Paul Scholes With Possibly the Best Handball Ever

By: Daryl | August 30th, 2008

It didn’t count, and it got him sent off for a second bookable offence. But Paul Schol’s handball in the dying moments of Man Utd’s 2-1 defeat to Zenit St Petersburg was still a might impressive effort.

First of all it’s bravely blatant. None of that sneaky stuff favoured by Diego Maradone, just a full on swipe at the ball. Second, look at the direction on that thing. It arcs perfectly up, down and into the side netting, giving the keeper no chance. Downside is that Scholes now misses the Champions league game against Villarreal.

Oddly intriguing as Scholes’ effort was, there were three other goals in this game that actually counted. They looked like this:

First is a brave header from Pavel Pogrebnyak. The sort of header my dad loves to say reminds him of when Andy Gray played because “he’d put his head where you wouldn’t put your feet.” (Never sure if the “you” in that sentence is a general “you” - ie everyone - or the specific “you” - ie me). Either way, good goal.

But not as good as the second. The scorer is Danny Alves, still the most expensive signing in the world this summer at €30m. And he looked worth every penny (or euro-cent) as he made fools of Utd’s defence to score the second.

Nemanja Vidic pulled one back in the 73rd minute, causing a late Man Utd resurgence that culminated in Scholes one-upping Maradona (or at least he would have one-upped El Diego had he gotten away with it.)

Interestingly, Zenit left wantaway Andrei Arshavin on the bench until halftime, and didn’t really seem to miss him. Which is sort of good news for Man Utd because an Arshavin move to Spurs would make Dimitar Berbatov that bit more available, and Utd really looked like they could have used the Bulgarian last night.

	Soccer Forums	Team/International Results

Category: Europe

Tags: Andrei Arshavin, Danny Alves, Dimitar Berbatov, Europe, handball, Man Utd, Nemanja Vidic, Paul Scholes, Pavel Pogrebnyak, UEFA Super Cup, Zenit St. Petersburg

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Comments  

• Rob |  August 30th, 2008 at 4:21 am

  
  
  

  The best thing was Sir Alex face when he realised that the suspension would carry over to the CL.

  But yeah an oddly brilliant finish, he gave the keeper no chance. Was a bit desperate though.

  Posted from

  

• j |  August 30th, 2008 at 4:28 am

  
  
  

  He was lucky he wasn’t just shown the straight red. No idea what he was thinking because it was so blatant. However good result, although I would liked to have seen Zenit connect on a few more and really give Man Utd a match to remember.

  Posted from Germany

  

• kirby |  August 30th, 2008 at 5:28 am

  
  
  

  LOL I LOVE O’ SHEA’S RUN OVER TO CELEBRATE! lol…he seemed clueless to whats going on.

  Posted from

  

• Nick |  August 30th, 2008 at 7:32 am

  
  
  

  haha this is birlliant - my new “favorite goal that never was”.

  Posted from United States

  

• Dave |  August 30th, 2008 at 8:29 am

  
  
  

  What a moron, that Scholes.

  Posted from France

  

• Johnny |  August 30th, 2008 at 8:34 am

  
  
  

  That spike was executed with enough grace to make Sinjin Smith applaud.

  Posted from

  

• Ann |  August 30th, 2008 at 9:48 am

  
  
  

  Dumbass Scholes! This shows how Man U is just a wreck without Cristiano Ronaldo!

  Posted from

  

• mele419 |  August 30th, 2008 at 9:50 am

  
  
  

  Speaking of UTD, anyone know why the game vs. Fulham was postponed today?

  Posted from United States

  

• Tommy Wong |  August 30th, 2008 at 9:52 am

  
  
  

  So that they would be able to play Zenit yesterday.

  Posted from United States

  

• Johonna |  August 30th, 2008 at 10:59 am

  
  
  

  I think he watched too much beach vollyball during the Olympics.

  Posted from United States

  

• alessio |  August 30th, 2008 at 11:40 am

  
  
  

  Shoulda been a straight red….

  Posted from United States

  

• elle |  August 30th, 2008 at 3:25 pm

  
  
  

  i love Scholes, that was ballsy, albeit a little too blatant

  Posted from

  

• Hana |  August 30th, 2008 at 6:15 pm

  
  
  

  Ace! Nice. Very Kerri Walsh like.

  Posted from

  

• Sam |  August 31st, 2008 at 5:56 am

  
  
  

  Thank you for the videos, Daryl.

  On that 2nd Zenit goal, Rio got diced — giving the inside lane with his back. Fundamental defender mistake.

  Rio out of England!

  Posted from

  

• Sam |  August 31st, 2008 at 5:58 am

  
  
  

  One of Scholesy’s better efforts.

  Posted from

  

• JohnnyDangerous |  September 1st, 2008 at 1:03 pm

  
  
  

  The worse thing was, if Scholes hadn’t handled the ball, Tevez and that Asian guy would’ve had a chance to possess the ball right in front of goal. The two Zenit defenders wasn’t gonna get to it no matter how high they leaped.

  Posted from Hong Kong

  

• Brad |  September 3rd, 2008 at 4:37 am

  
  
  

  That second goal looked like something that could be scored on FIFA 1998. That defending looked bad, the player just basically waltzed in there.

  I must say, I like Scholes after this. Too bad it affects Champions League play for Man Utd. I suppose it doesn’t matter too much for Scholes, it’s not like he’s only played in a few of them.

  Posted from United States

  

• paul scholes |  September 4th, 2008 at 4:19 am

  
  
  

  i am not happy that you said that goal was handball because it was clearly my ginger head i can prove it because the match ball was burnt

  Posted from

  

• Jon |  September 17th, 2008 at 7:37 am

  
  
  

  Scholes didn’t; well should never do that, I hope he is ashamed in himself.

  United can’t win it all and I am pleased to see such a young yet mature Zenit team prove so.

  Posted from United Kingdom

  

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