Football fans from all over the world were fawning at a sumptuous moment of skill from former Bayern Munich winger Xherdan Shaqiri in Stoke's thrilling 4-3 win away to Everton last week, and many were surprised to see a debate emerge over whether or not the chip was deliberate.
Some, including both Alan Shearer and Ian Wright in the MOTD studio, argued that the Swiss international known as 'The Powercube' during his time in Germany may have been looking to pick out Marko Arnautovic with a first time pass, rather than deliberately attempting to lob the keeper, and they even took some stick on social media for their view.
But it turns out that they were right. Shaqiri was trying to pick out his teammate, but instead sliced the ball majestically over Tim Howard's head and into the top corner. This is according to Charlie Adam, who knows a thing or two about goal of the season contenders after he scored from a different time-zone against Chelsea last season, as he revealed that Shaqiri told him outright that it was a pass:
No, no way he meant it, I asked him after the game and he said he was trying to cross it for Marko in the middle and it was lucky.
It looks a great finish but I'm delighted for him because over the last few weeks he's been playing well but just needing the goals and he got two there at the weekend.
Damn.
That is a shame, and will certainly hinder Shaqiri's chances of claiming goal of the season no doubt, but there is of course the chance that Adam may be taking the piss here.
You'd have to imagine that nobody would try to take away from a teammate's moment of magic, so for now we'll have to accept that it was most likely a mishit pass, and just hope that Neymar's sublime moment of skill, that also divided opinion over it's deliberateness, turned out as intended.
via DailyMail.co.uk
