Bahir Dar City goalkeeper Hessou avoids red card despite somersault kick at opponent in Ethiopian Premier League

Bahir Dar City goalkeeper Harriston Hessou managed to avoid a red card despite seeming to aim an acrobatic somersault kick at an opposing player during an Ethiopian Premier League clash against newly-crowned champions Saint George SC.

In a clip, which has since gone viral, Hessou fumbles the ball inside his area before he regathers possession but then makes the crazy decision to acrobatically flip toward an oncoming opponent.

His studs connect with the opposing player, who collapsed to the floor in agony. The referee then pointed to the spot but the goalkeeper avoided a red card.

To add insult to injury, Hessou’s luck continued as Saint George missed the resulting spot-kick, the penalty taker firing the ball wide to the delight of the goalkeeper.

The incident left fans online bemused that the player was not sent off.

“That's a red card. Never a penalty,” said @LimoTheNicky while @ChuchuIan commented, “Shaolin Soccer haha.”

“Hii ni ligi ya majoker (this is a game of jokers),” replied @Andy_AAW.

“Ata [Aaron] Ramsdale haezi fanya hivo (even Aaron Ramsdale cannot do that),” responded @benjamin_wangui.

Some fans tried to explain what could have led to the bizarre incident.

“I don't know whether it's the GK [goalkeeper] or the pitch,” said @achcharaja.

He added: “As someone who has played quite a bit with boots on pitches as terrible as the one in the video if not worse; I can attest to the fact that the boots in such pitches do get stuck.”

“And when you are accelerating and your foot gets stuck, your upper body gets thrown forward as a result of inertia. Although it doesn't look like he was accelerating to the extent that you get to do a somersault. But can't be ruled out completely either.

This is not the first bizarre goalkeeping incident in the Ethiopian league in recent years as in 2018, the custodian for top division side Welwalo Adigrat went viral after throwing the ball into his own net in a match against Fasil Kenema who won the tie 1-0.

Saint George won their 15th Premier League title on July 1 after ending the season with 65 points, four ahead of outgoing champions Fasil Ketema.