There weren’t too many “big” matches across Europe this weekend, making it a rather dull Saturday for those looking for some prime time football. However, digging deeper reveals the same amount of quality and drama their usually is during a normal Saturday, including some impossible misses right in front of goal, including FC Porto in a comedy of errors during their loss to Academcia and Emanuele Giaccherini adding one for Sunderland in the draw against Aston Villa.

We’ll begin with the one that had a bigger consequence on a title race; the one in Portugal. Porto haven’t lost a league match in over a season, but one loss and there’s already talk about firing head coach Paulo Fonseca. That’s life in the most successful Portuguese club – just a hint of missing out on the title means there’s reason to sack you, not to mention their problems in the Champions League, currently third in the group.

If it would have been Academica missing this incredible chance, there would have been talk of some foul play, but in this instance, it’s simply bad luck and poor execution. A poor save from Ricardo leading to an embarrassing slip by Varela, who then manages to miss while an Academica player makes an amazing touchline save before Mangala has a go from one meter and manages to miss as well.

With the loss, both Sporting and Benfica can overtake Porto at the top of the table if they win their matches. On to England, where Sunderland could have really used the points on their visit to Birmingham, playing against Aston Villa., Emanuele Giaccherini found himself alone in the 5-yard box with only the goalkeeper in front of him, but instead of simply picking a side and netting it, he decided on a complicated volley, sending it above the net in a match that ended 0-0.

We finish with Serbia, and a truly impossible shot to miss, in a situation that missing the goal is much harder than actually scoring.