A Brazilian footballer’s joy turned to horror in an instant when he vaulted advertising boards to celebrate a goal, only to vanish into an open tunnel and injure his ankle, before officials ruled the strike never counted.
Coritiba captain Jacy Maranhão, 29, thought he had just headed his side into a commanding 2-0 lead against Chapecoense in the Brazilian Serie A on Saturday night. Instead, the dramatic moment at Estádio Couto Pereira in Curitiba left him limping, iced up on the bench, and without a goal to his name.
With Coritiba already 1-0 up thanks to Tiago Coser’s header, Maranhão rose to meet a cross and powered the ball into the net in the 41st minute. Overcome with emotion, centre-backs rarely score, after all, the defender grabbed the ball, stuffed it under his shirt and sprinted towards the home fans. He leapt clean over the advertising hoardings in a bid to get closer to the supporters.
What he didn’t see was the uncovered opening directly behind the boards: the access tunnel leading down to the away dressing rooms. Staff had opened it ahead of half-time. Maranhão disappeared from view, plunging into the hole as stunned teammates, stewards and fans looked on.
He managed to scramble back out moments later, but the damage was done. The 29-year-old had twisted his ankle in the fall. He gingerly returned to the pitch, clearly in discomfort, and received treatment. To pile on the misery, VAR intervened. Replays showed Maranhão had been in an offside position, and the goal was disallowed.
He battled through the remainder of the first half but was substituted early in the second period as the injury took its toll. Cameras later captured him sitting on the bench with an ice pack wrapped around his ankle while his teammates secured a 2-1 victory, with Pedro Rocha Neves adding the second goal before Chapecoense grabbed a late consolation.
Speaking afterwards, Maranhão admitted he simply got carried away. “I twisted my foot there. It’s a bit sore, but I’m fine,” he said. “Centre-backs hardly ever score goals. So when you do score… I just got carried away.”
The bizarre incident quickly went viral, with video of the leap and sudden disappearance spreading rapidly online. Remarkably, it is not the first time a Coritiba player has suffered the same fate at the Couto Pereira. In 2014, Cameroonian striker Joel (Diederrick Joel Tagueu) jumped the barriers while celebrating a goal against São Paulo and tumbled into the identical tunnel. His strike stood that day.
For Maranhão, the night was a perfect storm of football’s highs and crushing lows: a rare goal, a spectacular fail of a celebration, an injury, and the ultimate sting of VAR wiping it all away. Coritiba still took the three points, but their captain was left reflecting on one of the most unfortunate goal celebrations in recent memory.
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