VAN PERSIE AT CHARLTON
"It was the goal of a lifetime. He's played for a long time and I'm not sure he's scored one like that. I feel the cross was fantastic from Emmanuel Eboue. Robin took the ball at full pace and full power and his technique and his movement was perfect. The ball looked like it would go over the bar so when it came down and in the corner it was unbelievable."
Arsene Wenger talks to BBC Sport about Robin van Persie’s incredible volley against Charlton in September 2006
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Robin van Persie scored some belting goals during his Arsenal tenure but it’s his scarcely believable volley at Charlton at the start of the 2006/07 campaign that’s the pick of the bunch.
The Dutchman had already cancelled out Darren Bent’s opener with a precise low drive when four minutes after the break he made his matchwinning contribution. Emmanuel Eboue would later earn praise for his contribution - a first time cross whipped to the edge of the box - but in truth, it basked in the reflected glory of his teammate’s finish.
It was pure instinct from Van Persie. Launching himself into the air like a fighter in a beat ‘em up readying a knockout blow, he almost seemed to levitate for a split second as the ball was drawn to his magnetic left foot. The connection, made several feet off the ground, was sweet and true. It was in the moment he struck it.
Writing in The Observer, Kevin Mitchell noted: “Van Persie, arriving like a man late for work, had two options: a speculative header or try the impossible by bringing the ball under control with a shoulder-high volley from short range. He went for the impossible. Scott Carson had no chance.”
The striker knew he’d produced something special and celebrated wildly. Wheeling towards the Arsenal fans behind the goal, he climbed a couple of steps behind the advertising hoardings and stood with his arms outstretched, beckoning them towards him. In a split second, he seemed to decide that probably wasn’t the best idea. Already on a booking, he knew he was at risk of a second yellow and stepped back to the pitch where he was mobbed by Thierry Henry and Cesc Fabregas.
"If you just look at the goal itself, it was my best goal ever,” he told Arsenal.com a couple of years later.
“I don't really think that I will score something similar in my life again. Maybe on the beach somewhere, or a nice swimming pool, I'll hit it as nice, but not on a football pitch."
While Van Persie’s effort was crowned goal of the month by viewers of BBC’s Match of the Day, he missed out to a Wayne Rooney strike for the end of season award. He would have to wait six years to earn that honour. Unfortunately, by that point, he was wearing Manchester United colours.
