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Euro 2020’s own goal race just peaked


You can stop the voting, we have found a winner in the race to score Euro 2020’s best (or perhaps worst) own goal.

Friends of Slovakian keeper Martin Dúbravka might want to look away now…

Spain’s mis-firing attack finally came to life in their final group game against Slovakia, running out 5-0 winners.

However, despite scoring five times, there’s only one goal that people are talking about.

Spain, needing a win to progress to the knockout rounds, have struggled to make their possession dominance count this tournament, and looked again like they would somehow struggle to score against Slovakia when Dúbravka saved a penalty from Álvaro Morata — the second penalty miss from the Spanish at this tournament.

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But shortly after, the 32-year-old Newcastle United stopper made a calamatous error to hand Spain the lead.

A shocking pass out of his own penalty area from Ľubomír Šatka played in Pablo Sarabia, whose shot cannoned off the crossbar and flew high into the air.

As the ball teasingly careered down towards the goal, Dúbravka got himself in position to swat the ball behind for a corner, but badly misjudged his angles, palming the ball into his own net.

Slovakia’s goalkeeper Martin Dubravka scores an own-goal while attempting to clear the ball against Spain.(

AP: David Ramos

)

Stunningly, that was the seventh own goal of this year’s Euro’s, although this was clearly the clear standout of the genre.

Perhaps even more incredibly, it was followed later on in the same game by an eighth for the tournament, although Juraj Kucka deflecting the ball into his own net was far less spectacular than Dúbravka’s staring turn.

That second own goal in a single game meant Slovakia matched Portugal’s record of scoring two own goals in a single game from earlier this tournament.

The other own goals have been scored by Rúben Dias, Raphaël Guerreiro (both Portugal), Wojciech Szczęsny (Poland), Melih Demiral (Turkey), Mats Hummels (Germany) and Lukáš Hrádecký (Finland).

All that means that OG has further extended its lead at the top of the tournament’s goal scoring charts, and will take some stopping when it comes to awarding the golden boot on this evidence.



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