Before the fortnight reprieve from the domestic leagues around Europe, Riyad Mahrez signed off the Premier League with one of the most godforsaken awful penalty misses ever witnessed in England.
The Algeria’s sky-high hoof could have provided the difference for the visiting side in a tight game between Premier League frontrunners Manchester City and Liverpool at Anfield, with Mahrez having a chance to break the deadlock by taking the ball off teammate Gabriel Jesus after Leroy Sane was brought down inside the box.
Instead, row Z was seemingly the intended target, with Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson having nothing to do. A poor day for Mahrez who did little to justify being City’s transfer record in the match on Merseyside.
Not wanting to be outdone however, former Southampton player Dusan Tadic produced something that took Mahrez’s awfulness and exemplified it to the power 10 in an international fixture this week.
Stepping up for national side Serbia in their match against Romania at the Arena Nationala in Bucharest this weekend, the Ajax midfielder walked up to the penalty spot on the stroke of half-time after Romania’s Gabriel Tamas was dismissed for violent conduct in the penalty area.
Tadic confidently sent the ball into the stratosphere and the game resumed on an equal berth.
There was certainly no need for Romania goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarusanu to produce the acrobatics in net; with this sort of thrust, the Soyuz Rocket launch could have done with Tadic’s expertise.
The tie eventually finished 0-0 in the UEFA Nations League game and whilst the result meant that Serbia remain top of their group, they and coach Mladen Krstajic will surely rue Tadic’s missed opportunity to make their position at the summit more comfortable.
You can watch the video of Tadic’s blazing miss below and cringe.
