Flamengo awarded the most bizarre penalty against Criciuma

Brazilian Serie A side Flamengo was awarded the strangest penalty against rivals Criciuma after they attempted to disrupt a game with a second ball on the pitch. The match between Flamengo and Criciuma was expected to end in a draw but Flamengo went on to win in bizarre circumstances in the 89th minute of the game.

Flamengo are currently third in the league table whereas Criciuma are languishing in 14th in the league standings.

What’s the controversy behind Flamengo’s bizarre penalty against Criciuma?

During the game between Flamengo and Criciúma, the match was closing to a draw before Gabriel Barbosa scored a late spot-kick to settle the game in the host’s favour.

Flamengo player Cebolinha was pushing for a late winner when Criciúma’s Gustavo Barreto found a golden opportunity to stop the attack and side-footed a second ball into the original one to steer it away from the Flamengo players.

The second ball was thrown from the stands in the penalty box and players from both teams looked perplexed signalling for the game to be halted. But the referee had a different idea.

Referee Maguielson Lima Barbosa blew the whistle and awarded Flamengo a penalty in the dying embers of the game which Gabriel Barbosa netted to seal a 2-1 win over Criciuma.

According to a little-known rule, a direct free-kick will be awarded if a player throws an object at the ball and if this incident takes place in the box, it is given as a penalty.

The bizarre thing about this whole fiasco is that it is still unclear who threw the second ball on the field.

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