Stellar Erik Lamela produces goal of the season, word of the day
With one jaw-dropping moment of skill and dexterity Erik Lamela installed himself an early favourite to win FIFA`s goal of the year award -- and at the same time ensured the term "rabona" became the overnight buzzword of soccer`s lexicon.
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London: With one jaw-dropping moment of skill and dexterity Erik Lamela installed himself an early favourite to win FIFA`s goal of the year award -- and at the same time ensured the term "rabona" became the overnight buzzword of soccer`s lexicon.
With an act of sweet balance and flexibility he wrapped his left leg round the back of his right standing leg to arc his shot 20-metre into the net, leaving goalkeeper Tomas Kosicky rooted to the spot and everyone in the ground stunned.
Many in the stadium, and a watching TV pundit, did not initially realise what Lamela had done to put Spurs 2-0 up, while coach Mauricio Pochettino had a face like thunder as it hit the net - though he later described it as "unbelievable" and probably the best goal he has ever seen.
A reasonably common trick to send in a cross, a "rabona" for a long-range shot is a much rarer beast and very few goals have ever been scored using it.
The term "rabona" is believed to have originated with Ricardo Infante after a game between Argentine teams Estudiantes and Rosario Central in 1948, when the football magazine El Grafico coined the phrase showing Infante, dressed up as a infant pupil -- playing hooky or truant from school.
Rabona in Spanish means to skip school.
The rabona is also a dance step used in the tango, said to have been named after the footballing move, but whatever the origin of its name, the shot stunned Lamela`s Spurs team mates as well as the crowd with fullback Jan Vertonghen pictured with his hands on his head in disbelief.
The Belgian international tweeted afterwards: "Must be the best goal I`ve ever seen" while former Spurs striker Peter Crouch, now at Stoke City, tweeted: "Lamela`s goal for Spurs is the ultimate showboat. WOW !"
Supporter Morris Keston, who first watched the team in the 1940s, tweeted: "In all my 70 years of watching Tottenham Hotspur I`ve never seen a goal quite like Lamela`s."
Lamela, who became Spurs` record buy when he signed for 30 million pounds ($48.16 million) from AS Roma last year, struggled through his first season, but this term has shown real glimpses of his undoubted skill.
Thursday`s goals were only his second and third for the club and he could cap a memorable week by scoring his first in the Premier League against Newcastle United at White Hart Lane on Sunday.