The Gentleman Ultra remembers six forgotten Serie A goals from the 2010s.
Not regarded by many as a golden age for Italian football, this was an era dominated by Juventus, who lifted eight consecutive championship titles.
While globally, football was being defined by the diminutive genius of Lionel Messi and the all-conquering Spanish giants FC Barcelona.
In Serie A, however, there was no shortage of outstanding goals, as this eclectic selection from our staff writers demonstrates.
#1 Iturbe (Bologna v Verona, 2013)
This one is all about blistering pace. Iturbe picks up the ball on the halfway line and from that moment on there’s only ever one place he’s going.
Juan Manuel Iturbe Arévalo, an unknown Argentinian, arrived in Verona in the summer of 2013, after a handful of appearances for Porto reserves and an impressive loan spell at Argentinian giants River Plate. Hellas, after a long spell in the footballing wilderness, were a club on the ascendency, with Luca Toni enjoying an improbable Indian summer.
Already at full tilt, from the halfway line, Iturbe picks up a loose ball, side steps the imposing bulk of Luca Toni who blocks his path to goal, skins Danish centre back Frederik Sørensen, and lets-fly from 25 yards, leaving Gianluca Curci sprawling to his near post.
The game finished 1-4 in Verona’s favour, the first Hellas victory in Emilia in 35 years, and saw them move up to a dizzying fifth place in the standings. At the end of an impressive season, Iturbe earned a massive €22 million move to Roma, but that forgotten goal against Bologna was arguably the high point of his entire career!
#2 Eder (SAMPDORIA V Napoli, 2015)
It takes something special to embarrass two international defenders.
Underrated Brazilian-born forward Eder left Raul Albiol flat on his backside and Kalidou Koulibaly beating the turf with his fists in frustration as he snatched a point with a classy equaliser for Sampdoria at Napoli.
The controversial Oriundi was selected for Italy in 2015 – much to the ire of Roberto Mancini who bemoaned that only Italian born players should represent the Azzurri – after a series of impressive displays for the Blucerchiati.
Eder scored the best of his 12 Samp goals in the 2015-2016 season (before a switch to Inter in January 2016) in the second round of fixtures.
Roberto Soriano bolted down the left and played the perfect through ball for the attacker. He deftly evaded Koulibaly, sent Albiol sprawling to the turf with a razor-sharp turn and coolheadedly placed the ball beyond Pepe Reina in the Napoli goal.
#3 Josip Ilicic (Sampdoria v PALERMO, 2013)
In the conjuror’s box of magic wand-like left feet there were few who could transfix an audience like the skilful Slovenian. A man of many highs and lows, this was one of his most magnificent moments. Picking up the ball from the halfway line, he sets off on a mazy dribble and simply never stops.
Leaving the Sampdoria defence looking like they were standing on quicksand, he feints a shot before finishing – a collector’s item – with his right. It would not be enough to help Palermo avoid relegation, but it confirmed his growing reputation as a top-class performer.
A move to Fiorentina had mixed results but later, with Atalanta, he produced more dashes of brilliance that lit up matches in Bergamo and beyond.
#4 Matteo Politano (Inter v SASSUOLO, 2018)
Marcelo Brozović didn’t invent the draught-excluder. But he probably did most to popularize it with his sliding intervention on a Luis Suarez free kick in 2018. Claiming responsibility for the absurd-yet-effective tactic was Matteo Politano, the Croatian’s newfound Inter teammate. Just five months previously, Politano had slid the ball under a defensive wall featuring the Inter captain in a 2-1 win for Sassuolo at San Siro.
The origins of the under-the-wall free kick are unclear (even a 42-year-old Pelé scored one), but by the 2010s the trick had been gaining in popularity thanks to gallus proponents such as Ronaldinho, Messi, Riccardo Saponara and Andrea Pirlo, whose recurrent execution of the free-kick had led the style to be known in Italy as alla Pirlo.
While Sassuolo’s penultimate-day win at the La Scala of Calcio (one of many) turned out to be of little consequence, the spoilsport coccodrillo that it spawned has stuck around to thwart a whole generation of would-be wall-tunnellers.
#5 Massimo Gobbi (Palermo v PARMA, 2013)
A rehearsed set-piece goal can be a beautiful thing. When it goes wrong it looks terrible but when it comes off it can be genius. As far as pre-planned free-kick goals go, Massimo Gobbi’s strike for Parma in 2013 is one of the best.
The game was goalless when Jaime Andres stood over the ball for a Parma free-kick 30-yards from goal. As the Parma offence shifted towards the front post, Alessandro Lucarelli made a late move to the back. Lucarelli’s run was a decoy, pulling the Palermo defence towards their own goal as Andres clipped the ball to the egde of the box.
Gobbi strode on to the pass as it dropped and unleashed a thunderous strike high into the net beyond a helpless Francesco Benussi. The goal was one of only four scored by the one time-capped Italy international left-back in over 150 matches for Parma.
#6 Pablo Daniel Osvaldo (ROMA v Catania, 2012)
It was no surprise to many when Pablo Daniel Osvaldo retired from football to concentrate on a music career. When football was his focus, Osvaldo played like a rock ‘n’ roll star – spectacular goals were usually followed by epic tantrums.
Perhaps Osvaldo’s finest goal in Serie A came for Roma against Catania in August 2012. Receiving the ball 30 yards from goal, Daniele De Rossi lifted a pin-point pass over the Catania defence. Osvaldo met the ball as it began its descent and crashed a spectacular overhead kick volley past the Catania ‘keeper and into the net.
Less than a year previously, Osvaldo had an even better overhead kick goal incorrectly ruled out for Roma against Lecce.
Osvaldo left Roma for Southampton in 2013 but was soon loaned out to Juventus. Spells at Inter Milan, Boca Juniors, and Porto followed before the lure of the microphone became too much for the Captain Jack Sparrow look-a-like.