GdS: Teary-eyed Camarda left gutted after penalty miss against Napoli

As AC Milan were preparing for a game against Atalanta, pictures came through of a distraught Francesco Camarda from over 1,000km away.

As La Gazzetta dello Sport report, Camarda will naturally wonder how the game against the champions Napoli could have ended if he had taken his chance from the penalty spot. It happens to the best, of course, so there is no use criticising someone who hasn’t even turned 18.

However, as is natural for someone with such high aims, Camarda will be replaying that penalty save by Vanja Milinkovic-Savic – with the scoreline at 0-0 – in the game which saw the Azzurri snatch three crucial points.

On the spot

They would have been huge for Eusebio Di Francesco’s team, and Camarda could have been the architect at just 17. Instead, it’s the lesson of football and sport in general: fairytales are not just given out.

Di Francesco chose to start Camarda over Stulic. His first half was difficult, especially in the early stages when supplies were lacking. He still managed to carve out some space to attempt a shot, which went wide.

The big chance came early in the second half. Juan Jesus’s handball was deemed a penalty, but from the spot, Milinkovic-Savic guessed the direction of the shot. It was to the goalkeeper’s right, not too angled and not too hard, against one of the best spot kick stoppers in Europe.

After Anguissa’s goal to make it 1-0 to Antonio Conte’s side, Di Francesco opted to put Stulic on in Camarda’s place. Cameras picked up the young striker looking teary-eyed on the bench, aware of the magnitude of things, but there will be plenty of time to put things right.