Hakan Calhanoglu’s first missed penalty after 14 consecutive winning kicks from the spot during Turkey’s Nations League match against Iceland came in the most bizarre way possible, leaving him with a bad taste in his mouth despite his side’s eventual 4-2 win.
The Inter midfielder slipped during the run-up and touched the ball twice, forcing the referee to cancel out his net with Vincenzo Montella’s outfit trailing by one goal. However, he redeemed himself by scoring another penalty to give Turkey the lead minutes after Kahveci’s equaliser.
Calhanoglu ‘sorry’ about penalty miss with Turkey: ‘I don’t want to talk about it’
Despite being ‘happy’ for the win, Calhanoglu admitted to being ‘sorry’ for his mistake after the game.
“We played very well today, we tried not to make them play for 90 minutes,” he said in an interview at the end of the match, as reported by Fcinternews.
“My mind is still on the penalty; I’m sorry because I slipped. I don’t want to talk much about it, I shouldn’t have missed it and this is why I also took the second kick.
“I usually adjust my speed when I take penalties. I slipped on the first one. The second one, I took it while looking at the goalkeeper a bit more, I was sleeping on that occasion too, but as I said I was very happy when I scored.”
A penalty specialist who has never missed a kick from the spot for Inter in more than three seasons at the Stadio San Siro, Calhanoglu also recently found his first free-kick goal with the Nerazzurri against Red Star in the Champions League.
His goal against Iceland marked his 20th goal with Turkey in 94 games.