There were plenty of memorable things about the penalty shootout between Ghana and the Ivory Coast in the final of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, among them Gervinho not watching the whole thing unfold, going by the reaction of the crowd and his teammates near him.
Gervinho was replaced a minute before the end of extra time, but he didn’t refuse to watch the penalties because of frustration or anything. He was simply too tense and nervous to see it all go down. And in true Ivory Coast fashion, it wasn’t something for those without nerves of steel.
They eventually won it 9-8, coming down to the goalkeepers taking the crucial kicks. The Ivory Coast missed the first two kicks, Ghana squandered a 2-0 lead to miss kicks 3 and 4. From there it was a long list of successful kicks and poor goalkeeping until Barry had his moment in the sun to finally put to rest all the talk about him ruining it for the “golden generation”.
Maybe this “role” played by Gervinho will give Rudi Garcia some ideas at Roma on how to somehow usurp Juventus’ hold on the Serie A title.