Juventus Federico Gatti’s own goal versus Sasuola is something to see. I mean I don’t think you’ve ever seen an own goal like this before in professional soccer. In fact, I don’t think you’ll ever see an own goal like this again in pro soccer.
Moreover, some are calling it a ‘no look’ own goal. As though Gatti was trying to play a give and go with his keeper without looking at the ball as he passed it. There is such a rush by Gatti to play the ball he’s no looking it and going to run up field. A Ronaldinho like no look pass with Wojciech Szczesny, the Juventus keeper.
Once Gatti receives the ball from Szczesny he immediately tries to play the ball back to him but Szczesny is nowhere to be found. Gatti seems to think the keeper was going to run right back into the goal area after playing him to the ball. But Szczesny had played the ball from pretty far out wide. And he wasn’t going to sprint right back into the goal box.
Juventus hit them with the no look own goal. 😲 pic.twitter.com/kTErDd5UJ9
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) September 23, 2023
However, it is not the best ball by Szczesny. He plays the ball to Gatti when he’s under pressure. Also, Gatti is not known to be comfortable with the ball at his feet either.
Additionally, not to remove blame from Gatti entirely, but Szczesny should have played the ball long. Played the ball further up the field to one of his attacking players. Especially when Juventus were losing 3-2 and the game is in extra time.
Furthermore, if you look at the image in this post, Szczesny is near the corner kick are when he takes the free kick and plays the ball across the ball to Gatti. The Juventus keeper is way out wide. And the ball needs to get into the attack as soon as possible with Juventus losing.
Overall, this is one of those scenarios in football where, if you’re closed down like this you have to shield the ball and protest it. Gatti should have used his body to hold off the defender and at a minimum tried to draw a foul. I guess his mind was just racing too fast and he did what he usually does and played a back pass to his keeper. His keeper though was no in the goal!
Juventus manager Allegri said this about the Gatti own goal after the game:
“Gatti has made errors and he will do more in his career. He has played 30 games for Juventus, I think. He must remain calm, the error was ugly to see but did not impact the result. We must be quiet and work towards Lecce, the only unbeaten team with Inter.”
It is an interesting phenomenon in world soccer: playing out of the back in general. In the sense that not long ago keepers could pick the ball up any time they wanted in the back. Or, teams would play the ball long and not try to build out of the back so much. Defenders did not have to have the ability to control the ball with their back turned.
Thankfully though, the game has evolved and grown in that sense. Nowadays, every player on the team, from keepers to defenders just about have to have the skill of an attacking midfielder.
For Gatti, he’ll have to try and forget his own goal and move on. It is such a very bizarre own goal though, that it might be hard to do.
