With Brazilian star Neymar still on the injured list football has been at a loss for a true champion of simulation.
Enter Roma star and Bosnian international Edin Dzeko, who took diving in the world game to an astonishing new low this morning as his side was knocked out of the Champions League by Portuguese giant Porto.
With Porto leading 2-1 after 56 minutes he and opposition defender Pepe met mid-pitch and pushed their foreheads together before Dzeko threw himself to the ground.
It is one of the worst dives you will ever see — and the only thing missing was Pepe also falling to the ground as he did multiple times for Portugal in last year’s World Cup in Russia, including one where a Moroccan player patted him on the back and he hit the deck writhing in mock agony.
The Champions League incident resulted in yellow cards for the pair, which will rule Pepe out of the first leg of Porto’s quarter-final.
It also drew the ire of football fans on social media as English journalist Piers Morgan led the charge branding the dive “pathetic”.
Other football fans simply saw the humour in the situation as the Bosnian crumpled to the ground.
In taking the dive Dzeko has joined some of football’s greats in falling to the ground and flopping around in embarrassing fashion, including Brazilian star Rivaldo from the 2002 World Cup and of course Paris Saint Germain star Neymar, who is renowned for overselling an incident.
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