- Sofian Chakla scored a humiliating own goal as Barcelona beat Getafe 5-2.
- The defender passed the ball into his own net after failing to recognize his keeper was out of the goal.
Lionel Messi also scored twice to keep Barcelona firmly in theLa Liga title race.
Sometimes, you just want the ground to open up and swallow you whole.
Thursday night was probably one of those times for Sofian Chakla, a defender for La Liga side Getafe, as he scored a comical own goal during a 5-2 defeat to Barcelona.
The Moroccan defender's horror error came in the 28th minute after an own goal from Barca's Clement Lenglet had cancelled out Lionel Messi's fine opener for title-chasing Barca.
Running back towards his own goal, Chakla attempted to play a back pass to keeper David Soria.
What Chakla hadn't anticipated, however, was that Soria had already come charging out of his goal. As a result, his pass went straight past the keeper.
Soria sprinted back towards his goal and flung himself at the ball, managing to get a hand to it. Unfortunately for Getafe, however, he couldn't stop the ball from finding the net.
Watch the goal here:
Just five minutes after Chakla's error, Messi scored his second of the game, and his 24th of the season, to put Barcelona into a 3-1 lead.
Enes Ünal scored from the spot to reduce the deficit, however a late goal from defender Ronald Araújo and a stoppage time penalty from Antoine Griezmann secured an emphatic win for Ronald Koeman's side.
The win moved Barcelona back into third position in La Liga, two points behind second place Real Madrid and five points behind leaders Atletico Madrid with a game in hand.
After the match, Koeman said he expects the title race to go right to the wire.
"I don't think we are stronger than the other three teams," he said. "The fight will go right to the last game."