Stoke City midfielder Charlie Adam scored one of the greatest goals in Premier League history in his side’s 2-1 defeat at Chelsea on Saturday.
With City trailing 1-0 at Stamford Bridge, Adam illuminated a drab evening in west London with an audacious bolt from the blue in the 44th minute.
Taking possession well inside his own half, the Scotland international looked up to see Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois had strayed off his line.
Even so it initially seemed nothing more than a reckless gamble when Adam shaped to shoot, yet his incredible drive from 65 yards out arrowed over Courtois, who could only help the ball into the net as he back-pedalled in a futile attempt to prevent the wonder-goal.
“It’s a great goal to score. I saw the ‘keeper off his line, tried an effort and it went in,” Adam said.
“I always have a look at the goalkeeper’s position throughout a match because these balls move so much.
“When you have that much space and time it’s nice to do something like that. I was just disappointed the keeper got a hand on it!
“It was great to get back in the game but the biggest thing is we lost the match.”
Adam’s moment of magic brought back memories of David Beckham’s famous lob from the halfway line against Wimbledon in 1996, a goal widely regarded as one of the best in the Premier League’s 23-year history.
The stunning strike also earned comparisons with Manchester United star Wayne Rooney’s gem against West Ham last season, Xabi Alonso’s goal from inside his own half for Liverpool against Newcastle in 2006 and Maynor Figueroa’s goal from the halfway line for Wigan against Stoke in 2009.
“Charlie Adam! He tried that shot from the halfway line 3 times a game at Lfc. About bloody time!” tweeted Adam’s former Liverpool team-mate Jamie Carragher.
Adam’s rocket wasn’t enough for Stoke to earn a point against the leaders, but Blues boss Jose Mourinho said even legends like Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi would have struggled to score a better goal.
“It was a fantastic goal, every super player in the world would like to score a goal like that. Diego Maradona to Lionel Messi to all these brilliant players,” he said.
“Not all of them did score that goal in their careers. But when my goalkeeper plays in the limit of the box he has to read the game and know the quality of the opponent.
“Normally he would anticipate a shot like that from the moment we lost the ball, but it’s a great goal.”