Some of the very best players in the Premier League have missed some absolute sitters in the 2018/19 season.
Is there anything more embarrassing for a paid professional to miss a wide-open goal when they’re standing mere yards away? Conversely, is there anything funnier for the watching fan? Few things warm the heart quite as much as seeing a footballer earning tens of thousands of pounds a week make an utter tit of himself.
These moments remind us that those mega-rich athletes are human just like you and me. When they go home after making such a terrible error, they’ll just have to console themselves with their wealth and giant houses. Let’s pray they somehow managed to recover from making these spectacular misses in the Premier League.
The five worst misses by Premier League players in 2018/19:
Sergio Aguero vs Chelsea
Of all the players in all of the leagues all throughout the history of the game, if I had to pick one player to hit a target to save my life, I would choose Sergio Aguero. Or at least, I would have until I saw him make a hash of this glorious chance.
So no one made mention of aguero's miss.
That's how success is. No one cares about how many times you failed or "almost hit it" buh your success is what counts. pic.twitter.com/LaodCzpNSl
— { Femi } (@flecther17) February 11, 2019
Fortunately for the Argentine he scored a screamer just moments later and Manchester City went on to beat Chelsea 6-0 that day, so Pep Guardiola probably forgave him for that one.
Read: The funniest FA Cup own goals ever
Eden Hazard vs Liverpool
2-0 down at Anfield in April, Chelsea desperately needed something to get them back in the game. Eden Hazard breaks free to give them that chance, only to hit the post.
How do I tell my grandchildren that Salah scored here and Hazard did not? pic.twitter.com/E56GfHNVGp
— Dean Van Nguyen (@deanvannguyen) April 14, 2019
Unlike Aguero, the Belgian does at least have the excuse of having a goalkeeper to beat. But still.
Raheem Sterling vs Palace
The finishing ability of Raheem Sterling has come on leaps and bounds the past two seasons, but this is an unforgivable miss.
https://twitter.com/DeIecopter/status/1117417324464754688
And it happened on theย same day as Hazard’s howler.
Read: Footballโs Ultimate Shithouse XI
Gonzalo Higuain vs Leicester
I think this neatly sums up Gonzalo Higuain’s time at Chelsea.
???? pic.twitter.com/lik275w1wn
— bielsa boi (@concalcio) May 18, 2019
Marcos Alonso played a low cross in front of the goal, otherwise known as a Raheem Sterling Special, to Higuain, who somehow managed to hit the ball onto his other foot and wide of the net. To make matters worse he could have scored the winning goal.
Aboubakar Kamara vs Alanyaspor
Bit of a cheat this one, as Aboubakar Kamara committed this heinous offence while playing on loan for Metalyasporin Turkey, but he is still technically a Premier League player. And it is definitely a contender for miss of the season in any league.
Aboubakar Kamara doing absolute bits over in Turkey. pic.twitter.com/WRPxRCcTFU
— Fulhamish (@FulhamishPod) April 14, 2019
You can see why Fulham sent him off in January. That, and his predilection for causing mayhem.
Bonus Ball: Eric Choupo-Moting, PSG vs Strasbourg
Few footballers have had such an upgrade in environment as Eric Choupo-Moting did when he moved from Stoke to the city of Paris last summer, but this moment is definitely more befitting of lower league English football than one of Europe’s top leagues.
https://youtu.be/hGqiVo6Z6WM
It was genuinely harder to miss than score in that instance, in fact he didn’t need to do anything โ the ball was already on the way in! To compound his misery at making the worst miss of the year, PSG ended up drawing 2-2 with Strasbourg and were forced to delay winning the Ligue 1 title.