Dominic Solanke has scored more than 100 goals during his career – but he will probably never score one quite as special as his second against Manchester City on Sunday.
Solanke had already begun Tottenham's fightback. After trailing City 2-0 at half-time, the Spurs striker showed strength and skill to carve out a chance that was eventually awarded to him despite City defender Marc Guehi putting through his own net.
That swung momentum back Spurs' way after an insipid opening 45 minutes in which the team were booed off at the interval.
With the wind in their sails, Spurs drew level on 70 minutes as Solanke scored a goal for the ages. The player himself even admitted he will “be watching that back a few times”.
Conor Gallagher swung in a cross from the right, and with Solanke ahead of the ball, he stuck his right foot behind him to connect with a looping effort that trickled over the line despite Gianluigi Donnarumma getting finger tips to it.
Popularly known as a 'scorpion kick', there have been other examples of the improvised finish down the years.
Here's a look at some of them.
Olivier Giroud v Crystal Palace
A brutally cold New Year's Day fixture in 2017 suddenly caught fire thanks to a moment of magic by Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud.
A quick counter-attack saw Arsenal work the ball out to Alexis Sanchez on the left. The Arsenal forward picked out the run of his teammate into the box but, with the ball behind him, Giroud quickly improvised to hook the ball over his own head, beating Palace keeper Wayne Hennessey at his near post. Amazing dexterity, amazing goal.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic v Bastia
No incredible goal compilation would be complete without picking from the mercurial Swede's catalogue.
During a routine romp of Bastia during 2013/14 Ligue 1 season, the Paris Saint-Germain striker found himself sandwiched between two defenders as the ball looped into the box.
Displaying the strength of a bull and the elasticity of a rubber band fresh out the packet, Ibrahimovic somehow got an outstretched foot to connect with the ball to score one of his many spectacular goals.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan v Sunderland
Before we used to constantly complain about VAR, goals that never should have been allowed often were. Some were unforgivable, and some were of such high quality you almost had to overlook any infringement.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan's scorpion kick against Sunderland was a case in point. Never mind the fact the Manchester United midfielder was a mile offside; his finish was just so pretty that you wouldn't have wanted it disallowed (unless you're a Sunderland fan, of course).
The Armenian connected so sweetly with Ibrahimovic's cross it gave Jordan Pickford absolutely no chance.
Riley McGree v Melbourne City
In 2018, a teenage Newcastle Jets midfielder became an overnight viral sensation when he scored one of the best goals in A-League history.
After exchanging passes with teammate Ronald Vargas on the edge of the Melbourne area, 19-year-old McGree, a loan signing from Belgian club Brugge, initially looked like he was attempting to flick the ball into his path to advance on goal.
He did more than that, though. He connected his heel with the ball with such force that it looped over the head of Melbourne goalkeeper Dean Bouzanis and into the net.
Josh Sargent v Watford
The American's time in England's Premier League with Norwich City was far from memorable. Signed from Werder Bremen in August 2021 for a fee of €9.5 million, he didn't score his first league goal until January 2022.
But it was worth the wait. Thanks to the tenacity of his strike partner Teemu Pukki, Sargent was presented with the chance to give Norwich the lead against fellow strugglers Watford at Vicarage Road.
The motor neuron skills used to arch his leg back and get a flick on to Pukki's cannoned pass was pure class, and the fact the ball cannoned off the crossbar before crossing the line just made the whole aesthetics of the goal even more pleasing.


