It was a moment to forget on a warm sunny afternoon in Copenhagen, as Unai Simon conceded one of the most comical own goals one will ever see in an international tournament.
Spain were up against Croatia in their 2020 European Championship Round of 16 encounter, and after being close to breaking the deadlock twice – conceded an own goal in the most embarrassing fashion.
It was in the 20th minute that Pedri passed the ball back to his goalkeeper in order to ease the pressure put on him by the Croatian midfielders. But little did he know, that he would be credited with arguably the worst own goal scored in European Championship history – as Unai Simon completely misjudged the pass and failed to control the slightly swerving ball coming at him.
The ball crept away from him in incredulous fashion and long before he knew it, it was destined to end up in the back of the Spanish net and ensue an afternoon of chaos in Copenhagen.
The Athletic Bilbao shot-stopper looked like he wanted the ground to open up and swallow him whole after playing an integral part in the ninth own goal scored in an abnormally erratic EURO 2020 – there were only eight in European Championship history before this tournament began.
Spain had essentially shot themselves in the foot, giving Croatia the lead against the run of play in a knockout encounter. But Simon could breathe easy soon after as Pablo Sarabia equalized for Spain, before Cesar Azpilicueta and Ferran Torres made it 3-1 to Spain.
Two late goals from Mislav Orsic and Mario Pasalic meant that the match ended 3-3 in normal time, but Alvaro Morata and Mikel Oyarzabal ensured that Spain qualified to the quarter-finals after extra time. Simon played his part too, as he denied Ante Budimir in extra time to salvage his moment of madness.
