Gonzalo Higuain has been on a downward slide for some time, there's no denying it.It's a shame that the Argentine is so infrequently mentioned amongst the finest number nines of his generation because his goal-scoring records at Real Madrid and Napoli were simply superb.But although Juventus fans saw glimpses of his undoubted quality in Turin, the writing has been on the wall since the disappointing 2018/19 term spent out on loan at AC Milan and Chelsea.
Higuain moves to the States
Maurizio Sarri rather generously offered him a final chance at Juventus during his one and only season in charge, but a lukewarm 11 goals in 44 appearances represented the end of the line.
In fact, Higuain's stock in Europe fell to the extent that a move across the Atlantic Ocean seemed inevitable and David Beckham saw the opportunity for a marquee signing in the MLS.
It's been a slow start for Golden Balls' enterprise Inter Miami, who have lost eight of their opening 13 games in the 2020 season and had to wait until the sixth game-week for their first win.
Marquee signing for Beckham
Nevertheless, optimism must have been brewing in The Sunshine State after Beckham finally secured the first big-name signing that had long been touted for his MLS venture.
But to say that Higuain endured a difficult debut after swapping Italy for Florida would be quite the understatement, dropping an absolute clanger during a 3-0 defeat to Philadelphia Union.
If there's any consolation for Higuain, the game looked to be well out of Miami's reach by the time said mistake reared its head, finding themselves 2-0 down with 18 minutes to play.
Higuain's awful penalty miss
However, what we're talking about here is a penalty and you'd think that Higuain, scorer of over 300 career goals, would have at least been able to hit the target from 12 yards out.
You'd think so, but you'd be mistaken because Higuain proceeded to bungle his penalty over the bar without any real threat of rippling the net. Check out the footage down below:
To make things even worse, America's highest-paid player was then subject to mockery from his opponents in a moment resembling the famous Ruud van Nistelrooy-Martin Keown clash.
Philadelphia's Jakob Glesnes can be seen running towards Higuain after the ball fizzed over the bar, proceeding to jump in the air with a first-pump that ultimately sparked the kerfuffle.
Further members of the Philadelphia squad then approached Higuain, prompting the 31-year-old to completely lose his head and incite a fracas that resembled a 2003 Old Trafford afternoon.
Then, just to rub salt into the wounds, Philadelphia bagged themselves a third goal. Ouch.
So, in other words, things couldn't have gone much worse for Higuain on his Inter Miami bow, but I guess that means the only is up... wait, isn't that what went wrong with his penalty?