Ronald Koeman has hailed Gylfi Sigurdsson’s wonder strike against Hajduk Split as ‘just incredible.’
The Iceland midfielder was handed his full debut on against the Croatians in the second leg of the Blues’ Europa League qualifier on Thursday.
He and his new teammates found themselves a goal down in the first half after Josip Radosevic had fired superbly past Jordan Pickford.
That goal was award winning its own right but Sigurdsson soon blew it out of the water with a sensational long-range strike of his own just 16 seconds into the second half.
The goal levelled the scores and ensured his side progressed to the group stages of the competition with a 3-1 victory on aggregate.
And Koeman was keen to praise his latest recruit for his debut goal.
“I saw the goal, yes, but I don’t think everyone on the bench did!” he told the club’s official website.
“It was just incredible. I don’t have any other word for it. You need to be really clever to see that possibility and, even after two or three weeks of the season, maybe it is the goal of the season.
“It was really important to be level so quickly in the second half.
“I haven’t seen him yet as he was doing interviews straight after the final whistle but when I do see him, I’ll tell him it wasn’t a bad goal.”