Sometimes these mental meltdowns just happen. Lukas Hradecky, the Finnish goalkeeper of Danish club Esbjerg decided to add a nice chest kick to his rushing out technique, taking down SønderjyskE’s Tommy Bechmann, who actually used to play for Esbjerg. Hilarity followed.
First of all, SønderjyskE, the league leaders in the Danish Superliga very early on in the season, were leading 2-1 over Esbjerg deep into extra time. Hradecky, with intent or with not, rushed out to a ball and added a soft kick to the chest of Bechmann, inside the box. Bechmann, the experienced striker that he is, went down immediately.
Hradecky and Esbjerg players didn’t really understand what all the fuss was about, but the referee did award a penalty for the blatant foul. The more incredible thing was his choice to give Hradecky a yellow card, which doesn’t even out with logic of seeing the foul. If the referee decided the kick was a foul, than he clearly though it was also intentional. How was it not a red? Difficult to comprehend.
Jarl André Storbæk added another comical dimension to the whole scene, as the Norwegian defender missed the penalty kick awarded to SønderjyskE, or maybe it was more Hradecky making an impressive stop, followed shortly by the final whistle.