Ghana midfielder Majeed Ashimeru nicknamed ‘Suarez’ after saving goal-bound effort with his hand

Ghana international Majeed Ashimeru says he is nicknamed ‘Ashimeru Suarez’ after saving a goal-bound effort with his hand in Anderlecht’s stalemate against OH Leuven.

The 24-year-old sacrificed himself for his team and received a red card for preventing a goal with his hand in the dying embers of the game.

Anderlecht staged a strong comeback against OH Leuven to cancel out the two goals deficit last Sunday.

The Belgian giants were, however, hanging on the ropes after Michael Amir Murillo was sent off with 20 minutes remaining.

Under intense pressure and struggling to shut out their numerically-superior opponents, Ashimeru used his hand to prevent a goal-bound effort deep into injury time.

The Ghanaian was shown a straight red for preventing a goal-scoring opportunity with his hand, but he turned out to be the hero after Sory Kaba missed the resulting penalty, as the game ended 2-2.

“It was a reflex because there was no one in the goal anymore and just did the movement. Hendrik Van Crombrugge then did the rest”, it sounds.

“Everyone in Ghana remembers that phase. Everyone here hates Suarez, but now they call me Ashimeru Suarez.” The midfielder also received no suspension. “I was thinking about one or two games so I’m happy.”