Coritiba defender vanishes behind hoardings as VAR wipes out wild goal celebration

Jacy Maranhao’s attempt to celebrate a rare goal for Coritiba turned into one of the Brazilian top flight’s most bizarre moments when he fell behind the advertising hoardings, suffered an ankle injury and then saw the goal ruled out by VAR.

The 29-year-old defender headed Coritiba into a 1-0 lead against Chapecoense in the 41st minute, before racing towards the supporters to celebrate.

With the crowd behind the goal, Jacy Maranhao climbed over the advertising boards surrounding the pitch. However, he did not realise that a deep passageway lay immediately behind them. He disappeared from view as he fell into the gap, leaving spectators stunned.

After a short delay, the Coritiba player carefully made his way out of the passageway. He appeared to be in discomfort and was later found to have injured his ankle, according to BBC Sport.

The incident became even more unfortunate when VAR intervened and overturned the goal which had prompted the celebration.

Coritiba still went on to win the match 2-1, but Jacy Maranhao could not continue. He was substituted shortly after the start of the second half because of the injury.

The defender later admitted that his enthusiasm had taken over during the celebration.

“I twisted my ankle there. I feel some pain, but I’m fine,” he said.

“Centre-backs rarely score goals, so when you score one, you feel overexcited and rush off without thinking.”

His explanation captured the sequence of events: a rare scoring moment for a defender led to an exuberant celebration, a painful fall and, within moments, the loss of the goal itself following the video review.

A repeat of a strange Couto Pereira incident

The accident was not the first time a player had fallen into the same passageway at Coritiba’s Couto Pereira stadium.

More than a decade ago, in 2014, Cameroonian striker Joel jumped over the barriers while celebrating a goal and fell into the same area.

That incident happened during Coritiba’s match against Sao Paulo, which the home side won 3-1.

Jacy Maranhao’s fall therefore revived an unusual piece of history at Couto Pereira, with the earlier episode almost repeated. This time, however, the consequences were even stranger: the player left the match injured and saw his goal cancelled by VAR after the celebration had already taken place.