Iconic Moments in Football No.86
This week’s Iconic Moment is often shown on bloopers compilation videos and can make a man laugh and wince at the same time! It is of course, the moment Phil Babb crashed into the goalpost at Anfield!
The unfortunate incident came in the Liverpool vs Chelsea league match on 4th October 1998. A ball was played over the top for Pierluigi Casiraghi to chase.
Phil Babb was close behind but David James, the Liverpool goalkeeper decided to charge off his line to get to the ball. The Chelsea striker got there first and nudged the ball past James Babb carried on his run, hoping that he could prevent a goal.
Casiraghi reached the ball as it got to the corner of the six yard box and hit the ball into the empty net. Phil Babb had slid in at the same time to try and block the shot but was a second late. The disappointment of conceding was about to be compounded by a crushing agony for the Liverpool defender a second later!
Babb slid into the near post feet first and with his leg apart, crushing his manhood in the process! His injury wasn’t noticed at first because all the attention was on the Chelsea players and fans celebrating but it soon became apparent on replays that Babb had hurt himself quite badly in the most embarrassing of places!
The Liverpool defender would forever be remembered for this unfortunate incident which is rather unfair in my opinion. He had a career that lasted fourteen years and won 35 caps for the Republic of Ireland. Four of those appearances were at the 1994 World Cup, but none of this seems to be as memorable as hurting himself on a goalpost!
On a separate note, this goal would prove to be the only goal that Pierluigi Casiraghi would score for Chelsea. He had only joined the club a few months earlier from Lazio but he was badly injured the following month against West Ham. The Italian had to retire from the game, despite having ten operations to try and get him back to full fitness.
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