيكي، وكاد أن يسجل التعادل لولا تدخل رائع من هانكو الذي ينقذ الكرة من على خط المرمى في الدقيقة 64.

وأهدر لوكاكو هدفا آخر بعد فشل سكرينيار في إبعاد الكرة، ولكن تسديدته ذهبت إلى الخارج.

بدأ فرانشيسكو كالزونا في إجراء التغييرات من أجل الخروج من مناطقه، بدخول سوسلوف مكان هارسلين، ومن هنا أصبحت الخطورة على مرمى دوبرافكا معدومة.

دخول تيليمانس مكان تروسارد، ثم اقحام لوكيباكيو وأوبيندا مكان كاراسكو ودوكو، جميعها تغييرات قام بها المدرب تيديسكو، ولكنها لم تكن إيجابية في ظل التماسك الرائع للمنتخب السلوفاكي.

رغم أن أوبيندا مر وصنع هدفا لـ روميلو لوكاكو المنحوس، الذي بعد أن سجل واحتفل بالهدف في الدقيقة 87، ألغاه الحكم بسبب لمسة يد على أوبيندا بعد العودة لتقنية الفيديو.

ظل المنتخب البلجيكي يحاول ولكن لم يتمكن من التسجيل، لتنتهي المباراة بفوز مفاجئ لـ سلوفاكيا على ملعب دويتشه بانك، في أولى مفاجآت يورو 2024.

منتخب سلوفاكيا بهذا الانتصار يأتي في المركز الثاني بفارق الأهداف عن المتصدر رومانيا، بـ 3 نقاط، بينما بلجيكا بدون رصيد من النقاط في المركز الثالث قبل أوكرانيا. هدف فوز سلوفاكيا أمام بلجيكا في بطولة يورو 2024