ASTON VILLA flop Leandro Bacuna scored a comical and DECISIVE own goal which saw his team lose 1-0 late on at Fortuna Sittard.
Bacuna, 33, was captaining Dutch side Groningen who now sit 15th – just outside the Eredivisie relegation zone.
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Former Villa man Leandro Bacuna was left red-faced after blasting the ball into his own net from two yards out
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The decisive error saw his Dutch side Groningen lose 1-0
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The ex-Premier League star held onto the the roof of the net looking devastated
His moment of madness means Groningen have suffered five consecutive defeats after winning promotion last season.
With the score tied 0-0 in the 86th minute, Fortuna Sittard took an in-swinging corner and managed to get a low shot off.
But goalkeeper Etienne Vaessen kept the ball out by pushing it out to left-back Wouter Prins, who was standing at the front post.
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With the ball moving fast, Prins could only tap it away centrally towards an incoming Bacuna, who was two yards away from the goal line.
The former Aston Villa star tried to clear it over the bar – but somehow lashed it into his own net even though he was only a yard out.
A devastated Bacuna stood with his head in his hands and held onto the the roof of the net looking shell-shocked.
The unbelievable howler also left his team-mates wrecked, with Prins picking the ball up and booting it in the air in frustration.
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After the match, Bacuna said: “I was emotional, went inside and didn’t thank our fans. I’m not happy about that and I apologise. I also have to be there for the team.”
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Bacuna was left devastated after failing to clear an attempt in the 86th minute
Fans couldn’t believe what they witnessed as they stormed social media stating this might have been the worst own goal this year.
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One fan wrote: “Bacuna with an own goal of the year contender.”
‘I wouldn’t want to be the VAR’ gasps Mike Dean as Aston Villa goal overturned in controversial circumstances
Another commented: “Why has he just blasted in????”
While one more said: “That’s really unbelievable. Poor fella. Hard luck in recent times.”
Dutch footie analyst Wim Masker added: “This is really an incomprehensible own goal.”
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Fans were quick to call out Bacuna after he was dropped to the bench for oversleeping before their 1-0 defeat to FC Utrecht last week.
To make matters worse, he will miss Groningen’s next match against NEC Nijmegen, after picking up his fifth yellow of the season, for kicking the ball away earlier in the game.
He is the older brother of former Birmingham, Rangers and Huddersfield midfielder Juninho Bacuna, who now plays for Saudi Pro League side Al-Wehda.
Bacuna made more than 130 appearances for Villa and was a regular when they were relegated in 2016, when the club had four different managers.
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He often shifted between playing at right-back and central midfield.
During his time in the Prem, Bacuna fell out with the Villa Park supporters during their relegation campaign in 2015-16.
He was once singled out with insults about his baby daughter in fan attack on rock-bottom squad, according to The Mirror.
ASTON VILLA suspected they were on to a winner when they enticed four-times Europa League king Unai Emery away from Villarreal in October 2022.
They will certainly never bag a bigger bargain than the £5.2million compensation fee they paid the La Liga side for their Spanish tactical genius.
Emery started the way he meant to continue at Villa, ironically beating Sunday’s opponents Manchester United 3-1 on his debut – to record Villa’s first home Premier League victory over United since August 1995!
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And he has continued smashing records and setting new standards ever since, culminating in Wednesday’s incredible win over six-times European champions Bayern Munich.
Emery credits his Basque upbringing for his workaholic nature and he is first into Villa’s Bodymoor Heath training base before 8am every morning – and he is usually the last there, switching the lights off when he leaves around 9pm most nights.
A Villa insider once summed it up by saying: “It’s not unusual for managers to spend long hours at the training ground, chatting to staff, having cups of coffee. Unai is different, he doesn’t do down-time, it’s full on work-mode from the minute he arrives to the minute he leaves.”
On away trips Emery opens his laptop as soon as he boards the team coach and starts analysing his own team’s performance as well as the opposition.
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“He will watch all of our games seven or eight times and does the same for our opponents,” says Villa’s Director of Football Operations, Damian Vidagany – one of 23 Spaniards Emery has taken with him to Villa, including the world-famous transfer guru Monchi.
