Marcus Edwards shows what Tottenham and the Premier League missed out on

“If that had been done by some other player, we would have been talking about it for a very long time,” Sporting CP goalkeeper Antonio Adan said. They were were talking about it for quite a while anyway.

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“Magic,” Record newspaper said. “Artistic,” O Jogo went for. “Transcendent,” A Bola called it, the moment when 39,899 people got to their feet, unable to believe what they had just seen but really very glad they did: a Maradona in their midst. The kind of moment that unfolds, those watching becoming witnesses, drawn towards it, destined to always talk of it. Each part more absurd, building on the last: He didn’t?! He hasn’t?! He couldn’t, could he?

In the end, he couldn’t. Not score, at least. Which, somehow, might even have made it better. Alright, not better exactly but you get the point. If it was art, by not ending in a goal it became art for its own sake. And suddenly everyone was talking about it. Transcendent maybe really is the word; it transcended this place and transcended the game, this goal that wasn’t. Those inside the place felt it; you’ve probably seen it by now. When Marcus Edwards, the kid they used to call Mini Messi, was Maradonian.

There had been a roar when, during Sporting’s meeting with Tottenham Hotspur this week, Edwards produced a sharp spin and fast feet. But this was different. This was more like an oh, an ah and what the heck, breath held, supporters left mouths open and standing to deliver an ovation.

“You see him there and you think ‘he can’t get out of there’ and he gets out,” one report ran. “You see him run for the ball and think ‘he can’t reach that,’ and he reaches it.”

– O’Hanlon: Ranking the Champions League field from 32 to 1 (E+)

Edwards picked the ball up in the middle of the pitch, turned and beat Eric Dier, not once but twice, going past him to one side and coming back past him the other, beyond Ivan Perisic too, hips swinging. He…