It was a goal worthy of winning any final. That has become one of the many taglines that would regularly accompany Zinedine Zidane’s wonder volley that won Real Madrid the 2002 Champions League final against Bayer Leverkusen.
Arjen Robben’s very own wonder volley for Bayern Munich in Wednesday night’s Champions League which effectively eliminated Manchester United from the competition, was a strike worthy of winning a final. Except it was one that sent the Bavarians into the semi-finals, and knocked out the Red Devils.
But it did conjure memories of Zidane’s goal. Granted, both players were in opposite ends of the penalty box, Robben’s rocket went straight to the bottom corner while Zidane’s arrowed to the top, but it was that swivel in preparation to pull the trigger and the technique of the strike that for a split second reminded us of the great ‘Zizou’.
It was a goal worthy of the occasion; Bayern clawing their way back from 3-0 down on the night to make it 3-1, and subsequently needing just one more goal to send them through to the last-four. The assist from Ribery from the corner flag all across the other side of the pitch was world class: the accuracy, the height, the weight, the trajectory, any one of which went astray and Michael Carrick could have and would have slid in and either block the shot or robbed the ball off Robben altogether.
But was it the best goal of the Champions League so far this season, considering the momentous occasion and the significance of it? There have been plenty of stunners and humdingers in Europe’s blue ribbon competition, and you’d expect no less.
Man of the moment – still – Lionel Messi has scored a handful of gems and the pick of his four against Arsenal just 24 hours prior could be the audacious chip. He also scored an absolute blinder in the last-16 second leg against VfB Stuttgart, when he parted a sea of four defenders with a piledriver.
Cristiano Ronaldo, currently second in the Champions League’s top scorers charts, has seven goals, and quite a few handsome ones from freekicks. Two of them against FC Zurich in the competition opener was put down to goalkeeping error – especially the second – but there was nothing freakish about his 30-yard swerving, bending, dipping screamer against Marseille in the last group game.
Dynamo Kiev’s Andriy Shevchenko netted against his once bitter foes Inter when he lobbed a sublime half volley over Julio Cesar, while CSKA Moscow’s 19-year-old prodigy Alan Dzagoev scored from an outrageous chipped-shot against Besiktas from 20 yards.
It’s not just all about the long range missiles. There have also been plenty of audacious goals with sublime skills. Samir Nasri scored a delight of a solo goal for Arsenal against Porto in the second leg last-16 when he ran circles around the opposition defense on the right flank, cut into the middle, beat three more defenders, before rifling in a clinical effort from the tightest of angles.
Clarence Seedorf, Radamel Falcao, Hannu Tihinen and even Manchester United’s Nani on Wednesday night have all scored with the Holy Grail of showboating, the cheeky backheel.Then of course there’s Robben, but not his volley against United. In the second leg last-16 against Fiorentina, the Italians were 3-1 ahead on the night and leading 4-3 on aggregate, but the Dutchman popped up with a sensational effort from nearly 30 yards out when he cut in from the right flank, charged past two defenders and unleashed a divine left footed thunderbolt into the top corner despite being surrounded by three players.
The result of that goal? Bayern went through on the away goals rule 4-4 on aggregate. Lightning, like Robben, does strike twice.
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