5 times Gonzalo Higuain cost his team in big matches
Gonzalo Higuain is a high-profile striker and has plied his trade in some of the top clubs in Europe over the years such as Real Madrid, Napoli and Juventus. The Argentine marksman has an eye for goal and has been on a free-scoring run ever since coming to Europe and has particulay been impressive since his move to Italy.
However, his performances in big games have often been below par and that has blighted his reputation significantly. Image-tarnishing tags such as “choker”, “bottler” have been associated with him for a while as he has consistently failed to live up to his billing when it mattered most for his team(s).
Unfortunately for him, his team ended up as second-best on almost all these occasions which meant that he was the obvious villain. According to sports psychologist Phil Johnson, there’s a trauma that Higuain is suffering from as a result of which he fails to find his goal-scoring boots in the marquee games. The Juventus faithful would hope that their £75.3 million man slays the ghost of the past to deliver a match-winning performance against his former side Real Madrid in the Champions League final tonight.
However, before he does that we go down the memory lane to revisit the five occasions when Higuain cost his team in big matches:
#5 2nd Leg, Copa Del Rey quarter final 2011-12
The quarter-finals of the 2011-12 Copa Del Rey edition saw Real Madrid squaring off against arch-rivals Barcelona. The Los Blancos suffered a 2-1 defeat at home and had their work cut out going into the second leg.
However, in the game, an early backpass from Dani Alves caught Pique napping and presented Higuain with a golden chance to score. He simply had to slot the ball past Pinto but he couldn’t keep his cool and shot wide.
Chances don’t come as easily in El Clasicos as they did on that night for Higuain. He missed a gilt-edged opportunity and let his side down as they only managed to salvage a 2-2 draw and crashed out of the competition.