March 16th, 2012 The Coppa Italia Dilettanti, otherwise known as the Italian Amateur Cup, matched up Torres (the club famed for launching the career of one Gianfranco Zola) against US Termoli, and both legs of the tie were were treated to some breathtaking moments.
Last week we brought you Fabio Cifani's outstanding 50-yard golazo for Termoli in the first-leg 2-2 draw, whilst the second-leg produced one of the great fair play incidents of the year.
With Termoli leading 1-nothing (3-2 on aggregate), the hosts were awarded a 90th minute penalty when striker Vittorio Esposito went down in the box despite a lack of contact from a Torres defender. Furious protests from the Torres team came to nothing as the referee refused to budge from his decision. But there was a twist.
Clearly suffering under the weight of guilt from winning a penalty that never was, Vittorio Esposito took matters into his own hands by purposefully fluffing the spot-kick. The gesture was warmly received by Torres (who nevertheless were dumped out the cup) and has since turned Esposito into something of a cult hero.
Watch Vittorio Esposito's intentional missed penalty here.