Dries Mertens described what he was thinking as he scored a positively ridiculous goal for Napoli to beat Lazio. “I said to myself: go for it!”
The Belgian had sprung the offside trap and Thomas Strakosha managed to get a hand to it, sending him wide, but Mertens still managed to steer a lob into the far top corner from a seemingly improbable angle.
Dries Mertens described what he was thinking as he scored a positively ridiculous goal for Napoli to beat Lazio. “I said to myself: go for it!”
The Belgian had sprung the offside trap and Thomas Strakosha managed to get a hand to it, sending him wide, but Mertens still managed to steer a lob into the far top corner from a seemingly improbable angle.
“I saw the ball there and I thought of the shot. I am very happy with this goal, but the most important thing was to win the game,” he told Mediaset Premium after the 4-1 victory.
It has been noted that Diego Armando Maradona scored a similar strike for Napoli in 1985.
“Mine was further out than Maradona, so I get extra credit! I turned around, saw the goalkeeper was getting slowly back to his line and there was a little gap, so I said to myself: go for it!
“Honestly, it’s thanks to my teammates if I am able to score goals like this. I am not Leo Messi, I’m not Maradona, I’m just Dries and I’m happy with that.”
Dries Mertens… What have you just done?!
Stunning goal.pic.twitter.com/Lt2Iy7POOr
— BT Sport Football (@btsportfootball) September 20, 2017