Plays this quick and clean seldom exist outside of the video game world, but Benfica’s attacking line might have just locked up this season’s “Goal of the Year” honors.
In the 75th minute of a Portuguese Liga matchup between longtime Lisbon rivals Benfica and Sporting CP, Nicolas Gaitan fielded the ball well inside Lisbon’s defensive zone. The 25-year-old attacker continued forward, miraculously slicing through two Lisbon defenders until he reached the top of the box, looking to pass.
Gaitan then tapped the ball over to Benfica’s first goal-scorer of the day, 22-year-old Eduardo Salvio, who reciprocated the favor immediately afterwards, allowing Gaitan to cross the ball into the middle of the box where 29-year-old forward Lima was there to catch it and send it screaming past Sporting goalkeeper Rui Patricio.
The play took all of three seconds to complete, and left the defeated Sporting defenders shaking their heads in disbelief. The ball didn’t touch a blade of grass from the moment it left Salvio’s foot until it was settled inside the Lisbon net.
Benfica held on to win the game by a score of 2-0, which helped cement its top spot in the Portuguese Liga standings.
Watch as Benfica’s front line dissects Sporting en route to a phenomenal goal in the video below.
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Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@benficastuff
