European Goals of the Week, 28 Jan: Ilicic nets rocket from 50 yards
5. MOMENTOUS GOAL FOR MULLER
Bayern demolished Schalke 5-0 this weekend and it was a special day for Thomas Muller as not only did he get on the scoresheet, but the goal marked his 100th for Bayern in the Bundesliga. It was fitting, then, that it was a peach. Ivan Perisic cuts inside from the right wing and dinks a lovely cross to the back post for Leon Goretzka, who, in turn, nods a perfect knockdown to the back post. Muller is, as usual, positioned perfectly to cushion a finish home.
4. GO GO GOSENS
Atalanta absolutely destroyed Torino 7-0 in Serie A, with Gosens scoring the second of the seven. After a cross into the opposition box is cleared, the wing back latches on to the loose aerial ball to fire a dipping left-footed volley bouncing into the bottom right corner.
3. NEYMAR WHIPS PSG INTO SHAPE
It took PSG a little while to get going in the victory over Lille, but Neymar eventually opened the scoring after some neat interplay with Marco Verratti on the edge of the area. When he receives the ball back from the Italian, he finds a yard to whip a beauty of a strike into the top right corner, with the keeper left with no chance.
2. GLADBACH GLAD FOR NEUHAUS
Gladbach bounced back from their disappointing 2-0 loss versus Schalke by defeating Mainz 3-1, with the game memorable for Florian Neuhaus' goal from 40 yards. Mainz keeper Robin Zentner initially does pretty well to clear a long ball over the top, but is caught out while running back to goal by Neuhaus, who collects the ball, turns sharply, and lofts a spectacular finish over half the players on the pitch to score.
1. WHAT NEUHAUS CAN DO, ILICIC CAN DO BETTER
While Neuhaus' goal is undeniably impressive, and would more than likely have topped most weeks of FootballCritic's top five goals, it has indeed been bettered. Ilicic displays an incredible, opportunistic initiative to, within just a few seconds of it being given by the referee, launch an outrageous attempt up and over the goalkeeper from the halfway line. The man is a genius.