Pablo Fornals has notched 37 career goals across the Premier League, UEFA Europa and Europa Conference Leagues, FA and EFL Cups and La Liga – but surely none have matched the spectacular scorpion kick which sealed West Ham United’s 4-0 victory at AFC Bournemouth on Sunday.
The Spain midfielder has had to be patient this season as he has awaited his chances to play a part in the Hammers’ dual aims of achieving Premier League safety and lifting European silverware.
That patience was rewarded and then some at Vitality Stadium as he entered the pitch with his team already showing a swagger at 3-0 up – and then added to it in unforgettable style.
Fornals twisted his body with impressive athleticism to stretch back and reach Jarrod Bowen’s cross with a flicked heel to 'Scorpion kick' the ball past a stunned Neto in the home goal and complete a welcome rout at Vitality Stadium.
It was a remarkable goal fit to cap a memorable performance on the south coast and the No8 was only too happy to relive his strike with West Ham TV…
It was a beautiful moment!
When you have a chance like that, you just need a bit of luck – the ball bounced, the 'keeper took a step to the other side and it went in. Everything was good in that moment, so thank God for that.
Not having so many minutes, I’m trying to improve my finishing, so I was really happy and really lucky to score that beautiful goal.
It is not easy to win 4-0 away from home in the Premier League.
Before the game, they were ahead of us in the table and they’re doing pretty well at home, so everybody did a great job.
As Dec [Rice] said in an interview just now, we never scored in the first 15 minutes of a Premier League game this season before today, and now we scored twice.
After that we had the players to control the game and it was a pleasure to watch the lads today.
We are all determined to do well for West Ham.
This season we brought a lot of new faces in, but still most of the lads have been here for a long time.
I’ve been with most of them for four seasons, and everybody is committed with this team. We came from fighting every year against relegation to being one of the names to [take note of] in the Premier League.
As I’ve said a few times, when you smell that European cake you always want to taste it.
I try to be ready for every single game, for the minutes that the Gaffer or the team needs me.
That’s all I can do. We’ve got a lot to play for this season and nothing is how it started, it’s about how it finishes.
We have a lot of things to fight for – everyone is committed and ready for that challenge and it could be a really nice season for everyone at West Ham if we can achieve all these things.
