Ethan Ampadu sets Serie A record for fastest penalty given away

Chelsea loanee Ethan Ampadu wrote his name into the Serie A history books yesterday, but not necessarily in a way you’d want your name written into them. The 22-year-old conceded a penalty just 39 seconds into Sunday’s match — not much doubt about it! — beating the old record, set by Marek Hamšík in 2015, by a whopping three seconds. Unlike my compatriot, fortunately, Ampadu was not sent off.

Ampadu’s good fortune continued as Ciro Immobile failed to convert the penalty. But things quickly turned sour again from there, as Lazio made short work of Ampadu’s Spezia anyway, winning easily, 4-0, in a derby between Maurizio Sarri (in charge of Lazio) and his former assistant at Chelsea, Luca Gotti. The master is still the master!

Despite the defeat, Spezia sit safely in the early Serie A midtable. Ampadu has started their last three games.

Incidentally, Ampadu’s got plenty of room to “improve” his record.

While there is no official world record for this, I think it’s a safe bet that the penalty Madagascar National Football Team goalkeeper Melvin Adrien conceded just four (4!) seconds into a World Cup qualifying match against Tanzania last year would be practically impossible to outdo.