Venezuelan soccer team protests ref's decision making with strange, controversial penalty shootout stunt

Caracas and Deportivo Tachira played out one of the strangest penalty shootouts in living memory on Wednesday when the pair drew 1-1 in Venezuela's Primera Division Clausura in their latest rivalry meeting. Tachira are defending champions and Caracas could have moved to within three points of their rivals with a win so Fernando Aristeguieta's men were left incensed after they had what would have been a late winning goal ruled out in San Cristobal.

In protest against referee Alexis Herrera's decision, the Caracas players deliberately missed their penalties in the unrelated Copa Rey de Marcas shootout at the end of the game while goalkeeper Frankarlos Benitez made no effort to save any of Tachira's efforts. The Copa Rey de Marcas, which translates to the "King of Brands Cup," is a sponsor-driven shootout competition that sees teams compete in a shootout after their matches regardless of the result in the 90 minutes. The shootout's result also does not factor into the game's result and is viewed as an entirely separate competition. 

Here's how it went down:

Ender Echenique gave Caracas the lead but Maurice Cova soon equalized for Tachira with a penalty but it was Everardo Rose's disallowed goal late on which blew things out of proportion with the effort ruled out despite a VAR review.

Rose was subsequently sent off for a second booking while Renne Rivas was shown a straight red card in an eighth consecutive draw over 90 minutes but the Caracas players were so angered by events that they protested by missing their penalties and making no effort to save Tachira's.

Unprecedented scenes, even by South American soccer standards given some of the wild goings-on over the years.