Massimo Taibi has opened up about his extremely brief stint at Manchester United - including THAT error at Southampton.
The Italian was signed from Venezia for a fee of £4.5 million in 1999 after seeing Peter Schmeichel leave for Sporting CP but only ended up playing a total of four games.
He was named Man of the Match on his debut against Liverpool but made an almighty gaffe in the 3-3 draw with Saints at Old Trafford.
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A routine strike from Matt Le Tissier was spilled haplessly by Taibi, with many still deeming it to be the worst goalkeeping error in Premier League history.
He conceded five at Chelsea the week after and never recovered. 21 years on, Taibi has reflected on the costly mistake.
"For me, that wasn't a terrible error as such, certainly not something to label you with for life," he said, speaking exclusively to AmericanGambler.com.
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"It was just one of those things which happen to goalkeepers. I've seen plenty in England and Italy, believe me. Going through the legs, it looks ridiculous, but it happens often. It's not the first, it wasn't the last.
"I had a similar incident like that at Torino. It happens. It's an accident, not an error. An error is to come out for the ball and miss it but an innocuous shot which goes through your legs is just a total accident.
"Unfortunately, the week after, we went to Chelsea and lost 5-0 and as I couldn't play in the Champions League having already been registered with Milan, Ferguson decided, rightly, to sit me out for a little, to give me time to learn the language.
"Look, I'm old now and I've normalised it. But, believe you me, it was so hurtful when every year they bring out this label: 'The worst goalkeeper in Premier League history.' I've heard them all. It hurt me. Not because I think I think I'm this superstar. Far from it, but I just feel - on a human level - you can never judge an athlete on the back of four matches.
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"I played four matches. Of which two I played well and was named man-of-the-match and the others I didn't. You destroy a goalkeeper after just four matches? It's crazy. Maybe after six, seven months, okay. You were terrible after 25 matches, I'd get that, but for that to happen after four matches, it really hurt.
"But that was no one's fault, simply mine for having to go through the issues that I was experiencing at the time."
Experiencing family issues, the former AC Milan goalkeeper returned to Italy with Reggina in January 2000 despite claiming that Sir Alex Ferguson "begged" him to stay.
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He went on to play professionally until 2009 but admits the error acted as a burden for the rest of his career.
"So much false stuff was written about me: that I was kicked out, that I was the worst goalkeeper in English football history, even though I was the best player on the pitch in my first two matches," Taibi added.
"Yes, the next two weren't great, but let's be honest, this can happen to anybody. I didn't know the language. I felt as though I was really at home in Manchester and that it was a great place for me. A dream. It was a dream, but my world totally collapsed when I had this grave family issue back home.'
"You know the worst thing? It's the immediate realisation of having made the error; it's awful. The fact I realised straight away means I carried this burden on myself right until the end of my career. I played another ten years after leaving United and carried this negative feeling inside me the whole time."
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