Celtic winger, Luis Palma, was involved in an incredible night of drama after Honduras crashed out of the Nations League on penalties to Mexico last night.
Palma‘s side went into the second leg of the Nations League quarter-final match with a nice 2-0 cushion after defeating the Mexicans last week in Honduras.
The Celtic winger was a doubt to start after picking up an injury in the first leg.
But in a night of stunning drama, Palma and his teammates were sent home after Mexico eventually saw off the nine men of Honduras 4-2 on penalties.
Luis Palma stats as Celtic winger misses a sitter for Honduras
Palma had a strange 90 minutes in the Estadio Azteca last night. Normally one of Celtic’s top performers, the 23-year-old found it difficult against the Mexicans.
Rated 6.6 by football rating site Fotmob, the 23-year-old Hoops star only had 28 touches of the ball. Out of those, Palma managed just a 62% passing accuracy and created just one big chance.
The Honduran only made two dribbling attempts and won six out of his nine defensive duels. Interestingly, Palma was the most fouled player in the game with five against him as Mexico clearly identified him as one of the dangermen of Reinaldo Rueda’s side.
Palma was also uncharacteristically slack in front of goal as he missed a sitter that, if he scored, would have put Honduras into a 3-0 aggregate lead and on course for the semi-finals. You can watch it below:
MORE CELTIC STORIES
Luis Palma suffers last-minute heartache
Subbed on the 90th and 2-1 up on aggregate, Palma must have left the pitch certain that he had done enough to ensure a historic win over Mexico.
But as the referee added ELEVEN minutes of added time, there was still plenty of time for the Aztecians to get that crucial equaliser.
And that they did. Band on the 90+11th minute of added time, Edson Alvarez popped up and tucked home the second goal of the night to send the tie to extra time. And that is where the real fireworks began.
Two red cards, penalties and VAR drama as Luis Palma heads home
In thirty minutes of madness, Honduras received two red cards after Enrique Facussé was shown a straight red card at the end of the regulation 90 minutes.
Denil Maldonado followed him for an early bath after he was shown his second yellow in the second half of extra time after being cautioned in the first half for a serious foul.
But the drama didn’t stop there. After a goalless extra-time, the match went to penalties, Honduras missed their first penalty after Bryan Rochez saw his strike saved.
And at 3-2, Honduras thought they were back in it after Cesar Huerta had his spot kick saved but VAR ordered a retake after Honduras goalkeeper, Edrick Menjivar, was spotted coming off his line. The ‘keeper was then booked for his infringement.
Huerta made no mistake at the second attempt. Andy Najar then needed to tuck home Honduaras’ fourth penalty to keep them in the game but he placed his shot just wide of the right-hand post. And that sparked off bedlam at the end as both sides faced off in a bad-tempered end to an incredible match:
For Palma, it means he heads home knowing that his participation in the Nations League is over. For Celtic and the fans, at least they can breathe easy knowing that their talisman heads home with a clean bill of health.
In other news, Celtic tipped to be able to sign ‘frustrated’ 23-year-old on loan in January