3 times a missed penalty came back to haunt a team towards the end of the season
Football is a beautiful game with unending drama binges marred by defensive errors, open goal misses, late goals and poor refereeing decisions. Although long-range efforts, set-piece goals and solo goals memorize football fans, a penalty kick is more of a mental game between the keeper and the penalty taker.
There have been instances when a league was won by a single or fewer points or by goal difference owing to a penalty miss in a critical juncture of the match. Come the end of the season, one would introspect what would have happened had that player scored the penalty. Recently, Riyad Mahrez missed a late penalty against Liverpool and if City misses out on the league by two points or less, one would look back at the penalty miss by Riyad Mahrez.
Having said that, let's look at few instances when a missed penalty came back to haunt a team towards the end of the season.
#3 Michael Carrick
Date – 19 August 2009
Match Result -
Burnley 1 (Robbie Blake'19)
Manchester United 0
Missed Penalty - Michael Carrick '44
Having gained promotion into the premier league, Burnley were up against the reigning champions Manchester United who had won three Premier League titles on the trot. Although it looked like a case of foregone conclusion where Man Utd would rout a newly promoted team, it turned out to be a slugfest.
Robbie Blake put Burnley in front with a terrific volley in the 19th minute. Blake soon went from hero to villain after a rash challenge on Evra to concede a penalty in the 44th minute.
Michael Carrick stepped up to take the penalty. But, his shot was hit a comfortable height and was pushed away by the goalkeeper.
Had Carrick scored, Manchester United would have been level at half-time and with the momentum swung their way, they would have most likely gone on to score and win the match in the second half.
Manchester United lost the 2009-10 season to Chelsea by one point, had Carrick scored that penalty, it could have well been the fourth title on the trot.