Lionel Messi was left red-faced on Saturday night after his attempt at an audacious ‘Panenka’ penalty went horribly wrong – before Inter Miami went on to suffer defeat.
Miami were awarded a spot-kick just after the half-hour mark in their MLS showdown with Charlotte FC, and it was Messi who stepped up in a bid to break the deadlock.
Yet instead of firing home the first goal of the game as expected, the soccer legend fluffed his lines from 12 yards in untypically embarrassing fashion.
After trying to pull off a Panenka – a risky skill which sees a penalty taker wait for the goalkeeper to move before chipping the ball down the middle of the goal – Messi’s effort was instead saved by Charlotte keeper Kristijan Kahlina.
Kahlina held his nerve and resisted diving to either side, meaning he was able to both deny and humiliate the Inter captain.
And if that wasn’t bad enough for him, Miami went on to lose the game 3-0 thanks to a hat-trick from Charlotte forward Idan Toklomati.
Lionel Messi saw an audacious ‘Panenka’ penalty attempt go horribly wrong on Saturday
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The soccer legend’s effort was saved before Inter Miami went on to suffer a 2-0 defeat
Toklomati opened the scoring just two minutes after Messi’s Panenka disaster, before doubling the hosts’ lead a couple of minutes into the second half at Bank of America Stadium.
Then, after Tomas Aviles was sent off for the visitors 11 minutes from time, he showed Messi how it was done by converting from the penalty spot to wrap up his hat-trick and a three-goal victory for Charlotte six minutes from time.
Javier Mascherano’s Miami are now languishing in seventh place in the MLS’ Eastern Conference after falling to their sixth defeat in 26 games, leaving them one point clear in the final automatic playoff spot.
They were also soundly beaten by Seattle Sounders in last month’s Leagues Cup final, with Messi unable to prevent them from another bruising 3-0 defeat.
Next up for Inter is the visit of the Sounders to Chase Stadium in MLS on Tuesday night, before they host D.C. United four days later.
