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Watch: Sideline Reporter Suffers Painful Bad Luck During Live Broadcast

By Dave Kovaleski May 10, 2019 at 10:15am

Headers are common in soccer, but there was a head shot in the Europa League on Thursday that was not planned.

Sideline reporter Monica Benavent, who was covering the match between Arsenal and Valencia, got beaned in the back of the head while she was on air before the game.

The shot came from an Arsenal player during warm-ups and hit Benavent hard.

This happened about 5 yards from us. I think they were aiming for Keown… pic.twitter.com/c27S4auGdI

— Jake Humphrey (@mrjakehumphrey) May 9, 2019

The blow knocked her to the ground, the Daily Mail reported.

Benavent later confirmed that she was OK, the report said. She joked that she was “alive and kicking,” adding that it was nothing some ibuprofen couldn’t fix.

By the way. Here is Monica with the offending matchball…and a smile ?? pic.twitter.com/pkkpLJEnpS

— Jake Humphrey (@mrjakehumphrey) May 9, 2019

Arsenal beat Valencia 4-2 to advance to the Europa League finals.

Valencia vs Arsenal! ?
Absolute domination pic.twitter.com/YHIo7F7UY4

— MELO (@xmaro16) May 9, 2019

It will face fellow Premier League team Chelsea, which beat Frankfurt 4-3.

¡EL CHELSEA ESTÁ EN LA FINAL! Tenemos final inglesa en la Europa League y en la Champions League@eintracht_esp ⚽ ⚽ ⚽ ❌ ❌@ChelseaFC ⚽ ❌ ⚽ ⚽ ⚽ pic.twitter.com/dtw802ootU

— Univision Deportes (@UnivisionSports) May 9, 2019

Do you follow European soccer?

This is first time that two Premier League teams have faced off in the Europa League finals, reported CBS Sports.

The Europa League, put on by the Union of European Football Associations, is an annual competition featuring the best teams from across the various European soccer leagues.

? @EuropaLeague Final ticket allocation:

? @Arsenal: 6,000
? @ChelseaFC: 6,000

? The Olympic Stadium in Baku has a capacity of 68,700.

? 56,700 tickets WON’T be allocated to supporters of either club. pic.twitter.com/eni4imRenr

— SPORF (@Sporf) May 10, 2019

The finals are set for May 29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

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Tags:

Media watch, Soccer, Sports media

Dave Kovaleski

Contributor, Sports

SummaryMore Biographical InformationRecent PostsContact

Dave is a lifelong sports fan who has been writing for The Wildcard since 2017. He has been a writer for more than 20 years for a variety of publications.

Dave has been writing about sports for The Wildcard since 2017. He's been a reporter and editor for over 20 years, covering everything from sports to financial news. In addition to writing for The Wildcard, Dave has covered mutual funds for Pensions and Investments, meetings and conventions, money market funds, personal finance, associations, and he currently covers financial regulations and the energy sector for Macallan Communications. He has won awards for both news and sports reporting.

Location

Massachusetts

Languages Spoken

English

Topics of Expertise

Sports