Football’s Greatest Goals No.49
This week’s ‘Greatest Goal’ comes from Tottenham Hotspur’s Dele Alli in a league match away to Crystal Palace on 23rd January 2016.
At the time, Alli was in his first full season at Tottenham, having joined the North London club from Milton Keynes Dons for £5 million the year before. He had caught the eye of many of the biggest names in English football, with Tottenham winning the race for his signature.
After Tottenham signed Alli, they sent him back to MK Dons for the remainder of the 2014/15 season to get first-team experience. Suitably impressed with what they saw, Spurs put him straight into their first team and his career blossomed.
At the start of 2016, Alli had scored five goals in his first eighteen Premier League matches. He was looking like the real deal and on 23rd January, he scored a wonder goal away at Crystal Palace.
With the match evenly poised at 1-1 on 84 minutes, Alli scored a fantastic goal. It would later win the BBC Match of the Day Goal of the Season award.
Spurs striker Harry Kane looped a high cross cross-field ball from the right wing. Christian Eriksen kept his eyes firmly on the ball and watched it drop from the sky. He cushioned a header right into the path of Alli, who was 20 yards from goal.
Palace midfielder Mile Jedinak came racing in but Alli coolly flicked the ball up with his right foot and then flicked it over his head and the advancing Jedinak. As the ball dropped, Alli repositioned himself, turned to face goal and hit the ball hard on the volley into the bottom corner of the net.
Tottenham went on to win the game 3-1 and finished the season in third place, their highest league finish in 26 years.
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