'It's going to be a YouTube hit' - The keeper who mistook the penalty spot for the ball

It has been five years since Mainz goalkeeper Robin Zentner went to kick away a standard back pass, and got a nasty surprise when his foot met no resistance at all.

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Looking down the horrified German realised his mistake, with the white object he thought was the football instead the penalty spot.

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His touch on what BILD called a 'phantom pass' from Giulio Donati had somehow gone astray, with the ball continuing back towards his goal as he whiffed at a pass out.

Mainz players were utterly stunned as a then 23-year-old Zentner suddenly realised his error, but so did opposition captain Lars Stindl who was instantly on the scene.

Zentner, who was making just his second senior appearance, acted just quickly enough getting to the ball first, but he still had the confidence to try and regain possession and dribble away from the attacker.

Thankfully for Mainz, who were 1-0 up at the time, Stefan Bell had the wherewithal to avoid the same mistake, hoofing the ball out of play after Stindl dispossessed Zentner.

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Chaos was avoided and Zentner's teammates could only laugh as they passed the keeper after the gaffe.

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And it was the same for the Bundesliga's English commentator who could barely get through the passage of play.

"Whoops! Oh my goodness what a fluff from Robin Zentner!" he screamed as the ball went missing.

"I'm not laughing at him, definitely not, 23 years of age Robin Zentner's been absolutely fantastic so far but that was a big fluffer, a real mess up."

After more uncontrollable laughter he continued: "Sorry, but he just forgot to take the ball, you've got to watch this again, this is fantastic, this is absolutely marvellous, I've never seen anything quite like it."

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The scene was akin to watching something from You've Been Framed, and it came at a terrible time for Zentner who had just made his way into the team for the injured Rene Adler.

Speaking post match he said: "I got the return pass, watched and want to pass it.

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"Suddenly there is no more ball. I thought it was in front of me when it was the penalty spot. It's the same white as the ball.

"I'm afraid it's going to be a YouTube hit. At some point, I'm sure I'll be able to laugh about it myself."

Zentner was eventually breached in the game by Leicester's Jannik Vestergaard in a 1-1 draw, but thankfully he recovered well and soon nailed down the No.1 spot, still turning out for Mainz to this day.

Will he now be laughing five years on? You'd like to think so.

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