The Daily Discussion - The Ultimate Overhead Kick?

By The Stock

Rivaldo in full flight

Approximately 2 minutes and 35 multi-angled replays after Wayne Rooney decided the Manchester derby with the most exquisite of overhead kicks; I started to compile a mental list of where it ranked alongside other bona-fide classics of the genre. And surely I wasn’t alone.

Would it trump Trevor Sinclair’s gravity defying bicycle kick for QPR against Barnsley in the FA Cup? Or Mauro Bressan’s awe inspiring scissors kick from all of 25 yards for Fiorentina against Barcelona in the Champions League in 1999? Maybe. However in my opinion it doesn’t come close to the overhead kick of our times: Rivaldo’s 89^th minute coupe de grace against Valencia on the final day of the 2000-01 La Liga season.

Great goals have both context and meaning.

In the summer of 2000 a billionaire construction magnate by the name of Florentino Peréz ran for the presidency of Real Madrid on the ticket of delivering Luís Figo from arch rivals Barcelona as his marquee signing. He was duly elected and shocked Barcelona and the footballing world by paying the requisite amount to release Figo, Barça’s most iconic player, from his contract with the Blaugrana.

Under the new presidency of Joan Gaspart, a wounded and shell-shocked Barcelona spent the £37.2m Figo money recruiting Marc Overmars and Emmanuel Petit from Arsenal and Gerard Lopéz from Valencia. The Catalans embarked on a topsy turvy La Liga campaign under new coach Lorenç Serra Ferrer. Results ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous. Barça faltered and Serra Ferrer was given his marching orders.

The final day of the season was a winner takes all scenario. Barça hosted Valencia at Camp Nou under new coach Charley Rexach with anything but a victory handing Champions League qualification, and its corresponding riches, to Los Che.

After Rivaldo’s 21^st and 22^nd goals of the season were cancelled out by a fine Rubén Baraja double, the clock ticked towards the 89th minute when Frank De Boer advanced beyond the half way line with the ball. His ‘hit and hope’ clip towards the Valencia box came within the range of the Brazilian, who controlled the ball on his chest before his collapsing scissors kick swept beyond a diving Santiago Canizares into the left hand corner of the net.

Camp Nou erupted. The Directors box celebrated. Barcelona were victorious. Champions League qualification was secured. Figo’s treachery was a distant memory.

Not only was it a spectacular example of the most technically demanding footballing skill, but Rivaldo did it when it mattered: an occasion of drama and high tension that will go down in history for the way it was decided.

For me it simply was the best. The ultimate overhead kick.