Spain has had some trouble scoring goals at Euro 2020. On Wednesday, a half-hour into their final Group E game, the Spaniards found a perfect antidote to their woes: Just let the opposing goalkeeper slap the ball into his own net.
No, seriously.
Martin Dubravka, Slovakia’s goalkeeper, scored Spain’s second goal of the tournament by attempting to push an awkwardly looping rebound over the crossbar. Instead, he spanked it under the bar and into the net.
Dubravka, less than 20 minutes earlier, had saved a penalty from Alvaro Morata. And the goal wasn’t entirely his fault. The sequence began with a dreadful giveaway by a Slovakian defender. Pablo Sarabia pounced on an errant pass, and struck the crossbar.
Dubravka did what many goalkeepers would’ve tried to do in that situation. Rather than try to catch the ball amid traffic, and with the crossbar an obstacle, he opted to punch the ball to safety. He just … failed.
The Euros of the own goal
Dubravka’s howler was the seventh — yes, seventh — own goal of the Euro 2020 group stage.
The tournament opened with one, and has seen its fair share of embarrassment since. Portugal scored two against Germany. Germany scored one itself against France. Finland held off Belgium for over an hour, then conceded via its own goalkeeper to lose its grasp on second place in Group B.
But none were as bad as Dubravka’s.
Spain scored a second goal just before halftime and appears to be on its way to the knockout rounds despite two draws to open the tournament.