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03rd Jul 2016

The internet has been mocking Simone Zaza’s penalty run-up

Oh dear

Tom Victor

The penalty shoot-out between Italy and Germany had everything.

Germany won 6-5 to progress to the semi-finals of Euro 2016, where they will meet either France or Iceland.

But not before a series of tense spot-kicks, where two Germans and three Italians failed to find the net.

There were important saves, like Manuel Neuer’s from Matteo Darmian, but all that most people could talk about was Simone Zaza’s skied effort.

Well, not the penalty itself, but the run-up, where the Juventus forward – who had been brought on specifically to take a penalty – took about 20 steps before firing over the bar.

The internet didn’t disappoint when it came to the well-honed art of taking the piss, with an unrelenting barrage of mockery.

Sure, it was only one part of what was a generally shambolic penalty shoot-out, but Zaza’s effort was so remarkably bad it deserves a separate tribute of its own.

Even studio pundits got in on the act.

Van Hooijdonk was right, you know.

There were countless comparisons.

Then some more…

And even more still…

By the end, they made the Jerome Boateng photoshops look like nothing.

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