Emery trusts Monchi to supply the talent he needs from £50million record signing Amadou Onana to £8million bargain-buy Morgan Rogers and then he improves them beyond recognition.
Lesser managers would have written hotheaded hitman Jhon Duran off as a troublemaker – cut their losses and flogged him this summer after a series of high-profile PR gaffes.
But Emery was cold and clinical and asked himself one question – does the kid have any worth to me? Once he decided he did, he put an arm round the youngster and talked him through how he would transform him into one of the world’s great strikers.
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Now the smile is back on Duran’s face, never more so than after his stunning winner against Bayern, which underlined Emery’s extraordinary man-management skills.
Training is meticulous and repetitive until players get the drill with the aid of constant video reminders, both collectively and individually, while his army of coaches work tirelessly on improving individual players’ skill-sets and game intelligence with tailor-made sessions.
Against Bayern Emery not only set Villa up brilliantly defensively to frustrate the Bavarian giants, who failed to score for the first time this season.
He also hammered home over and over again verbally and visually with video clips, Manuel Neuer’s tendency to stray miles off his goal line in his sweeper-keeper role.
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Jhon Duran’s first-time finish to send the ball soaring over a stranded Neuer was pure genius – but the seed to try such an outrageous attempt was planted in his head by another genius.
Max Holloway was the “BMF” champion. Ilia Topuria knocked him out. So Topuria is the BMF champion now, right?
Apparently it’s not that simple, as Topuria’s incredible knockout of Holloway in the UFC 308 main event only secured Topuria’s featherweight championship. Holloway won the BMF title with a fifth-round KO of Justin Gaethje this past April, but UFC CEO Dana White never stated that Holloway’s title was on the line Saturday. White later told reporters Holloway is still the BMF even after the loss.
None of that stopped Topuria from parading around with two titles after beating Holloway, which “Blessed” was asked about at the evening’s post-fight press conference.
“Could you imagine [lightweight champion] Islam [Makhachev] walking around with two belts after knocking out [featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski]?” Holloway said. “Let that sink in. The belt was in a different weight class for a different reason. I think the fans make it happen, if the UFC really wanted to make it happen they would have put it up, but Dana said what he said, so he’s the boss man.”
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Topuria was also asked why he was waltzing around with the BMF title in addition to his UFC title and he wondered why it wasn’t up for grabs in the first place.
“I never understand why they didn’t put the BMF belt on the line,” Topuria said. “It has to be on the line since the first day, but they don’t want to make it official, I’m going to make it official by myself.”
“It’s going to be a little bit weird for them to promote him as a BMF, but is what it is, no problem,” he added. “I’m going to keep it in my house. … Now, I’m the new baddest motherf*cker world champion.”
Prior to fighting Holloway, Topuria suggested he could challenge for titles in multiple divisions, targeting bouts with welterweight champion Belal Muhammad and lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.
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Holloway was asked if he thought Topuria could get Islam next, but he still sees options at 145 pounds for Topuria.
“I don’t know,” Holloway said. “I saw Dana White talk about it, Dana White said that Ilia got a lot of contenders here, so we see what happens. Certain situations come up for certain fighters because of certain workload that they do, so at the end of the day if he gets it that’s cool, but probably not. He has Volk and Diego [Lopes] ramming down the door right now, so I think they might keep him down there.”
“It’s hard to go against Islam,” Holloway said when asked to evaluate the potential matchup. “His fighting style is a tough one. He likes wrestling, he likes striking now, he’s falling in love with his striking, so it’s hard to win against Islam.”
“Shaq is not the only Bristol Rovers player to receive racial abuse, with an incident under investigation only last week.
“Even more sickening is that some of these messages come from individuals claiming to be Bristol Rovers supporters. Each time, the club has sought to act in the appropriate manner.”
The incident occurred just days after Luton Town striker Elijah Adebayo was the victim of racist abuse sent to him by an Instagram user after the Hatters lost 2-1 to Sunderland in the Championship.
