Aritz Aduriz scores an outrageous penalty against his former club Real Valladolid

The veteran forward’s strike at half-time was canceled out by a late equalizer by Valladolid’s Plano.

With Christmas eve knocking on the door, there were quite some interesting events during the 17th La Liga gameweek which kicked off on Saturday. Ousmane Dembele and Lionel Messi’s strikes in the first half helped Barcelona to a routine 2-0 win over Celta Vigo while Antoine Griezmann fired home from the spot to hand over a vital win for Atletico Madrid.

Erstwhile at the San Mames Stadium, Athletic Bilbao were denied full three points by Real Valladolid thanks to an injury-time strike by Oscar Plano. However, the spectators dazzled on the evening when Aritz Aduriz gave the home team a lead at the halftime.

Thats a penalty! ⚽ #aduriz #AthleticRealValladolid #AthleticClub pic.twitter.com/huL5j6S7eP

— Peder Westerberg (@Pederwesterberg) December 22, 2018

Bilbao were awarded with a penalty when Nacho allegedly blocked Inaki Williams’ shot using his hands inside the box, for earned him a booking too. Veteran Aduriz stepped up to take the penalty and scored in a spectacular fashion to separate the two sides.

The Spaniard refused to take a run-up and outrageously struck on the bottom right corner to beat Jordi Masip- the Valladolid shot-stopper. The spectators went berserk with the goal and immediately, the footage of the penalty went viral on social media too.

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Aduriz once again proved to be Bilbao’s talisman as he registered his first league goal this season. Having already scored 170 times in his total 279 appearances for the club, the former Valencia, Mallorca, and Valladolid forward has earned himself a status of a cult hero in the Basque Country.

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The 37 -year old’s strike was a special one indeed and was definitely one of the rarest penalties ever scored. Previously, Jimmy Floy Hasselbaink had tried the one-step penalty but it was Aduriz's nonchalant kick that will remain in the memory of the fans for long. The forward introduced a whole new five-a-side like technique to score a penalty and will certainly be a moment to savour in future. The last time spectators were baffled with a penalty as peculiar as this one in La Liga, was couple of years ago when Messi had slipped the ball on towards Luis Suarez who eventually drove it home.

However, even though Aduriz’s ‘anti-Pogba’ style penalty was a remarkable event in the game, it was Plano’s late injury-time equaliser that stole the show. The draw might prove costly for the Los Leones as they will move into the relegation zone in place of Villarreal, if the Yellow Submarine manage to surprise Real Madrid at home on Sunday.