The first El Clasico of the season took place last night and Barcelona ran out 2-1 victors over Real Madrid.
Brazilian starlet Neymar scored his first El Clasicio goal which gave the Catalans the lead. The £85.3m man Gareth Bale only lasted an hour in his Clasico debut and had little impact. But the moment of the night belonged to Alexis Sanchez as his truly amazing chipped goal gave Barcelona a 2-0 lead that they would ultimately help them extend their lead atop La Liga.
It was a sensational moment of genius. I do love a chipped goal and Sanchez’s was right up there with the best of them, as Diego Lopez was only marginally off his lime and the Chilean was still able to chip the ball over him and into the back of the net.
Could this be the making of Alexis Sanchez? The zippy winger hasn’t been highly impressive in his first two seasons at Barcelona, but a goal of such class in a very high profile game will do wonders for his confidence. At 24 years of age there is plenty of time for Sanchez fulfil his potential, and it looks as though the club are willing to give him the time it will take for him to develop into the world class winger they saw at Udinese.
But back to the goal and I doubt Sanchez will score something quite so beautiful for the rest of his career. In fact, if he called it curtains on his career right now he would be happy because at least he would be able to look back at this goal time and time again as he basked in the gigantic glow of his ego. Probably.