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Being an experienced player doesn't mean you are immune to making a rookie-looking mistake. And proof of this sentence is Paolo Goltz, a 37-year-old center back, who recently gave away what people are calling "the dumbest penalty ever" in a game between Independiente and Colón in the Argentinian first division.
Dumbest penalty ever
The embarrassing moment for Goltz came in the 74th minute when the scoreboard was 1-1 and Colón was getting ready for a routine goal kick.
Goalkeeper Ignacio Chicco put the ball on the 6-yard line, ready to punt it, when Goltz approached, asking Chicco to let him kick it instead. The shot-stopper agreed and passed the ball to Goltz, who took it with his hands to place it in a different place within the box.
And chaos ensued.
Paolo Goltz hace el penal más insólito en la historia del fútbol profesional.
Parte 1 pic.twitter.com/7OCBKccJwN— Julio Cesar Quintanilla (@quintanillajc) March 22, 2023
The 11 Independiente players sprang immediately from their positions, hands up, toward referee Nicolas Lamolina crying for a penalty kick. Their case? Once Chicco passed the ball to Goltz with his feet, the ball was already in play and he shouldn't have touched it with his hands.
One of the assistant referees and VAR confirmed this to Lamolina and the penalty was finally called.
Colón players were now in shock. Goltz went to the official, saying there was no whistle to resume the game; ergo, no penalty should have been given.
Paolo Goltz hace el penal más insólito en la historia del fútbol profesional.
Parte 2 pic.twitter.com/1TFIjgkEJ3— Julio Cesar Quintanilla (@quintanillajc) March 22, 2023
Eventually, Martin Cauteruccio scored from the spot for Independiente in a game that ended 2-2.
After the final whistle, Goltz talked to the media about the unusual sequence and kept blaming the ref.
"The ref told me that you do not always need a whistle to resume the game, but previously he had made us restart a play because he hadn't ordered us to do it. So, I don't understand," he said. "About the play? I'm thinking in my head that I'm going to take the goal kick when Nacho (Chicco, the goalkeeper) moves the ball. I did not hear the whistle. And it makes me angry because we are not in conditions to give away this sort of thing and I'm old enough to assume the consequences if I made a mistake."
