How Roma missed three penalties in a row in 'unique, random situation' during UEFA Europa League clash with Lille
Updated 03/10/2025 at 08:43 GMT+1
Lille took an early lead in the first half of their UEFA Europa League match against Roma but their points were under serious threat when they conceded a penalty 10 minutes from time at the Stadio Olimpico. What followed was pure drama as goalkeeper Berke Ozer was made to face the spot kick on three occasions due to the referee being unhappy with encroachment on the first two attempts.
'Never seen this before' - Roma miss THREE penalties in 'extraordinary sequence'
Video credit: TNT Sports
It was a dramatic night at the Stadio Olimpico as Lille goalkeeper Berke Ozer saved three penalties in a row to help his team secure a 1-0 win against Roma in the UEFA Europa League.
The French side took an early lead as Hakon Arnar Haraldsson pounced upon poor defending to steal the ball in the box before blasting his team in front after just six minutes.
Roma were given the perfect opportunity to equalise with 10 minutes left to play as a handball from Aissa Mandi saw the home side awarded a penalty.
Artem Dovbyk - who came on as a substitute for Evan Ferguson just two minutes earlier - stepped up to take the spot kick, but his tame effort was saved by Ozer.
VAR saw Lille defender Romain Perraud encroach in the area, so a retake was ordered.
Hoping to strike the ball with more conviction on the second attempt, Dovbyk took on the responsibility once more, only for a carbon copy of the first kick to be produced.
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Berke Ozer
Image credit: Getty Images
Ozer celebrated his second successive save before finding out he had stepped forward from his line.
Aiming for third time lucky, Roma changed their taker with Matias Soule taking over the job.
However, his kick - put to the opposite side to the first two efforts - was beaten away by Ozer, who took the acclaim of his team-mates as Lille held out for the win.
Speaking after the match, Roma manager Gian Piero Gasperini said: "I've never seen three missed penalties in one match.
"It was an almost unique, random situation, which ultimately compromised the result."
Turkey international Ozer arrived at Lille in the summer to replace Lucas Chevalier - who left the club to sign for Paris Saint-Germain.
His manager - Bruno Genesio - hopes his European heroics will help speed up his settling in period.
"Obviously, when you step behind one of the best French goalkeepers, it's not easy to take on," Genesio said. "Especially for a young, unknown goalkeeper.
"I know it's difficult for him to take on. There's also the change of country, the change of language, the change of training habits since the training sessions he does with us are quite different from what he was used to, particularly in terms of workload. I know that sometimes it's difficult.
"But in any case, he had already saved a penalty at Lorient. It's an exercise he enjoys. Unfortunately, at Lorient, he's not followed on the second ball. But to do that in Europe is quite exceptional. I hope it will give him a lot of confidence and a lot of strength to continue working."
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"Personally, it's the first time I've experienced that. It's very strong emotions, it's indescribable joy for us, for the whole group.
"But I think this match was deserved and it's also deserved compared to what we did against Lyon, against Lens, even if there were quite a few slightly strange things. So, it's a great reward for the group.
"Now, football is an eternal, perpetual questioning. We won tonight, we didn't qualify, we didn't do anything in the Europa League.
"And we have a match against Paris on Sunday, so we have to savour a few hours, recover, and prepare to play, certainly at the moment, the best European team for some time now."
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