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Football

14th Nov 2014

Vine: Zidane magic for Romania but Northern Ireland off the hook after howler

A piece of brilliance, a shocking miss

Conan Doherty

Zinedine Sanmartean.

Those comparisons probably aren’t much consolation to the Romanian midfielder, Lucian, right now after he produced the most spell-binding piece of magic, only to watch a team mate fluff his lines in the six-yard box.

Sanmartean cut right through Michael O’Neill’s Northern Ireland backline with close control, composure, and a neat little nut-meg to boot and, when he rolled across for an easy tap-in, he would’ve been reeling away to take the plaudits for the best assist of the night anywhere in Europe.

Not so…