Jacy's Wild Goal Celebration Ends in a Tunnel Mishap
For a few surreal seconds at the Couto Pereira Stadium, the captain simply vanished.
Coritiba defender Jacy Maranhao had just done what defenders dream about. He’d scored. The stadium erupted, his teammates wheeled away, and the 30-year-old sprinted toward the stands, leaping over the advertising boards in an explosion of joy.
Then he disappeared.
Instead of landing on solid ground, Jacy dropped straight into the access tunnel leading down to the locker rooms, an opening just beyond the pitch perimeter. One moment he was on top of the world; the next he was out of sight, swallowed by a gap usually sealed during play.
The clip from Saturday’s match against Chapecoense tore across social media within hours. It showed everything: the leap, the sudden vanishing act, the stunned reaction from those nearby, and then, a few seconds later, Jacy hauling himself back into view, scrambling out, stumbling, and somehow still trying to celebrate with his teammates.
The punchline came quickly. VAR stepped in and ruled the goal offside.
From delirium to a fall, from a fall to a disallowed strike. All in under a minute.
Coritiba’s captain tried to continue, but the impact had left its mark. He played into the second half before being substituted with pain in his foot. Coritiba held their nerve without him, finishing the job with a 2-1 win over Chapecoense in the 2026 Brasileirao.
After the match, Jacy cut through the embarrassment with honesty. He admitted he had been “carried away,” pointing out the simple truth every centre-back understands: defenders don’t score many goals. When one finally goes in, restraint is rarely the first instinct.
There was a more personal motive, too. Speaking to local media, he explained that he had wanted to celebrate with his pregnant wife in the stands. In the rush of adrenaline, he misjudged his route. The access to the underground tunnel, he thought, was on the other side of the advertising boards. It was not.
“When I jumped... you know that feeling when you dream you're falling from a building? That's what it was like,” he said, summing up a moment every viewer could feel in their stomach.
The timing made the incident possible. The tunnel entrance at Couto Pereira is typically closed while the ball is in play and only opened at the end of each half. This happened just before halftime. The access area had already been opened, creating the drop that caught Jacy out.
What began as a viral joke could have ended far worse. On Monday, though, the defender moved to calm any fears. Posting on social media, he said the initial shock outweighed the damage.
“At first it was more of a scare than anything else. During the match my foot was quite painful and I couldn't really put weight on it, but today I'm feeling much better and recovering well,” he wrote, reassuring Coritiba supporters that the captain’s fall would not define his season.
Couto Pereira, oddly, has seen this before. In 2014, Cameroonian striker Joel Tagueu also fell into the same tunnel while celebrating a goal for Coritiba. Different player, different year, same treacherous gap beyond the boards.
Two goals, two celebrations, two sudden drops into the underbelly of the stadium. You wonder how many more it will take before someone finally decides that, at this ground, the real danger doesn’t come from a flying tackle – it comes right after the ball hits the net.
