Harry Kane’s penalty in the final seconds of the 2-2 draw at Anfield not only grabbed Spurs a valuable point, but also sneaked him ahead of Mo Salah in the race for the Premier League golden boot.
With Aguero not too far behind on 17 goals, it seems it would be a tight 3-way battle till the end of the season if each of them remain fit. While Kane is facing serious competition for his golden boot, there have been top scorers in other seasons and other leagues who have had it much easier. As easy as finishing ahead of 2nd place while having a double-digit gap.
Henrikh Larsson, for example. In 2000-01, the Swedish striker scored 35 in the Scottish league, 18 clear of Aberdeen’s Norwegian striker Arild Stavrum.
The most accomplished player in this regard however is Mario Jardel. He was a lethal goal-scorer in the mid 90’s for Porto and scored 130 goals in 125 games. He finished top scorer in the Portuguese Primera Liga three times while with Porto and on two of those occasions, he had a 10 and 12 goal gap at the end of the season.
Jardel went on to out-do himself in season 2001/02 though. He smashed in 42 goals for Sporting Lisbon in 34 games. His total was double that of 2nd placed Derlei of União de Leiria. The 21 goal gap remains the record gap in any of Europe’s notable leagues.
It must be mentioned that Mario’s 42 goal haul was boosted by 16 penalties. That shouldn’t really detract from his record though because scoring penalties isn’t always the easiest of things. Just ask Kane who missed his first one vs Liverpool in the 2-2 draw. Or ask Liverpool’s Firmino who has hit two of his three penalties against the woodwork this season.
Concluding on penalties which hit the woodwork, do you know of the rule regarding scoring such rebounds? If a player takes a penalty during open play and it hits the goal-posts and bounces back, the penalty taker can not touch the ball until another player does so. If the penalty taker does contravene the rule by touching or putting the rebounded ball into the net, the goal is dis-allowed and an in-direct free-kick is awarded to the opposition.
Hence, the smart play from the player in the video below when confronted with this very scenario.
Oladimeji Sapoloso
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