Nigel de Jong told beIN SPORTS (01/11/20 at 8:10 pm) that only Lionel Messi could have scored from the very tight angle Erik Lamela attempted to score from on Sunday during Tottenham’s 2-1 win against Brighton.
The passage of play in which De Jong is referring to came at the end of the first half when Spurs had a free kick on the right-hand side at a very tight angle.
Rather than cross the ball into the box for his teammates, Lamela attempted an audacious effort in trying to score and his shot understandably ended up going over the bar – the referee instantly blew his whistle for half time.
Former Sky Sports pundits Andy Gray and Richard Keys couldn’t believe what they were seeing, as former Man City midfielder De Jong thinks only one man on the planet could have scored from such an angle, as they couldn’t understand why he didn’t just cross the ball.
Richard Keys asked: “What’s Lamela thinking?” Former Manchester City midfielder de Jong responded by saying: “Oh, it’s a great opportunity to score a goal. I mean I think he needed two goals to score that goal. I don’t know what he was thinking.
Gray added: “The ball was there and he moved it. As soon as I saw him do that I thought ‘really, he is actually going to try and score’.
“Now, he will be last in that dressing room [at half-time] I can guarantee it because I think if Mourinho lets him get away with that then I hope one or two of his mates might just say ‘listen, what was the point of us all coming up?’”
De Jong finished off by saying: “I think there is only one player who could score from that angle on his left foot and that’s Messi.”
In truth, those things become minor moments when your team ends up winning and Jose Mourinho’s side had to leave it late to do just that.
In recent times – West Ham and Newcastle – Spurs have seen a number of late goals go against them, and whilst this wasn’t a stoppage-time goal, it was a late winner from Bale, nonetheless.
It moves Spurs second in the Premier League table and gets people potentially talking about whether they can win the title during this crazy season.
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