Raheem Sterling Features in 'Worst Misses in Football History' Twitter Thread


Raheem Sterling missed a glaring opportunity to level the scores and force extra time during Manchester City's Champions League loss to Lyon last week. With 85 minutes on the clock and City trailing 2-1 to Lyon, the Premier League side worked the ball into the area and squared it across the goalkeeper to an open Sterling at the back post.
Sterling appeared seconds from scoring the crucial goal, only to see the ball sail over the crossbar.
Fans on social media could not believe their eyes, and that epic miss made it into a Twitter thread that has been making the rounds since the start of the year.
Twitter user @GoalscorerC has compiled a rather brilliant thread of the worst misses ever featuring the likes of Ryan Giggs, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, Ronnie Rosenthal, Freddie Ljungberg, Yakubu, Fernando Torres, and many more.
A thread of the worst misses in football history, in no particular order.
— GoalScorer Challenge (@GoalscorerC) February 21, 2020
First up is Lesotho striker Tumelo Khutlang, fluffing his lines not once but twice in a 1-0 win over Tanzania in 2018.pic.twitter.com/EEgWMj3yiF
A bit less famous than his goal in the same competition against the same opponents 8 years earlier.
— GoalScorer Challenge (@GoalscorerC) February 21, 2020
Here’s Ryan Giggs inexplicably lofting his shot over the bar at 0-0 in Man Utd’s defeat by Arsenal in the 2003 FA Cup semi. pic.twitter.com/K58eFspd1i
Readers of a certain age will be more than familiar with this one, mostly thanks to Nick Hancock’s Football Nightmares.
— GoalScorer Challenge (@GoalscorerC) February 21, 2020
If you haven’t seen it before, you’re in for a treat. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr Noah Hickey.pic.twitter.com/i48yc1QrBQ
Another bona fide classic.
— GoalScorer Challenge (@GoalscorerC) February 21, 2020
This miss by Ronnie Rosenthal was the benchmark for many years, before the age in which every glaring miss was seen from 100 angles.pic.twitter.com/7dI4pp880q
Some players work better on instinct. Give them too much time and they’ll make the wrong decision.
— GoalScorer Challenge (@GoalscorerC) February 21, 2020
Here’s Rocky Baptiste with all the time in the world. He makes the wrong decision.pic.twitter.com/IwqL2xGIcX
See, back in the days of Football Nightmares and Own Goals & Gaffes, this type of miss might never have been known to us.
— GoalScorer Challenge (@GoalscorerC) February 21, 2020
Now everything’s recorded all the time and it’s wonderful. This is Ilija Sivonjic of Dinamo Zagreb. pic.twitter.com/shfFUPU21I
A more recent one. By no means as bad a miss as some of the others in the thread, but to miss a chance like this to make it 4-0 in injury time of a Champions League semi final first leg? Ousmane Dembélé must have replayed this one a few times.pic.twitter.com/xqIdKSkQdg
— GoalScorer Challenge (@GoalscorerC) February 21, 2020
Meet Arnaldo Vera, a Paraguayan defender for Libertad.
— GoalScorer Challenge (@GoalscorerC) August 16, 2020
Here he is going for an unorthodox finish off the shin in a 2003 Copa Libertadores tie. His blushes were spared somewhat by the fact they won 5-1, but the scoreline isn’t what comes up when you google his name. pic.twitter.com/ihgpL4rXQi
Fernando Torres is 19 league games into his Chelsea career, looking low on confidence after his £50m move from Liverpool.
— GoalScorer Challenge (@GoalscorerC) August 16, 2020
Despite having scored earlier to reduce the deficit, this was the moment where it seemed he would never be the same player again.pic.twitter.com/K1JXwyHtBO
No idea who this is I’m afraid, I believe it’s from a lower league match in Brazil.
— GoalScorer Challenge (@GoalscorerC) August 16, 2020
Made even better by the laughter in the background. Cruel, but probably deserved in this case. pic.twitter.com/aZhe81d4um
Oh, Raheem, this is a really bad one.
— GoalScorer Challenge (@GoalscorerC) August 15, 2020
It’s not the worst miss in the thread but it’s the Champions League quarter final. Maybe it really is the worst miss in the thread.
Oh, Raheem.pic.twitter.com/Wa7kLnUmwT
Some of those misses simply can’t be explained. They look harder to miss than to score!
However, legendary goalscorer Gary Lineker did have an explanation for Sterling’s miss on Saturday night.
"He looked like he was in the perfect position to hit it, but he's not going to sleep very well tonight, Raheem Sterling," Lineker said.
"I tell you why he's missed it: because he's tried to hit it too hard. When you're in that position where you know you've got an open goal, the only way you can miss it is putting your foot through it, and if there is a slight bobble there is a chance it'll go over the bar.
"It's almost like he's trying to hit it with a little bit of force and there's obviously been a little bit of lift of the ball, a little bobble. But if you take the weight off it, you can’t miss."