Distraught Nottingham Forest goalkeeper leaves pitch in tears after howler

Nottingham Forest goalkeeper John Victor left the pitch in tears during the 3-1 defeat at Aston Villa on Saturday.

The Brazilian was massively at fault for Villa’s third goal and suffered an injury the process.

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Victor raced miles from his 18-yard box to challenge for a ball to John McGinn, who had already brought it under control long before the goalkeeper arrived.

The Forest shot-stopper then collided with his own player as McGinn took one touch to the side and slotted into the empty net from around 40 yards out.

But what followed was even more bizarre.

Victor signalled for treatment from the bench after going down clutching his left leg.

After several minutes, the 29-year-old hobbled off the field, clearly in tears and being consoled by his teammates.

His replacement, Mat Sels, was then not ready to replace his teammate despite a four-minute stoppage.

Reacting to the events at Villa Park, England legend Stuart Pearce said: “This is so ridiculous.”

On the mistake, Pearce added: “He wasn’t even close to getting the ball. So what he was doing, I don’t know!

“When the ball was played, I was astounded to see the goalkeeper in eyeshot. He was just nowhere near it.

“There were two or three defenders between him and the ball, so why he thought he needed to come out of his goal to close down McGinn too, I will never know.”

Victor moved to Forest over the summer, joining from Brazilian side Botafogo, but found playing time hard to come by in the opening months of his time at the City Ground.

However, injury to Sels in mid-December presented the 29-year-old with a chance to nail down a spot in the starting XI.

The towering Brazilian made his league debut in the 3-0 win over Tottenham, and played the full 90 in defeats to Fulham, Manchester City and Everton before starting Saturday’s defeat at Villa Park.

Head coach Sean Dyche recently explained his decision to persist with Victor following the 1-0 Fulham loss despite Sels’ return to action.

“John has done really well in the two games, to be fair. Matz has only had four days of training,” the Forest boss said.

“He has a bad finger he was playing through and a groin problem, so we have to be careful with that. But John has earned the right for this one, that’s for sure, with two very strong performances.”

AFP

Forest’s 3-1 loss at Villa on Saturday means they have now lost their last four league matches.

Next up for the Tricky Trees is a trip to relegation-threatened West Ham in midweek, where they’ll come up against former Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo.