3 times a missed penalty came back to haunt a team towards the end of the season

#2 Ronaldinho

Ronaldinho failed to deliver from the spot kick

Date – 3 March 2007

Match Result

Sevilla 2 (Aleksandr Kerzhakov’39, Dani Alves’61)

Barcelona 1 (Ronaldinho’14)

Missed Penalty – Ronaldinho’29

The 2006-07 La Liga season was a tight affair as both Barcelona and Real Madrid finished with 76 points. Real Madrid was crowned champions owing a superior head to head record as they won their home fixture 2-1 at Bernabeu and drew 3-3 at the Camp Nou.

If we were to revisit one of the other vital fixtures of the 2006-07 season, it would have to be Sevilla vs Barcelona. The match started on a vibrant note for Barcelona as Ronaldinho’s header opened the scoring in the 14th minute.

Next came the decisive moment in the match, where Sevilla’s defender Aitor Ocio fouled Ronaldinho inside the penalty box and was handed a straight red resulting in a penalty for Barcelona.

However, the penalty was soft and hit towards the middle which enabled the goalkeeper to save the penalty with his legs and Ronaldinho missed a great chance to double the lead. Things got worse for Barcelona as Sevilla equalized before half-time.

In the second half, Barcelona pushed the self-destruct button as Dani Alves (who played for Sevilla during the 2006-07 season) scored a splendid free-kick to give Sevilla a 2-1 lead.

Barcelona’s winger Ludovic Giuly was handed straight red card for violent conduct and both teams were down to ten men. In the 76th minute, Zambrotta was sent-off for a second yellow card and Barcelona was down to nine men.

One would look back that the match and introspect regarding the missed penalty. If Ronaldinho would have scored the penalty, Barcelona would have most likely either won or drawn the match and would have finished first in the table come the end of the season.