It was quite the eventful afternoon for Erik Lamela at the Emirates Stadium yesterday. The Argentine opened the scoring for Tottenham Hotspur against Arsenal in the latest edition of the North London derby with an incredible piece of skill that stunned his teammates and the opposition alike, but undid his own good work by getting himself sent off later in the game.
Lamela sent Spurs into the lead when he was fed the ball into the box by Lucas Moura after a swift diagonal to the left flank. The Argentine’s rabona kick crept past Bernd Leno at the far post in what could go down as one of the best goals ever scored in the historical fixture.
But goals from Martin Odegaard and Alexandre Lacazette meant that Arsenal had turned the tie around on its head, and Lamela undid his own good work in the last quarter of the game when he threw a trailing arm at Kieran Tierney while trying to shield the ball from the Scottish fullback.
Michael Oliver blew his whistle to stop play as Lamela knew what was coming – the Argentine was sent off for a second bookable offence after walking a tightrope for nearly the entirety of his time on the pitch.
The football fraternity on Twitter responded to witnessing the full Lamela experience last night, as the Argentine’s night went full circle – after being subbed on for Son Heung-min, he registered his name on the score sheet in extraordinary fashion, and then got himself sent off for the silliest of offences that one could receive a red card for.
Erik Lamela’s career at Spurs has had quite a few moments where it seemed like the very talented Argentine will carve a niche for himself at the club, but his inconsistency and erratic nature has ensured that he never really got going.
Now in his seventh season at the North London outfit, Lamela has barely fulfilled the potential that he was always destined to fulfil someday – moments of madness have always followed any such moment of incredible inspiration from the Argentine – as can be seen from last night’s game.
Check out the choicest reactions to Lamela’s performance below –
The full Erik Lamela experience
55 minutes of pure, unfiltered Erik Lamela. In some ways that was his perfect game.
— Sam Tighe – Ranks FC Podcast (@stighefootball) March 14, 2021
Lamela rabona goal. Lamela silly red card. The full Lamela experience.
— Samuel Army (@BarstoolSam) March 14, 2021
This is the most Erik Lamela game that could have ever Lamela’d. Subbed on. Rabona nutmeg goal. Double yellows. My goodness. Could not WRITE it better.
— Aaron West (@oeste) March 14, 2021
This will always be remembered as the day Erik went full Lamela
— Hunter Godson (@HunterGodson) March 14, 2021
Lamela's done a Lamela hat trick: one rabona goal, two yellows. He's off.
— Cartilage Free Captain (@cartilagefree) March 14, 2021
The most eric lamela performance of all time
— Kees van Hemmen (@HemmenKees) March 14, 2021
Graphical representation of Lamela’s outing
Lamela ↔️ pic.twitter.com/6gnUjNsqba
— Emilio Sansolini (@EmilioSansolini) March 14, 2021
Lamela in the first half vs Lamela in the second half pic.twitter.com/JE6nx7NxHt
— ODDSbible (@ODDSbible) March 14, 2021
Outstanding goal but forever tainted
The biggest shame is Lamela goal won’t be remembered in a victory 😔
— TAS⚽️ (@coys100) March 14, 2021
That Lamela goal is now forever tainted by a defeat and a red card. No Spurs fan can ever post it without being reminded of that. Lovely stuff.
— Dan Critchlow (@afcDW) March 14, 2021
The Lamela goal goes into the Aubameyang vs Olympiacos folder of unbelievable goals that won’t get spoken about because of the context they were in
— James. (@afcjxmes) March 14, 2021
A performance so enigmatic it left Tottenham fans divided
Totnum fans arguing after Lamela red card 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/quhzDH0pF8
— Osman 🎗 (@OsmanZtheGooner) March 14, 2021
[…] was more drama to follow, as Lamela went from hero to zero in the same game after referee Michael Oliver sent him off for a second yellow card. As a […]