An Italian Striker Had To Play Goalie...And It Did Not End Well

We've all seen it. A goalkeeper gets sent off and the substitute keeper comes on and immediately has to face a penalty. What a difficult task that must be, and it's exactly the situation Serie B side Bari faced in their game against Crotone. Except...they had no substitutions left and were faced with the prospect of putting one of their outfield players in goal. So up stepped striker Riccardo Maniero, who quickly threw a goalie jersey on with all the grace of a teenager who slept through their alarm. Guess how well that worked out. 

Yeesh. Bari were actually winning the game 2-1 before the goalkeeper went all gangland on the Crotone player; Bari's goal being scored by unwilling sticksman, Maniero. But Crotone scored two in six minutes to clinch the victory, leaving the poor striker flopping around like a carp. In fairness, he did make a decent save on the second goal. Come on defense. Help the guy out. 

Unsurprisingly, this is not the first time a team has had to put one of their outfield players in goal. There were two incidents on the same day in fact, but with much better results than poor Maniero there. Swansea defender Angel Rangel, was forced to take a turn in goal for Michel Vorm back in 2013, and parried a shot over the bar in the Welsh derby against Cardiff.

 Credit: 101greatgoals.com

But the real heroics took place in the Bundesliga that same afternoon. Mainz striker Sebastien Polter had to jump in goal after his keeper was sent off and made a superb stop from a free kick that actually made it look like he knew what he was doing. Way to step up buddy. You're an example to all other outfield players in goal.