They sometimes say “leap and the net will appear,” but if you’re Brazilian footballer Jacy, sometimes a hole will appear.
That’s what happened to the Coritiba center back over the weekend after he scored a goal, which was eventually called back, and eventually forced him to exit the match with an injury on Sunday.
The bizarre moment occured late in the first half of Coritiba’s match with Chapecoense, both of whom play in Brazil’s top flight.
The 29-year-old was celebrating what he thought was his club’s second goal of the match when he grabbed the ball and put it under his shirt, then jumped over the advertising dasher boards that lined the field, presumably to go celebrate with the fans.
What Jacy didn’t seem to know was that where he jumped over, there had been a large square-shaped opening that led to the locker rooms under the stadium, which had been uncovered.
The Coritiba star leaped over and right down the tunnel, disappearing momentarily to the horror of the club’s fans before reappearing.
He initially fell to the ground but popped right up and continued his celebration.
Jacy reportedly finished the first half before having to exit the match in the second half, apparently succumbing to an injury from the fall.
To make matters even worse, the goal was eventually called off after video assistant referee intervention led to an offside ruling.
Oddly, that wasn’t the first time something like that happened at Estádio Major Antônio Couto Pereira, which is located in the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba.
In 2014, former Cameroon native Joel pulled the same move, jumping over the advertisement boards and into the tunnel, which was covered at the time by a tarp.
In that instance, a stadium staff member appeared to try and warn him before jumping to no avail.
