“I don’t think I’ve ever been in a stadium where I’ve seen an overhead kick that good… and I was there for Wayne Rooney’s against Manchester City.”
High praise indeed from Gary Neville, but deservedly so as Alejandro Garnacho scored one of the great Premier League goals in Manchester United’s 3-0 win at Everton.
The 19-year-old Argentina winger met Diogo Dalot’s cross in the third minute at Goodison Park from about 15 yards out and unleashed a stunning overhead kick into the top corner.
“I can’t believe it to be honest,” he said afterwards. “I didn’t see how I scored, I just listened to the crowd and said ‘oh my God’.”
Former Everton midfielder Leon Osman, summarising on BBC Radio 5 Live, said: “It was a jaw-dropping moment. Everybody was just stunned by seeing a goal of that quality.
“It wasn’t just the finish which was remarkable but the whole move, back to front, cross-field pass, good touch, underlapping run, cross to the far post then that moment.”
Ex-United captain Neville, on Sky Sports, added: “That is a magical, magical goal. We will see that a few times this season. That is one of the best you will ever see.
“I can’t believe it. I don’t think it can get any better in his career in terms of a goal. Absolutely spectacular, a world-class moment.
“I’ve never seen an overhead kick goal as good as that. He has to step metres away from goal, shuffles his feet and lift himself into the air. I’ve never seen a goal like it.”
Spare a thought for Michael Olise.
On Saturday, the Crystal Palace winger scored a fantastic goal against Luton Town, running down the right wing, cutting in and curling a stunner into the far corner.
“It’s got to be up there,” said Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer on Match of the Day as they discussed whether it would be goal of the season.
“It will take some beating,” added Lineker.
That beating would happen about 22 hours later and unfortunately for Olise, his strike is not even goal of the final weekend of November.
United boss Erik ten Hag told BBC Sport: “The finish was incredible, it was world-class. We are early in the season but already it’s the goal of the season.”
However, his manager says Garnacho has some way to go to be the finished article.
“It’s not the first time we saw this, we have already often seen glimpses, but if you want to be a player like Wayne Rooney or Cristiano Ronaldo you have to score 20 to 25 goals in the Premier League each season,” he said.
“That’s not easy to get, you have to work hard, you have to go in areas where it hurts. So there’s a lot to come. But he has potential.”
Red Devils captain Bruno Fernandes called it “superb”. “It was something amazing and I have no words to describe it. It is out of this world. Special from a special kid,” he continued.
John Murray, who has been a BBC Radio 5 Live commentator since 1997, said: “Memories there of some of the great goals that we’ve seen scored.
“I’m thinking Mark Hughes, I’m thinking Wayne Rooney, the famous goal that he scored in the Manchester derby, that was right up there with that.
“It was acrobatic, spectacular, I think it’s one of the best goals I’ve seen live.”
Where does Garnacho goal rank among overhead kicks?
We will keep the definition of bicycle kicks fairly liberal so nothing gets ruled out on a technicality.
Here is a list of a few we like. You can rank them below but you might need to find footage of some of them elsewhere to make an informed opinion.
- Wayne Rooney’s late derby winner – Man Utd 2-1 Man City, Premier League, 12 February 2011
- Gareth Bale’s Champions League final screamer – Real Madrid 3-1 Liverpool, Champions League, 26 May 2018
- Trevor Sinclair’s 20-yard spectacular – QPR 3-2 Barnsley, FA Cup, 25 January 1997
- Mauro Bressan from 25 yards – Fiorentina 3-3 Barcelona, Champions League, 2 November 1999
- Zlatan Ibrahimovic beats Joe Hart from long range – Sweden 4-2 England, friendly, 14 November 2012
- Cristiano Ronaldo flies into the air – Juventus 0-3 Real Madrid, Champions League, 3 April 2018
- Goalkeeper Oscarine Masuluke scores – Baroka 1-1 Orlando Pirates, South African Premiership, 30 November 2016