Konstantinos Mavropanos played another 45 minutes for the u23s on Monday, as he continues his comeback from injury, and he took advantage of the extra minutes to score a goal for the academy side.
Arsenal’s u23s took on West Ham United at Meadow Park on Monday, in ridiculously foggy conditions.
Initially, the referee made the decision to let the match go ahead, and the young gunners raced into a 3-0 lead before half-time. However, the fog only grew thicker as the half went on, and the officials had to make the decision to call off the match at the break.
Before that decision, with visibility at its worst, Mavropanos scored his first goal after injury. The Arsenal Academy Twitter account posted their footage of it, but it’s near impossible to even make out the scorer, let alone how he put it into the net:
What a finish this was from Dinos tonight! 😉
Was it a bicycle kick? An overhead? Or maybe even a scorpion? 🤔
Your guess is as good as ours 🤣 pic.twitter.com/upfDiegBSw
— Arsenal Academy (@ArsenalAcademy) February 4, 2019
Arsenal fans all chipped in with their accounts of what really happened:
Was there. Went past 4 players then rainbow flicked the keeper and overhead kicked it in.
— Hussain (@MHGooner95) February 5, 2019
He very clearly did a triple backflip bicycle kick.
— RobGR (@RobGRYouTube) February 4, 2019
Goal of the season
— Hamilton (@ArRsenalll) February 5, 2019
What a goal… flicked it up, did three head ups, balanced it on his neck and did a overhead kick while flicking his other foot doing a scorpion kick. Best goal you will ever see or not see
— Shannon Tudor (@shandog87) February 4, 2019
What a stunner! 😂
— Mika (@07Mickael) February 5, 2019
One photographer did manage to catch the goal on camera, just to prove Mavropanos really was the scorer:
Unfortunately, the match will probably now need to be replayed. Arsenal haven’t made any official comment on what will happen next, simply telling fans to “stay close to Arsenal.com and @ArsenalAcademy on Twitter for updates on this fixture”. It’s unlikely anything other than a replay will be the final decision though.
Nonetheless, it’s good Mavropanos got some more minutes under his belt. Hopefully, he’ll be ready for his first Premier League start of the season this weekend.