A Dive That'll Make You Laugh or Cry (Video)

And you thought diving was bad in this country.

Everything is going well for Juventus; they're one up against Palermo and Nicklas Bendtner has actually done something right in clearing a corner.

Suddenly the break is on, catching the attacking determination of Palermo out. Mirko Vucinic leads with the ball, his head swivelling for options. He spies a great run from centre-back Leonardo Bonucci and slides a cute ball to him. It's a lovely attack, defining what makes Italian football so successful.

The big defender's touch is clinical, he even plumps for a shot fake as he looks to go for the back post, but then disaster strikes.

The goalkeeper deploys a tiny lumberjack which hacks away at Bonucci's ankle causing him to go down like an ageing Redwood. Ridiculous.

Diving is a pandemic that some would argue has covered the world for a very long time, and that we only care about now it's on our shores. Andy Carroll did a similar maneuver to Bonucci last season which set a lot of alarm bells ringing (and caused nationwide mocking) and every week seems to have a controversial tumble in it.

Bonucci melting into the lava is more disappointing that your average Bale or Young acrobatics though. The guy has only ever scored eight goals, wouldn't you think that at 1-0 up in the last five minutes, it would be worth a pop at making it nine? No one would really blame him if he didn't score. He'd maybe receive more plaudits for scoring than a more attacking player.

But no, like the giant Geordie horse before him, he would rather put face to turf than step up and have a go himself. It's important that we laugh at these players, otherwise it's just saddening.

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