What do Cristiano Ronaldo, Sadio Mane and Laurent Robert have in common with a couple of Arsenal icons? Backheel goalscoring brilliance for one.
Sadio Mane v Watford
The ball comes out to the right about 30 yards out. It is fired in as a putative cross. The defenders all move out to catch Liverpool offside but don’t do it quickly enough and leave Mane isolated ahead of the defence on the penalty spot but onside. He takes the ball down with his back to goal and as the keeper advances, backheels it over him and into the middle of the net. That’s just taking the pish.
Daniel Sturridge v Sunderland
This is before he did that daft wiggly arms thing, briefly so popular with six-year-olds.
A ball is played long from midfield for Sturridge to run onto, hustled by a defender, into the penalty area. He’s running away from goal, driven wide as the keeper advances, grovelling at his feet. He backheels it past him into the far left of the goal, bouncing into the net off the post. He was good, you know – but made of pastry.
Laurent Robert v Fulham
He didn’t score tap-ins. This extraordinary athletic backheel happened after a ball is crossed from the right at head height to the centre of the box. Robert leaps into the air and is in entirely the wrong position to head it, so somehow he contrives to get his legs to head height, turns in mid-air, back to the goal and does a backheel volley over his own head into the right-hand corner of the net. He played for Derby for half of that record-breaking awful season, you know.
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Bruno Guimaraes v Southampton
If he hadn’t had his back to goal in a crowded penalty, 10 yards out, this would have been a straightforward volley into the net but as the ball comes in from a corner on the right which is headed into the centre of the goal from the left, he backheels a powerful volley in almost casually. Almost worth being from Byker, obese and half-naked for.
Callum Wilson v West Brom
In that brief half hour when he wasn’t out injured, Wilson was a good striker.
In this game, the ball is fired in at pace from the right into the area. Wilson, who is watching the player hit the ball, has his back to goal and instead of controlling it, turning and shooting, he somehow backheels it into the bottom left corner. It all happens in a few seconds. The ball probably bruised his foot and put him out for a month.
Cristiano Ronaldo v Aston Villa
Back when Manchester United weren’t a bad joke and they employed top-rank footballers, the ball rattles around a crowded penalty area from a corner, arrives at CR7’s feet and he fails to properly control it. This meant he was forced to flick at it with his heel. It trickles into the centre of the net and the ego on legs runs away in celebration as though he has scored a superhuman goal. He’s quick to look at the big screen to check it was as brilliant as he suspected, what with him being brilliant and everything.
Thierry Henry v Charlton
He was a clever boy. The ball is fired in from the right into Thierry’s feet. He has a defender, what a doctor would diagnose as ‘up his arse’, giving him close attention. Both their backs are to goal, six yards out. How to score? Easy, backheel it hard through the defender’s legs, past the goalkeeper and into the corner of the net. At first it looks like magic and you don’t even realise for a second what he’s done.
Charlton in the Premier League – imagine that!
Leon Bailey v Hoffenheim
This is spectacular precisely because it is so deliberate, unlike more instinctive efforts. The ball is fired into Bailey from the right. He’s centrally positioned, but has his back to goal. He controls it, gets his feet into position and backheels the ball with force with his left foot into the goal. The keeper is beaten for pace. That’ll get you a move to Aston Villa.
Valentino Lazaro v Leverkusen
There are quite a few examples of this. Basically, it looks like he’s fallen over head-first and as he sprawls forward, he raises his heel and volleys it goalwards from a cross on the right. I think it’s entirely deliberate and rescues an inaccurate cross but it doesn’t look like it. ‘Yeah, of course I meant it, boss.’
Olivier Giroud v Crystal Palace
The well-groomed Frenchman scored one of those Scorpion-kick type goals, falling forward six feet ahead of the ball, but being aware enough to hold out his left leg as the ball comes over and he connects with speed and power into the top corner. He obviously just improvised on the spot as the ball was delivered behind him. I bet it caused Peter Drury to shout his full name loudly and annoyingly.
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