Goalkeeper turns his back during absurd penalty: had an agreement with the attacker, but is betrayed

A goalkeeper who, instead of concentrating fully on trying to wait for a penalty or trying his best to destabilize the opponent, turns his back on the shooter. This is exactly what happened in Bolivia, in the Copa Simón Bolívar match between Independiente CBBA and Wilstermann Cooperativas. The decisive goal came thanks to a penalty that was both controversial and discussed, which caused a controversial reaction from goalkeeper Gustavo Tesonotte, who chose not to wait for it.

The match was tied at 2-2 and was nearing its end when Adiri, the Independiente center forward, found himself facing the goalkeeper. Two unsuccessful dribbling attempts, with Tesonotten being excellent at neutralizing the danger without committing any foul, and without even touching the opponent, who had not even fallen to the ground. In short, a normal dynamic of the game, which, to everyone's surprise, was not read that way by referee Carlos Arteaga: everyone present on the field, teammates and opponents, were surprised by the decision to award a penalty. A completely fabricated penalty, which certainly enraged the home team.

The protests were in vain and Tesonotte decided to approach the post and not look at the direction of the ball, so as not to interfere. Thus, Adiri had an extremely easy task to score 3-2, the final result of the home team's victory. After ironic applause for both the author of the winning goal and the referee, the goalkeeper continued to protest, but without achieving anything. After the match, the referee was suspended indefinitely for what was considered a real scandal.

Tesanotte himself gave further details about the incident during a television intervention, recounting those tense moments: "I never had contact with the Independiente striker, never. And of course I was more than convinced that it was not a penalty, because at no point, in either of the two clashes that we had, did I have contact with him. The truth is that the referee's decision surprised me". And, in agreement with his entire team, the goalkeeper decided to turn his back: "The decision was not only mine, but it was made together, it was a group decision. We had thought about doing it from the moment the penalty was given, because we thought the referee's decision was completely wrong. And so, nothing, even as a form of protest, right? Not only for all the things that are happening in Bolivian football, but also for us, because we went to Cochabamba to ask for the three points and they gave us a penalty that did not exist".

And the absurd thing is that Adiri did not respect a previously made agreement: he was supposed to take the penalty outside. Instead, he scored the easiest goal possible: "Before the penalty was taken, we spoke to the Independiente players, we spoke to the striker. We had agreed that there would be fair play, we had given each other our word as men, right? Because in football there are also codes. And so, nothing, I was surprised that he scored, when we had all agreed that he would lose it and the game would end in a draw."

Equally curious are the referee's words: "What angered me was when I turned to the goal and said to him: 'I mean, you can't be so irresponsible as to give a penalty like the one you gave. You're hurting us'. And his words were word for word: 'I just gave a penalty', he told me. And I replied: 'No, you didn't just give a penalty. We're not just playing for qualification, we're playing for a dream. Our dream is to go up in the category, you understand?'. And he said to me: 'Come on, just think about waiting. I gave you a penalty. Stop complaining'". It's impossible not to think about an open investigation into this episode, along with the appropriate measures: if it had happened in Europe...