Football Daily | Ramy Bensebaini and the stuff of nightmares in Europe for Dortmund
In today’s Football Daily: The red carpet gets rolled out in Bergamo
ONE TO FORGET
Not so much a bad night at the office as a high-stakes, avant-garde masterpiece of self-destruction, Ramy Bensebaini’s performance for Borussia Dortmund as they crashed out of Bigger Cup is destined to go down in the annals as one of the most hapless in the tournament’s history. While there have been costlier mistakes (hello, Loris Karius) and far more high-profile disintegrations (bonjour, b@nter-era PSG), it is difficult to recall any one elite professional footballer being responsible for quite so many howlers in one game as the hapless Algerian left-back.
During a performance labelled “hesitant”, “reckless” and “unfathomable” in your Kickers, your Bilds and your Fußball Jeden Tags, the unfortunate Bensebaini was either directly or indirectly responsible for each of the four goals his team shipped as they threw away a two-goal first-leg lead over Atalanta to capitulate 4-3 on aggregate. He didn’t just open the door for the Serie A side, he rolled out the red carpet, provided valet parking and offered up the combination to the safe. On an evening that started badly and went quickly downhill, Bensebaini’s almost heroic failure to intercept a routine cross trundling through his penalty area allowed Gianluca Scamacca to halve Atalanta’s deficit, before his bizarre attempt to block a Davide Zappacosta shot from distance sent the ball past his own goalkeeper, Gregor Kobel, as the Italians made it 2-0 by half-time. It was slightly unlucky, the kind of thing that could happen to just about anybody but given the myriad misfortunes the gods still had in store for Bensebaini, it was only ever going to happen to him.
Quite early in the second half, Mario Pasalic nodded home Marten De Roon’s cross to send Atalanta in front on the night and on aggregate, the Croatian midfielder having ghosted in behind the completely oblivious Bensebaini at the far post to rise unmarked. It was at this point the thoughts of concerned citizens turned to that “Stop! Stop! He’s already dead!” gif from The Simpsons, but Dortmund head coach Niko Kovac opted to leave his left-back out there, possibly working under the assumption that things couldn’t possibly get any worse for his experienced defender. Hoo-boy.
After Karim Adeyemi came on to pull a goal back and restore parity on aggregate, the tie looked to be heading for extra time but Bensebaini was having none of it. In the eighth minute of added time, Nikola Kristovic flung himself at a Pasalic cross, only to land face-first in the upturned studs of Bensebaini, who had for reasons best known to himself attempted to cut out the delivery by c0cking his left leg in the manner of a dog at their favourite lamp-post. While the referee was prepared to let the incident slide, VAR opted to stick its beak in and Atalanta were awarded a penalty, with our hero receiving his second yellow card of the game. Before Lazar Samardzic could smash the decisive goal into the top corner with the final kick of the tie, Bensebaini trudged off, having had a very public and belated full-stop put on an evening that was the stuff of nightmares. Still, if there’s an upside for him, it’s that it seems inconceivable that he will ever be unlucky enough to endure an evening that awful again.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“There is no arguable basis upon which this appeal could depend” – the former owner of Fleetwood Town loses a bid to challenge his convictions for multiple fraud offences at the court of appeal in London. Barristers for Andy Pilley, who was handed a 13-year prison sentence in July 2023 for selling fraudulent energy contracts, claimed his convictions were unsafe as he experienced “disadvantage through difference” as a result of his ADHD not being recognised at the time of his trial. In his ruling, Lord Justice Edis said the prosecution’s case was “based upon extensive documentary evidence” and that Pilley was “able to engage with complex material” during the trial.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
Re: yesterday’s Football Daily. I see that Eric Ramsay’s tenure at West Brom was exactly as long as that of our former Dear Leader, Elizabeth Truss, as PM. Now there’s a podcast double act we all need to hear. They could call it The P44s” – Patrick Brennan.​​​​
Your element on the late Norman Wisdom wearing a half-and-half shirt before England’s World Cup qualifier against Albania (yesterday’s Memory Lane, full email edition) reminded me that the great man was a director of my beloved Brighton in the 1960s. This brief local news story on his passing includes footage from 1965 of him leading a Goldstone Ground crowd in a rendition of the Brighton anthem, Sussex by the Sea. He remains probably the only person who, had he wished to, could have made half-and-half Brighton/Palace shirts a reality. If you wish, feel free to add something to make this email funny rather than just something maybe of vague interest to your reader” – Gareth Clarke.
Given Ryan Yates’s fondness for a full-blooded tackle, I can’t imagine where his dog got the idea of lunging at people unannounced (yesterday’s News, Bits and Bobs, full email edition). Still, if the pup’s trainer was able to improve their charge so effectively, expect Big Vange to be on the phone when he gets bored of VĂtor Pereira” – Jim Hearson.
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