4 Biggest Blunders in World Football This Weekend
New Year's Eve was several days ago now, so long-lasting hangovers cannot be the excuse for mishaps and moments of madness on football pitches around the globe.
Still, several individuals still managed to get 2015 off to a worrying start with instances of own goals, poor judgement and generally bizarre behaviour.
It's our biggest blunders of the weekend routine, and these are four of the worst from Thursday onwards.
Jordi Alba
1 of 4
We generally try to keep our blunders "action-based," otherwise the Barcelona figure here would be manager Luis Enrique for his team selection, rather than left-back Jordi Alba.
As it is, it's Alba's first-minute own goal which gets the nod. The Spaniard headed into his own net early on against Real Sociedad, sending his team to defeat and meaning they missed out on the chance to move to the top of La Liga.
Watch the own goal here.
Wojciech Szczesny
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It was a pretty bad start all-round to the new year for Arsenal's Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
He made two costly errors which lost his team the match against Southampton, with his attempt to slide tackle his own player—watch that here—being particularly poor, gifting Dusan Tadic an easy finish.
Then, he was criticised by plenty on social media for reacting by simply and immediately drinking from his water bottle—not sure why but watch that here.
We await more fallout.
Paul Dummett
3 of 4
Sometimes, defenders just do odd things; you cannot stop them from doing so. It's almost as if it's hardwired into their system.
So when Paul Dummett opted to simply head the ball over his own goalkeeper and into the back of the net, we shouldn't have been surprised; instead, we should clap him on the shoulder and tell him: Welcome to professional football. You'll fit in just fine.
Watch Dummett's completely unnecessary own goal right here.
Younis Mahmoud
4 of 4Friendly matches might be the time to experiment, but some mean more than others—especially when it's an international friendly game.
And perhaps even more so in a poignant match such as Iraq vs. Iran, where plenty of pride is at stake. Younis Mahmoud attempted a Panenka penalty in the game with his side trailing 1-0—and got it terribly wrong. The scoreline ended the same way.
Watch the miss on the video above.
