Last night’s penalty shootout which saw Manchester United knocked out of the Capital One Cup by Sunderland was described by many as one of the worst ever.
United only managed to score one of their five penalties as Danny Welbeck, Phil Jones, Adnan Januzaj and Rafael Da Silva all crumbled under the pressure.
David Moyes was left shocked by the performance of his penalty takers as Sunderland progressed to Wembley.
“It was really poor and I expect better from them,” Moyes told Sky Sports.
However he might want to cheer himself up by looking at some of United’s more comical penalty misses in recent years.
Ruud Van Nistelrooy v Arsenal 03/04
A huge title clash was poised at 0-0.
Arsenal were so far undefeated and United were playing catch up and this early season battle was the perfect opportunity to derail the Gunners as the Reds aimed for back to back titles.
United were controversially given a last minute penalty as Diego Forlan was fouled late on and United’s reliable Dutchman was given the chance to win all three points for United.
However, Van Nistelrooy put too much power on the penalty resulting in it crashing against the crossbar allowing Arsenal to hold onto a valuable draw.
The Gunners would go onto finish unbeaten that season as they regained the title from United who could only finish in third place.
Dimitar Berbatov v Everton 2008/09
United were on course to re-create the treble season of 1998/99 as they found themselves top of the League, in the Champions League Final and in an FA Cup semi-final.
However Everton stood in their way and after a nail-biting 120 minutes both sides were unable to break each other down.
So the game moved into penalties and Tim Cahill had just missed the Toffees first spot kick allowing Berbatov the chance to give United the ideal start.
However the Bulgarian tamely hit his penalty at Tim Howard in one of the laziest slowest penalties ever seen at Wembley.
Everton took full advantage converting four consecutive penalties as they prevailed in the shootout to end United’s treble dream.
Wayne Rooney v West Ham 2012/13
Rooney is no stranger to penalty misses despites being United’s first choice penalty taker in recent years.
However this has to be the worst of his misses in this FA Cup third round replay against West Ham at Old Trafford.
With the game at 1-0 to United a second goal was needed as the Hammers pushed for a late equaliser.
However Rooney ended up skying his penalty into the back of the Stretford End, luckily for him United held on and progressed into the fourth round.
Nani v Galatasaray 2012/13
United had gone out in the group stages of the Champions League the previous season and they needed to get off to the perfect start in the 2012/13 campaign.
Michael Carrick had got the Reds off to a flyer putting them 1-0 up against Turkish side Galatasaray and midway through the second half United won a penalty.
This was United’s chance to kill off the Turkish fight back and secure all three points giving the Reds the ideal Champions League start.
However, Nani stepped up to the plate and hit his effort tamely at Fernando Muslera who comfortably saved it.
Luckily for Nani United held on to claim all three points.
Robin Van Persie v Southampton 2012/13
Van Persie was in the early days of his United career at this point and was leading the line against a newly promoted adventurous Southampton team.
The Saints were 2-1 up at St Mary’s and United looked set for back-to-back away defeats in their first two games on their travels.
However, they were awarded with a spot kick which Van Persie stepped up to take after netting earlier in the match.
The Dutchman though tried to be extravagant and chip Kelvin Davis from the spot but not power was behind it and the keeper easily saved it.
Fortunately for Van Persie he avoided a Sir Alex Ferguson air dryer as he recovered from that set back to score twice more and give United a 3-2 victory.
Image courtesy of Casillero del Diablo via Youtube , with thanks
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