Five years ago today, the 'ghost pass' was invented by Mainz goalkeeper Robin Zentner

It's exactly five years to the day since a lad from Rüdesheim invented 'the ghost pass' - a total fluke that will go down in history as a moment of madness.

Mainz goalkeeper Robin Zentner became a viral sensation after he accidentally tried to pass the penalty spot instead of the ball in a game.

In the first half of Mainz' trip to Borussia Mönchengladbach, he looked to play a pass in his own penalty box and get his team back on the front foot.

Incredibly though, he didn't realise the ball was at his feet and a Sunday League-esque moment ensued.

He genuinely tried to pass the penalty spot to his defender, realised what he had done, saw the Gladbach attacker hunting the ball and panicked big time.

“Whoops! Oh my goodness what a fluff from Robin Zentner!” the commentator said moments later. “I’m not laughing at him, definitely not, 23 years of age Robin Zentner’s been absolutely fantastic so far but that was a big fluffer, a real mess up.”

He added: "Sorry, but he just forgot to take the ball, you’ve got to watch this again, this is fantastic, this is absolutely marvellous, I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”

Luckily for Zentner, Mönchengladbach couldn't capitalise on his mistake and Mainz retained a 1-0 lead in the opening 30 minutes, with the game finishing 1-1.

After the game, Zentner became the talk of the town on social media and then offered a hilarious explanation on his gaffe.

"The ball was passed back to me with a bit of backspin," he said, as quoted by ESPN.

"In the corner of my eye, I could see something white and I thought it was the ball - but it was the penalty spot and the ball was somewhere else.

"I went to play a pass into the centre but I didn't make contact with the ball, and then I realised it wasn't even there."

Zentner gave the term 'no-look pass' a whole new meaning and will forever salute him for his genius bit of play even if he definitely didn't mean it.