We were very, very spoiled for choice when it came to selecting the five funniest football videos of 2011, but we think you’ll appreciate these five hilarious clips.
5. On Neighbours, Milan Jovanovic is “one of the greatest soccer players in the world”
Having watched the likes of Mark Bosnich and Scott Chipperfield in action, we already knew that Australians know precious little about football, a fact that was brought home by a rather bizarre part of a Neighbours episode earlier this year.
When the name Jovanovic springs into a conversation between two characters, one of them instantly recognises the name because it belongs to ex-Liverpool flop and Serbian international Milan Jovanovic, supposedly “one of the greatest soccer players in the world”. What about Messi? Ronaldo? Hell even, Harry Kewell is better than this fella.
4. Emile ‘The Powerhouse’ Heskey FIFA 12 tribute
Poor old Emile Heskey can’t catch a break. As if being ridiculed by football fans on a regular basis wasn’t enough, the folks at Hamburger Youngstars went and made a hilarious clip paying tribute to the great man’s unfortunate if endearing inabilities on the FIFA 12 platform.
Not long after, Heskey showed just why he was so mercilessly parodied with one of the worst efforts on goal you’ll see for some time in the defeat to Manchester United a few weeks back. Like I said, can’t catch a break.
3. Mario Bibitelli
Such is the amount of (normally hilarious) coverage he has generated, 2011 could conceivably go down as the year of Balotelli. Whether it was setting his own house on fire with fireworks, going on crazy shopping sprees, coming on as a sub in the wrong Italian jersey or dressing up as Santa Claus and handing out free money, the crazy Italian provided no end of entertainment.
Our favourite Balotelli moment, though, is when he couldn’t put on his bib in the warm-up before a game against Dynamo Kiev earlier this year. Struggling to grasp the concept of putting your head through one hole and each arm through another, Balotelli becomes entangled in an awful mess, not once but twice, prompting Robbie Savage to dub him ‘Mario Bibitelli’. Not a bad effort, in fairness.
2. Philippe Senderos: You know Joey Barton is going to come in your face
As faux-pas go, they don’t come much worse than Philippe Senderos’ admission on ESPN’s Talk of the Terrace that Joey Barton goes on to the pitch thinking about scoring in a very different way than everyone else.
“I think with Joey Barton, you know what to expect,” said Senderos.
“He’s going to come strong in the tackle; he’s going to come in your face.”
Cue mass laughter from the rest of the studio panel and, to be fair to him, Senderos himself. Even the great George Hamilton wouldn’t have come up with something like that.
1. John Delaney: “Get to the f**king bar”
Ireland’s trip to Tallinn to play Estonia was memorable for so many reasons. There was the performance, for one, there was the sight of an Irish football fan sneaking onto the Estonian bench and celebrating with Irish players afterwards and of course, you had John Delaney up to his usual antics.
Centre of attention in a bar in the Estonian capital, Delaney announces plans to raffle away a few free tickets and tells Irish fans that if they want some free drink to “Get to the f**king bar”.
As commendable and all as Delaney giving away free tickets and free drink to Irish supporters is, you have to ask yourself ‘Would the Chief Executive of any other major association get away with this?’
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