It was a night to forget for the goalkeeper
Bayern Munich’s Sven Ulreich’s has had an up and down season since stepping into fill the gloves of the injured Manuel Neuer.
The Bayern reserve keeper struggled initially, making a string of errors during a difficult time for the club, before stepping into the role with gusto and performing exceptionally well over the second half of the season.
Much of that will be forgotten after Tuesday night though, after the 29-year-old committed an error during his side’s Champions League semi-final second leg, one which eventually sent them crashing out of the competition.
Just confirming this actually happened and is not a FIFA '18 bug 🙈 pic.twitter.com/nNsfSDZvm4
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 1, 2018
Reacting to a back pass early in the second half as the scores stood at 1-1, the former Stuttgart goalkeeper appeared to crumble under the pressure of the oncoming Karim Benzema before falling to the ground and allowing the ball to slide between his arms, into the path of Benzema, and into the net.
It looked as if he had considered picking the ball up before realising he could not, but quite what he was thinking is anyone’s guess.
What followed was a mix of bewilderment and mockery on social media, but a photograph posted on Twitter by journalist Rik Sharma at full-time illustrated just how hard he had been hit.
Sitting yards outside of his penalty box in an empty half of the pitch, Ulreich was clearly devastated at what he had done.
Ulreich distraught and alone pic.twitter.com/28yaVTH7CL
— Rik Sharma (@riksharma_) May 1, 2018
While the next few months will likely be difficult for him, the esteem with which he is held by his Bayern teammates suggests that it won’t be long before they put an arm around and give him a hug. He, more than most, probably needs one tonight.
Sven Ulreich – described by Thomas Müller recently as Bayern’s “man of the year”
Sven Ulreich – described by Jupp Heynckes as a “godsend”
Probably the best goalkeeper in the Bundesliga this season.
And then…
— Archie Rhind-Tutt (@archiert1) May 1, 2018
