Bayern’s young Dutch attacker Joshua Zirkzee deleted all posts from his Instagram profile and blocked anyone from following him after receiving hundreds of insulting messages in his team’s 2-2 draw with Ajax in Munich.With the score at 1-1 just before halftime, the forward seemed like he would do everything right. The youngster rounded the Ajax goalkeeper Remko Pasveer and moved closer to the empty goal. All he had left to do was to kick the ball into the net.But the relaxed-looking 20-year-old then appeared to try and walk the ball over the goal-line instead, which allowed defender Perr Schuurs to get back and clear the danger just in the nick of time and prevent Zirkzee from scoring.
Some misses scar you for life, but hopefully, this one isn’t so bad. It may be pre-season friendly, but the idea of these matches is to get ready for the real action – that isn’t too far away. It was a question of attitude, and Joshua’s attitude wasn’t right. Still, it’s no reason to abuse the youngster. Sometimes these things just go way too far.Zirkzee’s video went viral as a potential “miss of the year” or even “miss of the century”. Bayern head coach Julian Nagelsmann said after the game that Joshua would hopefully be more alert and focused when competitive matches arrive. There should have been the end of it, but it wasn’t. The online abuse went so far that it left Joshua feeling the need to get away from cyber-bullies who kept abusing him for the blunder. View this post on Instagram A post shared by FCBHUB | Bayern Blog | Soumith (@fcbhub_) Zirkzee graduated to Bayern’s senior squad back in 2019 and has since scored four goals in 17 senior matches for the club. He has also picked up five trophies, including the Bundesliga and Champions League. Still, he has to settle with a backup role in the team behind star striker Robert Lewandowski.These days, social media is a massive part of players’ lives. It has some fantastic sides to it, but some are just wrong. Hopefully, Joshua comes back stronger after this test of character that he brought onto himself. It’s all a part of growing up as an athlete.