5 bizarre pre-game superstitions practised by footballers

#2 Sergio Goycochea urinated on the pitch before penalty shootouts

Goycochea saved a number of penalties during the 1990 World Cup quarter final and semi final

The Argentinian goalkeeper believed that urinating on the field brought good luck for his team during penalty shootouts. This rather crude lucky charm first worked in the 1990 World Cup quarter-finals against Yugoslavia and again in the semis.

Since the rules didn’t allow him to off the field, he had to relieve himself on the pitch. But they won, and the same thing happened in the semifinals too. Since then, he made it into a ritual.

But ironically later when West Germany were awarded a 85th-minute penalty in the final, Goycochea failed to repeat his heroics and Andreas Brehme duly slotted the ball into the net to break Argentine hearts.