Football’s Greatest Goals No.29
The name Pajtim Kasami will never appear on the list of all-time great Premier League players, but one of his three goals for Fulham will definitely be described as one of the greatest goals.
Kasami joined Fulham from Italian side Palermo in the summer of 2011. He stayed at Craven Cottage for three years before joining Olympiakos in July 2014. The Swiss international midfielder went on loan to Luzern in his homeland during the 2012/13 season after struggling to break into the Fulham first team.
After scoring his first goal for Fulham against Sunderland in their opening game of the season, Kasami’s second goal for the club came in a visit to fellow London side Crystal Palace.
Sky Sports decided that the game was worthy of showing as their live match for Monday Night Football. Palace were leading 1-0 when the Swiss struck a thunderbolt.
New right back Sascha Reither had possession of the ball on the right wing, ten yards inside his own half. He hit a simple pass forward to Steve Sidwell who returned the ball first time to the German defender.
Kasami was stood on his own on the centre spot and when Reither received the ball, he made a sudden diagonal run towards the right hand corner of the penalty area.
Reither hit a perfect ball over the top of the Palace defence and it landed right in front of the Swiss midfielder. He let the ball drop and chested it forward and didn’t break his stride. As the ball dropped nicely in front of him, Kasami walloped the ball on the volley, despite the close attention of Palace defender Adrian Mariappa.
Kasami’s volley flew towards goal and over Palace goalkeeper Julian Speroni before dipping beautifully under the crossbar into the back of the net. It was such a great goal that it was nominated for the FIFA Puskas Award, a prize given for the most aesthically pleasing goals. It was the only goal nominated from the Premier League.
Fulham went on to win the game 4-1 and Pajtim Kasami left the club at the end of the season, signing for Greek side Olympiakos for £5 million. This goal remains his legacy of his three years at Craven Cottage.
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