Jacy Maranhao's Viral Goal Celebration Fall at Couto Pereira
For a few delirious seconds at the Couto Pereira Stadium, Jacy Maranhao lived every defender’s dream. Then gravity – and a badly timed tunnel opening – dragged him straight back to earth.
The Coritiba captain had just done the improbable on Saturday against Chapecoense in the 2026 Brasileirao: a defender finding the net. Ecstatic, he tore away to celebrate, hurdled the advertising boards in front of the stands and vanished.
Literally.
One stride, one leap, and Jacy disappeared down an open access to the stairs leading to the dressing-room tunnel, swallowed by a gap that is almost always shut during play. Cameras caught the moment in brutal clarity, the kind of clip that travels the world before the player has even had his ankle strapped.
Seconds later, he reappeared, dragging himself out of the hole, stumbling, wincing, then stubbornly trying to resume his celebration with teammates as if nothing had happened. The stadium roared in disbelief. Social media did the rest.
Then came the next twist. VAR checked the goal. Offside. The dream moment wiped away, the fall into the tunnel suddenly looking even more absurd.
Jacy played on until the second half, when the pain forced him off. Coritiba still finished the job, beating Chapecoense 2–1, but their captain’s misadventure had already become the story of the night.
Afterwards, he admitted what everyone had seen: he had lost himself in the moment.
He said he had been “carried away” because “defenders don’t score many goals,” a simple explanation that fits every centre-back who has ever forgotten their bearings after finding the net. In an interview with local media, he revealed the celebration had a destination: he wanted to reach his pregnant wife in the stands. In his rush, he misjudged the layout and forgot that the tunnel access sat just beyond the boards on that side.
The sensation as he dropped out of sight, he said, felt like “when you dream you’re falling from a building.” Only this time, the landing was real.
The detail that made it all possible was as mundane as it was cruel. The tunnel entrance at Couto Pereira is normally closed during the halves and opened only at the end of each period. Because the incident happened just before halftime, the access area had already been unlocked and opened. One minute earlier and Jacy is in the arms of his teammates; a few minutes later and he’s back in his position, the moment forgotten. Instead, the timing turned him into a global clip.
On Monday, with the memes still circulating, the defender moved to calm any fears. Writing on social media, he said the scare had been worse than 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 posted, reassuring Coritiba fans that the captain’s biggest bruise may end up being to his pride.
The fall also stirred memories in Curitiba. This was not the first time Couto Pereira had swallowed a celebrating player. In 2014, Cameroonian striker Joel Tagueu, also playing for Coritiba, tumbled into the same tunnel area after a goal, another victim of the stadium’s treacherous geography in moments of euphoria.
Two players, two different years, the same hole in the ground. Coritiba have their win, Jacy has his recovery, and the internet has its viral moment. The next question is for the club and the stadium: how many more goal celebrations will it take before that tunnel stops claiming victims?
