Most controversial Champions League moment? Luiz Adriano banned for 2012 goal | OneFootball

Luiz Adriano is something of a cult hero in the Champions League.

Though capped three times for Brazil and signed by AC Milan in 2015, Adriano never made it far in Europe’s premier competition, but still made his impact felt with a handful of virtuoso performances that live long in the memory.

Lest we forget, after all, that Adriano holds the unique status of being one of just two players to have ever scored five goals in a single Champions League match along with Lionel Messi.

During his pomp at Shakhtar Donetsk, Adriano could always be relied upon to produce a flash of brilliance in mid-week, eventually finishing up with 32 career strikes across both the Champions League and Europa League.

And along with his aforementioned quintet of goals against BATE Borisov in 2014, the Brazil poacher notched another three of his continental strikes during a clash with FC Nordsjælland in the 2012/13 season.

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Adriano helped himself to a hat-trick at the Parken Stadium, while future Chelsea and Arsenal baller Willian bagged a brace for good measure in a 5-2 triumph.

On that evidence alone, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it was a perfect night for Adriano on which he could only possibly look back with fondness, but things aren’t quite that simple.

See, the first goal of Adriano’s treble in Denmark was so controversial that he was actually banned for UEFA for behaving as he did.

Why was Adriano’s goal so controversial?

‘Why?’ we hear you ask. Well, it’s because Adriano’s strike was deemed to have been unsportsmanlike by way of him having intercepted a pass back to Nordsjælland in light of a stoppage in the game for an injury.

You know the drill: the gentlemanly moment where a team gifts back possession to the goalkeeper so the game can get started again.

But alas, Adriano simply didn’t let Nordsjælland get the ball back and instead decided to take advantage of the situation by running through on goal, rounding the goalkeeper and finding the back of the net.

As you can imagine, pure chaos ensued with the confusion amongst the Shakhtar players such that it looked as though they were going to simply allow Nordsjælland to score straight from kick-off in order to cancel out Adriano’s controversial goal.

But with one player in the Ukrainian side eventually snuffing out that idea, the goal stood unchallenged in chaotic scenes that you can check out for yourself down below:

Video: Adriano’s controversial goal that earned him UEFA ban

It’s fair to say that UEFA didn’t take Adriano’s behaviour lightly either with the Shakhtar star eventually slapped with a one-match ban for a “violation of the principles of conduct”.

How did Adriano explain himself?

According to Goal, Adriano apologised for the episode and explained: “I did not see the start of the move, because I was standing with my back to the ball and my face towards the opposition goal.

“I was in the attacking area and did not notice what had happened in our half. I was very focused on the game, and when the ball dropped near me the defenders did not show any initiative. I picked up the ball, beat the goalkeeper and scored – I am a forward, that is what I do.

“Later, after analyzing the replay of that episode and after talking to my teammates, I realized what had happened and I completely changed my view on the episode. I am very sorry about what happened, I apologize to all the fans and to UEFA.”

It truly does endure as one of the craziest and most controversial moments in Champions League history.