European Goals of the Week, 21 Feb: Neves and Haaland nearly burst the net

5:42pm on Friday 21st February 2020
By Martin Macdonald

5. JOY FOR JOSIP IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Regular viewers of Serie A will know how outstanding Josip Ilicic has been this season, but he converted his form to the European stage this week with a brilliant outing versus Valencia which Atalanta won 4-1.

He scored the second of the goals. After stopping the ball dead with a fantastic touch with his left foot just outside the area, he uses his backside to hold off the attention of the defender before rifling a right-footed strike across goal into the top left corner.

That is a ROCKET from Josip Iličić 😲

In the first ever Champions League knockout match in their history, Atalanta are off to a flying start 👌 pic.twitter.com/d2jWEZq64J
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 19, 2020

4. FREEDOM FOR FREULER

That beauty from Ilicic wasn't even Atalanta's best against Valencia, which shows you the high quality of performance the put in.

The best of the night was scored by Remo Freuler, who, after taking advantage of some terrier-like work from Alejandro Gomez, takes the ball forward to a pocket of space just outside the box before curling a gorgeous finish into the far right corner. Yes, he is given the freedom of the pitch by the static Valencia defence, but you can't take anything away from the strike itself.

The Atalanta fairytale continues!!!

With half the city of Bergamo in the San Siro Remo Freuler puts the home supporters into dreamland 😍

That reverse angle 👌 pic.twitter.com/pYImalsTZZ
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 19, 2020

3. FRAN THE MAN

Braga ultimately succumbed to a 3-2 defeat away at Rangers despite leading 2-0 with 25 minutes to go.

They were superb in the first half, though, and took the lead in sensational fashion as Fransergio fights off the tackle from Scott Arfield before calmly popping a beauty of an attempt high into the top right corner. A marvellous display of technique as he cuts across the strike just to take it away from Allan McGregor.

An absolute stunner from Fransérgio! 🚀

Allan McGregor stood no chance 😧

Braga claim an away goal at Ibrox... pic.twitter.com/4XiXjPaSD3
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 20, 2020

2. HAALAND HITS PSG FOR TWO

Erling Haaland's ridiculous goalscoring form continued in the Champions League as Dortmund impressively beat PSG 2-1 in Germany, with the Norwegian scoring both goals.

His first was from close range, while his second, well, was not. After receiving a pass from Jadon Sancho he allows the ball to come across on to his left foot before exploding a furious left-footed strike into the top left corner. The noise as this one hits the back of the net is so damn satisfying.

The strike...
The scenes...
The SOUND!

Enjoy Erling Haaland's spectacular winning goal vs PSG from every beautiful angle 😍 pic.twitter.com/4OhGho3TaM
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 19, 2020

1. RIDICULOUS FROM RUBEN

Wolves all but booked their place in the next round of the Europa League after comfortably dispatching of Espanyol with a 4-0 win, with Diogo Jota scoring a hat-trick.

However, the best goal of the game was scored by Ruben Neves, who latches on to a clearance in the air with a chested touch around 25 yards out before, with the ball not having touched the floor, sending a magnificent volley dipping into the left corner. An absolute screamer.

Oh Ruben Neves, behave yourself 🔥

Chest and volley from outside of the box, a stunning goal!

Molineux is rocking! 🐺 pic.twitter.com/o4l1rbgPXs
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 20, 2020

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