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Bristol Rovers said the “old methods of ‘combating’ racism”, the “carefully-crafted press releases and saturated social media posts” are “not working”.
The club statement added: “Our supporters – our real supporters – are sick and tired of being in any way associated with those ‘fans’ who comfortably send such abhorrent messages.
“To the person who sent Shaq this racist message, and to any person who claims to be a Gashead and engages in similarly deplorable behaviour, we simply say this: You are not a Bristol Rovers fan. You are not welcome at The Memorial Stadium. We do not want your support.”
Opponents Reading also expressed support for Forde and say they “strongly condemn” the abuse sent to him.
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“We will work alongside Saturday’s visitors to ensure the perpetrator is identified and evidence is provided to the relevant authorities,” a Royals statement, external said.
“No individual, whether on or off the pitch, should be subjected to such abuse. We stand by you, Shaq.”
“I’m really proud of the playing group because I think this week has been really difficult in terms of getting professional courtesy,” she told BBC Sport NI.
“I’m glad we’re going back on equal footing in the second leg, I’m really looking forward to playing at Windsor Park where we can exert ourselves on the game.”
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Sources within the squad described it as a ‘logistically challenging’ few days and said the pitches provided for training were inadequate.
BBC Sport was also told lighting was not switched on in time for the start of the team’s training session on Thursday, the evening before the first leg.
ARGENTINIAN journalist Enrique Wolff has LOST his right to vote in the Ballon d’Or after his picks showed “he’d lost all credibility.”
Wolff, 75, was removed after voting for FOUR of his compatriots in the top five of the 2023 Ballon d’Or, which was won by Lionel Messi.
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The voter for Argentina was removed after last year’s Ballon d’Or
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Enrique Wolff was accused of losing ‘all credibility’Credit: wolffquique instagram
France Football will hand the Ballon d’Or to the world’s best player in a glittering awards ceremony in Paris on Monday.
The coveted award is decided by 100 journalists, one from each of Fifa’s 100 top-ranked member nations (top 50 for the women’s award).
Each journalist makes their top 10 pick from the 30-player shortlist and there are different point values for each.
The Ballon d’Or is for the previous season and should go to the best player during that specific period, not the journalists’ favourite.
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But guidance carries only so much weight.
Ballon d’Or commander-in-chief, Garcia told The Times: “I am not a dictator. They vote with their heart.
“Some prefer attackers or midfielders, this team or that team. The important thing is to be credible. Not everyone passes that test either.
“Last year the voter for Argentina was removed after he selected four players from Argentina — Messi, Lautaro Martinez, Julian Alvarez and Emiliano Martinez — in his top five spots.
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Inter Miami and Argentina’s Lionel Messi won a record eighth Ballon d’Or in 2023
Chimaev (14-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) made a frightening statement that he should be next to challenge for the middleweight title held by Du Plessis (22-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) on Saturday when he destroyed Robert Whittaker by first-round submission in the co-main event matchup at Etihad Arena on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.
After the fight, Chimaev made it clear he wants to challenge for gold in his next fight, whether that means immediately or waiting for a rematch between Du Plessis and Sean Strickland to play out. The UFC has yet to book Du Plessis vs. Strickland 2, though, and UFC CEO Dana White said post-fight that he is going to mull all potential options for what’s next in Tuesday’s matchmaker meeting.
It appears Du Plessis is trying to help make that decision easier, however, because in his first reaction to Chimaev’s win, he said he is eager for the chance to put the first blemish on what is currently a flawless record in MMA competition (via X):
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Feel really sorry for Rob he looked super ready but this is the fight game well done on a good performance Khamzat That being said I can’t wait to take your 0
Feel really sorry for Rob he looked super ready but this is the fight game well done on a good performance Khamzat That being said I can’t wait to take your 0
The confidence on Chimaev’s end going into a potential championship showdown with Du Plessis was evident in the aftermath of UFC 308, and he predicted it would be a rough night for him – and his last moment sitting at the top of the mountain.
“How I did with this guy, Rob, and how he done?” Chimaev said. “Rob took him down, so if Rob took him down, there is salam alaikum (against me).”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.
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