What should have been a fairly innocent loan deal has become one of the goalkeeping sagas of the season.
When Claudio Bravo drops a howler, Joe Hart is all that anyone can talk about.
If Bravo misjudges a cross, it’s “Joe Hart would have caught that.”
If Bravo gets sent off, it’s “Joe Hart must be laughing now.”
And, apparently, Bravo’s name also crops right up whenever the England international cocks up.
Having enjoyed a relatively uneventful start to life in Italy, Hart came up with one of the worst mistakes of his Torino career on Wednesday night.
OOPS JOE HART!
Blunder, Inter scores, and look Mihajlovic facial expression at the end… pic.twitter.com/n6zj4d7SJq— Tancredi Palmeri (@tancredipalmeri) October 26, 2016
The ‘keeper, on loan from Manchester City, came out trying to close down the onrushing Mauro Icardi and, having seemingly reached the ball first, Hart bizarrely parried it directly against the striker rather than simply take it into his grasp.
It was a strange sequence of play, and one that resulted in Torino falling behind to Inter.
But at least we learned that the Bravo/Hart dynamic also works when the latter makes a mess of things.
https://twitter.com/Vibetech_/status/791359946310967296
https://twitter.com/Sam_wood96/status/791360943439634433
But I thought Hart was better than Bravo? https://t.co/XQnaSc03E0
— James (@_jwynny) October 26, 2016
Meanwhile, in Italy tonight, Joe Hart going Full Bravo… https://t.co/2sqGvy82wF
— Dan O'Hagan (@danohagan) October 26, 2016
Joe Hart, what a blooper. Let’s see all the British media jump all over this like they do whenever Bravo makes an error. https://t.co/FRvYPE2H5f
— Kloppo(97)🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 (@97RedKlopps) October 26, 2016
https://twitter.com/OfflineMartinez/status/791361499994415104
https://twitter.com/EIFantasmita/status/791361669041647618
Sure all those who are straight in with the Hart banter when Bravo makes a mistake will be all over this https://t.co/61OnIT729N
— Geoff Lacey (@Geoff_Lacey_) October 26, 2016
https://twitter.com/___mavis/status/791363172967911424
https://twitter.com/andyuptherae/status/791365899601207296
https://twitter.com/Gurdev_AV/status/791365635930525696
Maybe put in a pin in Hart returning from loan just yet.
Of course, as one person puts it, we doubt Joe is too fussed about the form of Bravo anyway…
https://twitter.com/Ankaman616/status/788832462642249728
You can catch up on the latest episode of JOE’s Football Friday Live right here…