WATCH: LIONEL MESSI'S PANEKA PENALTY GOES HORRIBLY WRONG DURING COPA AMERICA 2024
Argentina captain Lionel Messi had a moment to forget during the quarterfinal against Ecuador as his attempt at a paneka penalty went horribly wrong on July 4, Thursday. The match between both teams was forced into a penalty shootout after the game had ended 1-1 at the NRG stadium in Texas. Messi, who has been struggling with injuries during the tournament, setup the opening goal in the game when his corner was flicked on by Alexis Mac Allister and onto the path of Lisandro Martinez, who made no mistake.
Ecuador turned on the heat on the World Champions in the second half and had a chance to level things from the spot, after a Rodrigo de Paul handball. Enner Valencia's penalty would then bounce off the post before Kevin Rodriguez forced the game into penalties with his goal in stoppage time. Since there is no extra time in Copa America this year, Messi was given the job to take the first penalty of the night. The Argentina skipper stepped up and tried an audacious attempt to put the ball into the back of the net.
However, the shot went on to clip the top of the crossbar and went over as the Ecuador goalkeeper had already gone the wrong way. You can check the video below:
Emi Martinez saves the day for Messi and Argentina
In the end, Messi's miss didn't come back to haunt Argentina as Emi Martinez came in to save the day. Martinez, who was the shootout hero in the final of the Qatar World Cup, saved Ecuador's first penalty attempt from Mena. He would then save the second one from Alan Minda as Argentina took the lead in the shootout.
Both teams would convert their next two penalties and Argentina went on to win the shootout 4-2 to progress to the semifinals.
They will now take on either Canada or Venezuela in the final four round on July 9.
2024-07-05T05:52:53Z dg43tfdfdgfd