Goals that back fired

Michael Ballack hardly looked sheepish as he celebrated scoring Germany’s third goal in their 3-2 win over Portugal, but his header certainly displeased Luiz Felipe Scolari, his future manager at Chelsea, whose spell in charge of Portugal ended in disappointment as a result. The midfield player’s strike was not the first example of a goalscoring act of “disloyalty”.

When Ahn Jung Hwan scored the South Korea goal that knocked Italy out of the 2002 World Cup, he infuriated Perugia, the Serie A club for whom he was playing on loan. Luciano Gaucci, the club’s owner, announced that he would cancel Ahn’s contract, stating: “I have no intention of paying a salary to someone who has ruined Italian football.” When Gaucci changed his tune and offered an olive branch, Ahn rejected it, saying the club and its owner had criticised “my character instead of congratulating me for a goal in the World Cup”.

In 1974, Denis Law did nothing to upset Manchester City, his owners, when he scored the late goal at Old Trafford that beat Manchester United on the day that City’s great rivals were relegated. However, the player was mortified, shrugging aside the City players who wanted to celebrate his back-heeled effort with him and later feeling guilt at contributing towards the downfall of the club with whom he had enjoyed such success.

Comments

[Steve]

Scolari displeased? Please.

He's already managing Chelsea in his head (witness the "friendly" advice he's been giving Cristiano Ronaldo to ditch Man U, wink wink, nudge nudge), so I'm sure he's happy to see Ballack doing what it takes to win big matches.

I remember the Ahn flap, though. Now THERE was a goal that exposed just how deep the whiny, vindictive streak runs in Italian football.