Fernando Torres and the Worst Misses in Football

It's hard coming to terms with failing to score an easy goal, but when you fail to score with the net wide open, it's nearly impossible to hope for anything other than the ground opening up and swallowing you.

Here's a compilation of the worst open goal football misses ever, brought on by Chelsea striker Fernando Torres's painful miss in Chelsea's Barclays Premier League game against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Fernando Torres

A strong contender for miss of the season, Fernando Torres' blunder in front of goal not only cost Chelsea a shot at fighting for draw against Manchester United, but it ought to cost him a couple nights of sleep.

Cristiano Ronaldo

The perfect pass was laid onto Cristiano Ronaldo's path and all he had to do was score—but score, he didn't.

Yakubu

How gutting must it be to make it to the World Cup but cost your country its progress to the latter stages of the tournament?

Ask Yakubu—he'll tell you. 

Diego Forlan

This glaring miss from Manchester United's Diego Forlan was simply a sign of things to come.

David Villa

Even the best of us can experience the worst. He might one of the best players in the world, but David Villa still has trouble scoring with an open goal, as is evident here.

Ronny Rosenthal

The Liverpool striker rounded Villa shot-stopper Nigel Spink and, with the goal wide open, missed.

Freddie Ljungberg

Freddie Ljungberg scored the only goal of the game for Arsenal at the Reebok Stadium against Bolton Wanderers, but in the last minute of the match, he scooped the ball over the net with another goal at his mercy.

Ryan Giggs

In the FA Cup 2003 semifinal, Manchester United midfielder Ryan Giggs dribbled his way through Arsenal's defense and was left with an open goal. However, he fired the ball over and into the Stretford End.

Arsenal later went on to win the tie 2-0.

Ilija Sivonjic

Why didn't he just leave the ball?

Rocky Baptiste

To find perhaps the greatest miss of all time, we go to non-league outfit Harrow Borough, where striker Rocky Baptiste proved nothing is really impossible.