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April 6, 2002, Tomislav Piplica will never forget. It is the day when the former Cottbus goalie makes fun of an entire nation.
It is the 30th matchday of the 2001/2002 season, Cottbus receives Mönchengladbach. With three points, the East Germans could definitely say goodbye to the relegation battle – and they are also close to victory. Cottbus leads 3: 2 up to the 85th minute, then the laziest goalie egg in Bundesliga history follows.
After a deflected shot by Gladbach’s Marcel Witeczek, the ball flies in a high arc towards Piplica, who is on the line and has apparently forgotten that it is his job to catch balls. Instead of raising his hands, the Bosnian just stares at the sky. The harmless ball falls on the back of the goalie and from there into the goal (see video above).
The football world is asking: What was Piplica riding there? Maybe he wanted to count the clouds on this sunny spring day. Or he wanted to present a circus number à la René Higuita to the audience, but still decided in the last second for a Uwe Seeler commemorative header.
All nonsense. 18 years after the big mistake, Piplica remembers “The World”: “I don’t know how often I’ve said this: I simply underestimated the ball. I was standing under the bar and thought the ball was going over it. It was also very windy, so the ball fell on my head. »
It seems like Piplica is still annoyed about his legendary own goal after 18 years. However, it is probably not the goal itself that worries the 51-year-old today, but the fact that people only remember this one action. “It annoys me if only this one hit is shown on television,” Piplica once said in an interview with “11 friends”. “I wouldn’t have any problems if people showed my good actions.”
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