On average, about one in every 30 corners leads to a goal. The success rate tends to go up dramatically, however, when the goalkeeper and their entire defence are standing outside their six-yard box when a corner is taken.
That was the remarkable scene during the UEFA Nations League quarter-final in Dortmund on Sunday. Germany’s Jamal Musiala turned the ball into an empty net against an Italy team who acted like they thought the game would stop for them to hold a debrief into where everything had been going wrong for them during the first half.
Joshua Kimmich had other ideas and the combination of his brilliant quick-thinking and Musiala’s goal-hanging — allied to a ball boy who was, well, on the ball — led to Germany doubling their 1-0 lead from a highly unusual corner on 36 minutes, and making fools out of Italy in the process.
Musiala celebrates scoring in a highly unusual way (Christof Koepsel/Getty Images)
The goal evoked memories of Liverpool’s fourth against Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final second leg at Anfield in 2019, when Divock Origi swept home Trent Alexander-Arnold’s swiftly-taken corner to take the Premier League club through 4-3 on aggregate. On that occasion, though, there was a goalkeeper standing between the posts. Gianluigi Donnarumma, in contrast, went AWOL in Dortmund last night.
It wasn’t just the Italian goalkeeper who was caught out. Amazon Prime, which was showing the game live as part of a pay-per-view package, almost missed the goal completely too, with viewers only seeing exactly what had happened when a replay was eventually shown.
The bizarre chain of events started with Donnarumma producing an exceptional one-handed save to claw striker Tim Kleindienst’s twisting header behind for a corner. Italy were being outplayed at the time, trailing by a goal on the night following a Kimmich penalty and 3-1 on aggregate. In that context, it was not surprising that their players were annoyed.
As Kleindienst turned away holding his head in his hands in disbelief and disappointment, Kimmich (circled below), quickly made his way to the corner flag.
Italy wing-back Giovanni Di Lorenzo (No 22) started the inquest, pointing with his right arm and looking in the direction of his central-defender team-mate Alessandro Bastoni. With his back turned on the play, Bastoni was gesturing too as he walked towards Di Lorenzo.
Donnarumma decided to get involved as well. Wandering outside of his six-yard box with arms outstretched, the Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper was oblivious to the presence of Musiala behind him, free as a bird in the six-yard box after following up Kleindienst’s original header.
By now, some important work had already taken place off the pitch. A steward (circled behind the goal below) was busy trying to retrieve the ball Donnarumma had tipped behind.
As the steward bent down to pick it up and motioned to throw it back, he realised a ball boy (also circled) close to the corner flag was already delivering a chest pass that had pre-assist written all over it (think Callum Hynes, the teenage Tottenham Hotspur ball boy who got a high five from their then manager Jose Mourinho after his quick-thinking led to Harry Kane scoring in the Champions League against Olympiacos in 2019).
As Musiala signalled to Kimmich to take the corner quickly, Donnarumma carried on walking and joined what was now a group of five Italians, who had congregated outside the six-yard box to dissect their problems. The only thing missing was a tactics board and a table and chairs.
Central defender Alessandro Buongiorno, who also had his back to play, was among that group, as was fellow centre-back Federico Gatti, who was busy wiping his face with his shirt. The rest of the team may as well have been covering their eyes too.
Late for the meeting, midfielder Samuele Ricci (circled below) was about to become the sixth Italy player to offer his thoughts until he saw Kimmich out of the corner of his eye and sounded the alarm. Unfortunately for Italy, it was far too late.
After placing the ball, Kimmich had spotted Musiala on his own — it was hard to miss the Bayern Munich youngster, especially when he was waving his arms about like an aircraft marshal on a runway — and the corner was launched, arcing towards the edge of the six-yard box.
Although the ball was slightly behind Musiala, forcing him to retreat a little, there was plenty of margin for error on the delivery; six yards to be exact. As Musiala shaped to swivel and strike the ball with his right foot, Donnarumma pivoted too, in a state of blind panic. Musiala’s shot was en route to the back of the net before the goalkeeper had a chance to get reacquainted with his six-yard box…
… and Germany were 2-0 up.
Italy, to their credit, staged a superb fightback to come back from three goals down to draw 3-3 on the night (losing 5-4 on aggregate). But the damage — some of it self-inflicted — was done during a chaotic first half.
“Everyone knows we struggle from set plays, but we cannot keep talking about it, or this will turn into an obsession,” Italy’s head coach, Luciano Spalletti, had told reporters a few days earlier.
And thanks to Musiala’s bizarre goal, that topic of conversation is here to stay for Italy for some time yet.
(Top photo: Alex Grimm/Getty Images)
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6225620/2025/03/24/musiala-germany-italy-weird-goal-corner/
