Corinthians goalkeeper Cassio produced a remarkable display of quick-thinking during his side’s draw with Atletico Mineiro in Brazil’s Serie A last week.
With the game level at 1-1 with 15 minutes to go, Mineiro were awarded a free-kick midway inside the Corinthians half and the ball was clipped in towards goal.
Cassio looked set to gather the ball, but at the last second jumped out of the way to let it go straight into his goal.
It was a truly bizarre moment with a couple of Mineiro players raising their arms to celebrate a goal – but there was a catch. It was an indirect free-kick and no one else had touched the ball other than the taker.
The goalkeeper had realised this and did not even attempt to make a save as he did not want to risk dropping the ball at the feet of an attacker.
Corinthians goalkeeper Cassio deliberately let a free-kick go straight into his goal
It was a moment of genius from Cassio who realised the goal would not count
Corinthians manager Mano Menzes was seen gesturing that his heart was pounding the ball went into the net
By touching the ball, he would have made the game ‘live’ again, but as he chose to get out of the way the game restarted with a goal kick to Corinthians.
Cassio’s knowledge of the rulebook even went over the head of Corinthians manager Mano Menezes, who was seen gesturing that his heart had been pounding when the ball first went into the net.
He had nothing to worry about, though, as Cassio knew exactly what he was doing.
The 36-year-old shot-stopper has spent the last 12 years at Corinthians after returning from PSV Eindhoven where he won the Eredivisie and Dutch Cup.
Since then, he has lifted the Club World Cup in 2013, won Serie A twice and was part of the Brazil squad that won the Copa America in 2019.
He has made a staggering 548 appearances for Corinthians, and all of his experience came to the fore against Mineiro, as he was the calmest man in the stadium when the game was in the balance.
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