Belgium’s Michy Batshuayi has kicked the ball into his own face during today’s England versus Belgium match.
The 24-year-old footballer had been celebrating Belgium’s goal, and he looked utterly delighted with the victory as he kicked the ball with great gusto.
Unfortunately, this backfired big time as it bounced off the net and hit him full in the face, with ‘impressive’ accuracy.
It was a small yet brilliant victory for England after the disappointment of Belgium’s admittedly brilliant goal.
Of course, England fans couldn’t help but chuckle as their opponent fell from grace, with some describing this gaff as ‘the greatest moment of the World Cup so far.’
And indeed, for one glorious evening, fans from all sides were united in the hilarity of this comical kick.
One person tweeted:
Adnan Januzaj’s goal is decent but Michy Batshuayi belting the ball into his face off the post is priceless.
Another said:
Well that was quite painful to watch but at least it was just the B team. England need to have a bit more fight in games like this but at least the pains not as much as the ball Michy Batshuayi got in his face.
Now, we’ve all done something clumsy in public before but rarely will we have such an audience to bear witness.
It probably hasn’t done the Dortmund loan ranger’s chances of making it into the World Cup history books any favours…
I have no doubt Batshuayi will be face-palming for weeks over this one…
It looks to me like this ball was sick of being kicked around and wanted to claim some glory for itself!
England manager Gareth Southgate made the following statement after the match:
I think it was a pretty even game. I thought they had the better controlled possession, and the better chances in the first half. But we had a couple of good ones in the second. So it was a good test of us.
We had half an eye on the knockout. Marcus Rashford and Jamie Vardy kept running. It didn’t happen for them tonight, but we don’t suffer for it.
We want to win football matches, so we’re not happy to come away from here having been beaten. But what that means for the next round, we don’t really know. The knockout game is the biggest game for a decade, so we had to make sure our key players were preserved.
We created openings to get something from the game, but we have to keep improving. I think the supporters know what the most important thing is.
Hopefully the next match will be England’s time to shine.
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Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.