‘Worst I’ve ever seen’ – Fans in hysterics with Conor Gallagher’s awful penalty in Chelsea’s loss at Charlotte FC
CHELSEA lost to Charlotte FC on penalties last night after a horrendous spot kick by Conor Gallagher.
The Blues took the lead through Christian Pulisic's 32nd minute strike in North Carolina, only to be pegged back late on.
Daniel Rios' 92nd minute penalty levelled proceedings at 1-1 to the delight of the 52,000 fans in attendance.
The resulting shoot-out was with serve until Gallagher stepped up to take Chelsea's third kick.
He got it embarrassingly wrong, however, scuffing the ball straight at the goalkeeper.
Gallagher tamely stroked his penalty down the middle, with stopper Pablo Sisniega opting not to dive and easily saving.
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New boy Raheem Sterling subsequently scored his spot kick, but the damage was done and Thomas Tuchel's side lost 5-3.
Gallagher's penalty caused quite a stir on social media.
One fan wrote: "Gallagher with one of the worst penalties I’ve ever seen."
A second tweeted: "That’s him out on loan again then."
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Another added: "Might be one of the worst pens i’ve ever seen, what was he even trying?"
A fourth commented: "I rate Gallagher but that's a howler of a pen."
The 22-year-old is yet to make a competitive first team appearance for the Blues after loan spells at Charlton, Swansea, West Brom and Crystal Palace.
He came on at half-time last night, only to be left red faced by his spot kick.
On Chelsea's overall performance, boss Tuchel said: "I knew, I knew. Some of the players didn't know! But we knew. In general, I would say we played a good first half but unfortunately, only 80 metres of the pitch.
"The last 20 metres of the pitch were not good enough, even in the first half. We found a lot of spaces to accelerate and penetrate the box but we struggled with our decision-making and precision in the last 20 metres.
"This was simply not good enough for the effort and quality we showed in the first 80 metres of the pitch and the amount of space we had, and the number of attacks we created, there were not enough clear chances and deliveries in the last 20 metres.
"We also have to say we allowed two big chances out of nothing in the first half, otherwise I think we played a very good match in all the other aspects.
"Second half, it took us half an hour to show some quality and then it was maybe for ten minutes, so it was not good at all.
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"Not offensively, not structure-wise, not in effort, hunger to be the dominant team. It was not good enough."
The Blues round off their US tour by facing Arsenal in Orlando on Saturday night.
