Hugo LLoris is a lucky guy.
The French goalkeeper and captain, when receiving a ball back in the small area in the final of the World Cup in 2018, in Russia, tried to do what he shouldn’t: dribble the attacker.
Mandzukic stretched out his right foot, Lloris’ feint missed, the ball hit the Croatian and went into the net.
A tremendous embarrassment, a glaring error in the decision of the most important football championship on the planet.
So why is LLoris so lucky?
Because France was winning the match 4-1 at the time of the strike he made, and Croatia didn’t have the strength to score more goals in the duel in Moscow.
The mess of shirt 1 was not forgotten, but it ended up being minimized for not affecting the final result.
Lúcio, one of the best defenders the Brazilian team has ever had, is also a lucky guy.
In the quarter-finals of the 2002 World Cup, played in South Korea and Japan, he made a big mistake trying to cut a pitch from Heskey to Owen.
Lúcio was “crooked” in the play, and the ball hit his hip and was left to the fast forward, who dislodged goalkeeper Marcos and put England ahead.
A gross, glaring error in a game between two football powers can ruin everything.
But Lúcio is lucky, as he had a Ronaldinho Gaucho on his team who was very inspired that day at Shizuoka stadium, in the Japanese city of Fukuroi.
The attacking midfielder pulled a counterattack at the end of the first half and gave a sugary pass for Rivaldo to equalize.
In the second stage, in one of his most famous goals, he took a foul that covered goalkeeper Seaman. To this day, it is questioned whether Ronaldinho wanted to shoot for the goal or whether the cross “wrong”.
Lúcio’s foolishness, like Lloris’ example, is remembered, but it doesn’t turn the beque into a villain, since Brazil won the game and, later, became five-time world champion.
The Belgian-Brazilian Andreas Pereira is not lucky.
The Flamengo midfielder made a mistake that cost dearly – to him, to the team and to the biggest fans in Brazil.
At the beginning of overtime, in the Libertadores final against Palmeiras, on Saturday (27) in Montevideo, Andreas received a pass from David Luiz in defense.
He was alone, he was the last man, but he didn’t seem to be in a difficult situation. I could retreat to goalkeeper Diego Alves or pass to Rodrigo Caio, who was a short distance away.
That’s if you didn’t hesitate or blunder. In trying to dominate the ball, Andreas took a false step, and it escaped. In a second, the Flamengo player realized he was in trouble.
With the proximity of Deyverson, who was coming at speed, the 18 shirt still tried, in an effort that proved to be in vain, to kick the ball so that it could reach Diego Alves.
The rest of the move everyone knows. Deyverson kept the ball, entered the area and scored the goal that gave Palmeiras the Libertadores cup.
⚽️ The goal of the title! From a new angle, the bid that took the @Palm trees again to #Eternal glory! Deyverson is the hero of the CONMEBOL champion # Liberators. pic.twitter.com/FgfICpIDiF
– CONMEBOL Libertadores (@LibertadoresBR) November 28, 2021
Andreas lay desolate on the ground, aware that he was about to become the villain of the red-black nation. There he began to live a nightmare, which proved to be real and from which he will not wake up.
Unlike what happened with Lloris and Lucius, the failure will not be forgotten or minimized.
When someone, today or years from now, asks what caused Flamengo’s defeat in the Libertadores decision in 2021, the answer will be: Andreas’ slip.
They say that football is a team sport. That when the team wins, the merit belongs to everyone and that when the team loses, the failure belongs to the group.
Bullet. An individual error, if of gigantic proportion, is not the team’s fault. The responsible is exclusively the one who hesitated. Barbosa, Brazil’s goalkeeper in the 1950 World Cup, who missed the goal that gave the title to Uruguay, let him say so.
Andreas, 25, must have spent a terrible end of Saturday and Sunday, recalling the fateful move again and again.
A lot of questions he must be asking himself by now.
“Why did I handle an easy ball so badly?” “Why didn’t Deyverson miss the kick?” “Why didn’t Diego Alves avoid the goal?” “Why couldn’t Flamengo react?” “Why did this just happen to me?”
And the main question: “How will the fans treat me from now on?”.
These are questions with no clear answers or even no answers.
For now, what can be said, without hesitation, is this: Andreas is not a lucky guy.
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