Premier League cult hero ‘thought he was Zinedine Zidane’ when talent went horribly incorrect
Back in 2003, then Birmingham City midfielder David Dunn produced arguably one of the funniest ever attempts at pulling off a skill which resulted in him falling flat on his face
To some football fans, October 19, 2003 produced arguably one of the funniest moments in Premier League history when Aston Villa and Birmingham City faced off.
The derby ended up finishing 0-0 at St Andrews, with the likes of Christophe Dugarry, Robbie Savage, Gareth Barry and Darius Vassell starring on the day for the two rivals. However, they were not the stars of the show that day.
Step forward David Dunn. The former Birmingham City star turned 45 this week but was at the centre of one of the funniest moments in Premier League history when he faced off against the Blues bitter rivals.
With the ball at his feet, the one time England international looked up and decided he would try a rabona cross into the box – only to find himself flat on his face seconds later. Dunn made a complete hash of the attempted cross, making contact with the ball before stumbling over his feet which led to him hitting the deck.
Thankfully for Dunn and his then manager Steve Bruce, both saw the lighter side on the day, with the former caught sheepishly smiling on the pitch at St Andrews after the incident, while the latter grinned on from the dugout, clearly amused by what he had seen from his midfielder.
“He thought he was Zinedine Zidane then,” remarked one commentator following Dunn’s failed rabona. “Talk us through it,” said Chris Kamara chatting to Dunn on Goals on Sunday years after the incident.
“Jeez,” replied Dunn, before adding: “See, even Brucey’s laughing! I’m more disappointed with the mullet. How can you not [laugh at it]. I once went into Curry’s.
“I was buying a new TV, went into Curry’s and it was when Sky playback was just coming in. And I looked up and there must have been about 100 TV’s and the clip was on them all.
“And I could just see all the workers and all the staff having a little glance at me as if to say ‘Is that him?’ We don’t want to see that again!
“I actually blamed Sky Sports as well because I’ve done it loads of times since and they never put it on! There was a couple of times, certainly under big Sam [Allardyce] that I did it. They were isolating the incident!”
