Over the years, much to the chagrin of fans, the game of football has grown soft. And players can often be seen taking advantage of this fact, tumbling down to the ground at the slightest contact, seeking an easy way out of challenges or simply wasting time.
One such case of play-acting from South American football seems to have gone viral.
It was the final of Copa Libertadores at Montevideo, South America’s highest competition at club level. Brazilian outfit Palmeiras won the title after defeating a spirited Flamengo 2-1 in a game that went on to extra-time.
Palmeiras’ Deyverson scored an extra-time goal which proved to be the deciding factor. However, it was not so much his decisive goal as his play-acting in the final minute that garnered unsolicited attention.
Raphael Veiga opened the scoring after five minutes and put Palmeiras ahead, but a goal from Gabriel Barbosa saw Flamengo equalizing with 18 minutes remaining.
Going into extra time, Deyverson managed to capitalize on a mistake committed by Andreas Pereira, stealing the ball away before slotting the winning goal past Diego Alves.
With victory almost confirmed, Deyverson took the ball to the opponent’s corner, intending to waste the last remaining seconds of the game. But after being adjudged to have committed a foul, Deyverson gets up only to collapse on the ground seconds later, twitching in agony.
Wonder if he realised it was the ref?
— tariq panja (@tariqpanja) November 27, 2021
pic.twitter.com/5phTWv0Eyx
Replays reveal it was none other than the referee who slightly nudged Deyverson’s back which instigated such an over-the-top response. Finding the whole antic farcical, the referee then tried to pull him back up immediately.
The entire incident turned out to be more hilarious than initially thought, one which deserves special mention. And we have no doubt it’s going to be remembered and replayed for years to come, more so if you’re a Palmeiras fan.