It's good to touch the green, green grass of home - just as long as it doesn't have a dodgy penalty spot in front of one of the goals.
The field at Anderlecht's Constant Vanden Stock Stadium did and it cost the Belgian champions about ?20 million ($25 million).
The soft ground around the painted white spot gave way three times during a penalty shootout at the end of Anderlecht's Champions League playoff against Partizan Belgrade on Tuesday. The ball flew over the bar each of those times, taking with it Anderlecht's hopes of qualifying for club football's biggest tournament.
''The pitch was very bad around the penalty spot, but that naturally doesn't make it an excuse,'' said Mbark Boussoufa, who missed Anderlecht's crucial fifth and final kick. ''We should be able to control our nerves in such moments, but unfortunately we haven't been able to do it.''
Partizan won the shootout 3-2 and will be in Thursday's draw for the Champions League while Anderlecht drops into the less prestigious, and less lucrative, Europa League.
The Serbian side should pick up close to ?20 million in prize money, broadcast revenue and other income just by participating in the group stage of the Champions League.
''I can't remember ever having missed a spot kick before,'' Boussoufa said. ''It's a huge blow that I failed to find the net at such a crucial time.''
Having fought back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 and take the two-legged match to a shootout, Anderlecht might have felt the hard work was done. But Matias Suarez was under pressure immediately after Cleo put Partizan ahead with the first penalty. The Argentine forward ran in at an angle to set himself up for a right-foot shot but the ground gave way as he kicked, sending the ball over the bar by about 5 meters (yards).
Suarez stared in disbelief at the disappearing ball before glaring accusingly at the rogue spot of turf.
His miss set the tone for the rest of the shootout, with right-footed players unable to keep their kicks down unless they took a straight run up or put their foot behind the ball instead of under it.
Anderlecht goalkeeper Silvio Proto saved Partizan's second kick before Lucas Biglia's kick went the same way as Suarez's - off the bump in the ground and way over the bar.
Partizan moved ahead 2-0 before Proto's second save helped Anderlecht get back to 2-2. Vojslav Stankovic's left-foot shot then left Boussoufa needing to score.
Under pressure, the Moroccan midfielder took a typical slanted run up and hoofed the ball right-footed as high as Suarez did.
UEFA said Wednesday that the match officials had passed the field as fit for play before the game, so there was no reason for the incidents to be mentioned in the referee's match report.
Anderlecht coach Ariel Jacobs said his team should simply have won the match in regular time so the players didn't have to deal with the additional pressure of a shootout.
''If you take a penalty, it's the responsibility of the entire team, not just whoever misses,'' Jacobs said. ''If there was something wrong with the penalty spot, it was the same for both sides.''
