The best overhead kicks ever: Garnacho, Rooney, Ronaldo, more،
Alejandro Garnacho took around three minutes to submit his entry for the Premier League goal of the season award as Manchester United won 3-0 against Everton on Sunday.
The 19-year-old striker scored his first goal of the campaign in spectacular fashion as he opened the scoring at Goodison Park, redirecting Diogo Dalot’s deep cross into the far corner with a flying kick.
What are you looking at there, @AGarnach7? 😂👀#MUFC || #EVEMUN pic.twitter.com/5vMNLoqiTX
–Manchester United (@ManUtd) November 26, 2023
Garnacho’s outrageous strike immediately drew comparisons to the equally acrobatic goal scored by Wayne Rooney against Manchester City in the 2011 derby, with the technique involved being almost identical.
Joining Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the young Manchester United star can now rightfully take his place among the pantheon of greats who have already taken to the skies to score incredible aerial goals.
True to the spirit of technical excellence on display, here, in no particular order, are some of the most iconic scissor and bicycle kicks (yes, there’s a difference!) to ever grace the game.
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (US)
Alireza Jahanbakhsh (Brighton) v Chelsea, 2020
Jahanbakhsh scored just two Premier League goals for Brighton during the 2019-20 season, in back-to-back matches, four days apart over the Christmas period. The pair’s second proved to be an excellent bicycle kick that saved a point against Chelsea on New Year’s Day.
😍 No real need for words here, enjoy!#BHAFC 🔵⚪️ pic.twitter.com/BCxf9J8Def
– Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) January 1, 2020
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) vs. Juventus, 2018
Just months before moving to Turin, Ronaldo knocked his future employers out of the Champions League quarter-finals with a spectacular effort – so spectacular in fact that an Argentinian journalist attempting to recreate it found himself at the ‘hospital.
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) v Manchester City, 2011
Best. Derby. Aim.
Never!@Wayne Rooney #MUFC pic.twitter.com/AX2lENFFv2–Manchester United (@ManUtd) December 10, 2017
There is no doubt that Rooney’s powerful kick to win the Manchester derby was a work of instinctive genius. Who cares if it comes out of his shin guard?
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden) v England, 2012
The fateful night in which Zlatan launched a one-man assault on Joe Hart’s professional pride culminated in a long-range acrobatic kick that only he would dare attempt.
Dimitar Berbatov (Manchester United) v Liverpool, 2010
Berbatov ensured his cult hero status at Old Trafford with a hat-trick to defeat the old enemy, although the Bulgarian maverick’s second goal of the afternoon is definitely one that sticks in the memory.
Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) vs Liverpool, 2018
Wales. Golf. Superb gymnastic volleys from the edge of the box during the Champions League finals. In this order.
Emre Can (Liverpool) v Watford, 2017
A moment of individual brilliance 🚲#GoalOfTheDay @emrecan_ pic.twitter.com/HjoBF3YXhm
–Premierleague (@premierleague) December 23, 2019
Can himself called this beauty “the best goal I have ever scored” and it’s really not that hard to understand why.
Ronaldinho (Barcelona) v Villarreal, 2006
The kind of goal you can watch dozens of times without knowing how Ronaldinho managed to control the ball, let alone find the back of the net in the same movement. Less of an aerial kick, more of a contortionist act.
Rivaldo (Barcelona) v Valencia, 2001
A hat-trick and an alien Chilean 👽
18 years ago, @RIVALDOOFICIAL we enjoy one of the most magical nights of #LaLigaHistory. 💫 pic.twitter.com/RVdAe7vY3H
– LaLiga (@LaLiga) June 17, 2019
Another timeless classic from the Barca vault sees Rivaldo complete a ridiculously good hat trick with a phenomenal strike from 18 meters. We think the correct term is “arrow”.
Philippe Mexes (AC Milan) versus Inter Milan, 2012
🗣️ Philippe Mexès: “You only score a goal like this once in your career.”@AC Milan | #UCL pic.twitter.com/mnZ1Gumlrr
– UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) November 26, 2021
It’s not a name one immediately associates with spectacular Internet search prowess, but the French central defender certainly had a talent for the spectacular — usually against Inter, as happens.
Oscarine Masuluke (Baroka FC) v Orlando Pirates, 2017
You might be wondering why the scorer of that perfect last minute kick is wearing different gloves and kit to everyone else? That’s because Masuluke is a goalkeeper – the only goalkeeper to have been selected for a Puskas Award.
Mauro Bressan (Fiorentina) v Barcelona, 1999
🔥The best bike ride in history?
🤯Mauro Bressan #OTD in 1999! #UCL | @ACFFiorentinaFR pic.twitter.com/1jhtfCjSWf
– UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) November 2, 2020
Proving that Barca were just as likely to concede miraculous passes, Bressan graced the Champions League with a 30-yard masterpiece that is still regularly cited to this day as the best overhead kick ever scored.
Pelé (prisoners of war) against Nazis, 1981
Perhaps the most iconic overhead kick of all time was that deployed by a young Brazilian prisoner of war named Pelé, who defeated the evil Nazi hordes with one foot during World War II in the film from Sylvester Stallone’s 1981 “Escape To Victory.”
