Lucio Does a Riise, Ribery Nearly Does a Ronaldo

Seems own goal fever is taking Europe by storm (a bit like the measles in that respect.) Just 48 hours after John Arne Riise’s “what’s he doing? why doesn’t he just use his right foot?” 95th minute diving header Champions League own goal on Tuesday, Brazilian defender Lucio suffered a similar bewildering fate in Bayern Munich’s UEFA Cup semifinal first leg against Zenit St Petersburg.

It wasn’t quite the 95th minute, it was the 62nd. But it was still an equalizer that transformed the game, from a solid 1-0 home win for Bayern, to an encouraging 1-1 draw for Zenit, who can now host Bayern in the return leg with an away goal safely tucked in their back pocket.

The headed own goal wasn’t the only thing this UEFA Cup semi had in common with its Champions League equivalents. There was also a missed penalty, from Franck Ribery. However, unlike Cristiano Ronaldo’s last night, Ribery’s spot kick came back to him, and Bayern’s French trickster tucked home the rebound.

And since we’re sharing video of the game, there’s no reason not to share this twirly flash of genius from the Bayern man, spotted on 101 Great Goals:

But that’s not the whole story. According to our LiveBlog on UEFA Cup Offside, Zenit keeper Viacheslav Malafeev was the man of the hour (actually hour and a half) making 13 saves to keep Bayern at bay and keep Zenit’s chances of making the UEFA Cup final very much alive.

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Category: World Football