Manchester United starlet Alejandro Garnacho scored an incredible overhead kick against Everton to grab the headlines of the top publications around the world. While, aiming for that is a bit of high, a lot of beautiful goals in the domestic leagues of Indian Football missed to make it even to the local newspaper. One such example was an absolutely stunning goal by Aryan FC youngster Saikat Sarkar in the Calcutta Football League, (CFL) 2023.
Saikat’s goal, sent for Puskas nomination by the IFA (Indian Football Association) is a classic example of talent around the country. A fan of both Ronaldo and Zlatan, Sarkar scored a spectacular side volley for his team in the 72 minutes of the game against Calcutta Customs. While his side lost 2-1, his goal generated a lot of buzz among the watching crowd. Rakesh Karmakar provided the precise cross, and Sarkar finished calmly from the edge of the box.
Although the goal hardly got any national coverage from publications, IFA did their bit in sending the clips of the beautiful goal to FIFA for Puskas Award. The award, named after the iconic Hungarian Ferenc Puskás, honours the year’s most artistically important goal worldwide. Cristiano Ronaldo received it for his long ranger against Porto in the UEFA Champions League in 2009.
“We have been collecting the goals and allowing fans to watch on social media. The people appreciated it heavily, so we thought, why not send it for Puskas? We saw all the Puskas winning goals and then decided to send it to FIFA,” Anirban Dutta, Hon. Secretary of the Indian Football Association (IFA), told The Indian Express.
The goal bears a lot of resemblance to that of Alejandro Garnacho’s overhead kick goal against Everton in the Premier League on Sunday, Despite not being scored at the stage like that, Sarkar’s goal is also an absolute banger given the facilities and amenities available to him. With less than 10 minutes on the clock, Garnacho scored the spectacular overhead kick from a Diogo Dalot cross to beat Jordan Pickford.
It was a defining moment for Sarkar. All of his years of hard effort at the training fields had finally paid off. Sarkar began playing professional football as a teenager in his birthplace of Patuli (Kathaltala). Since then, he has often attempted to perform these acrobatic feats. Sarkar, a Zlatan Ibrahimovic enthusiast, learnt about this shot mostly by watching videos on YouTube and honing his abilities by watching lessons on the website.
