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Cape Town - Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo was hailed by fans as the best-ever aerial threat after scoring an incredible header in a 2-1 away win over Sampdoria at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris on Wednesday night.
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner leapt 71 centimetres off the ground to meet a cross at an incredible 2.56 metres, with a hang-time of 1.5 seconds to score a decisive header in the 45th minute to send Juventus to the top of the Serie A table.
The 34-year-old is showing no signs of slowing down and has now scored six goals in Juve's last five games to take his tally to 10 in 14 Serie A appearances.
In comparison in Michael Jordan's legendary "free-throw dunk", Jordan had a hang time of 0.92 seconds.
Juventus coach, Maurizio Sarri was left stunned by the goal and had to use expletives to describe Ronaldo's winner in a post-match interview.
"What did I think when I saw Ronaldo's goal? I thought, "F***, what a goal!". "I say, "F***" because if I said, "Damn" it wouldn't be fair towards the goal.", Sarri said. I think the amount of time he spent in the air before the header was incredibly long. A wonderful, physical and technical action."
Sampdoria coach Claudio Ranieri said: "Ronaldo did something that you see in the NBA (National Basketball Association), he was up in the air for an hour and a half!
"There's nothing you can say about it, you can only congratulate him and move on."
???????????????????????????? @Cristiano pic.twitter.com/ygRDBTINRx
— Sports PR Company (@SportsPRCompany) December 18, 2019
???? This picture of Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal against Sampodria tonight is absolutely insane. 2.56m in the air when he connected with the header (8ft 5 in the air). This man is a freak athlete.
— FutbolBible (@FutbolBible) December 18, 2019
Air Cristiano. ?? pic.twitter.com/YBs6R8gdm9
Ronaldo has just scored a far post header where his feet were higher than the crossbar....it’s only a slight exaggeration. Ridiculous leap.
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) December 18, 2019
Cristiano Ronaldo scored an extremely superb header. The take-off height was 71 cm, and his head was 2.56 meters above the ground when he shot. In the air, Ronaldo has a stagnation time of up to 1.5 seconds. This is Ronaldo, 34-year-old, completely convinced.#Ronaldo #Juventus pic.twitter.com/KaPfOwFVMA
— Soccerdealshop (@soccerdealshop) December 19, 2019
I have never seen such header before?? Cristiano Ronaldo didn't just jump... He jumped and stayed there for hours
— WHAYASAY™ (@iamwillsteel) December 18, 2019
.. Whattt??? pic.twitter.com/x73cLTW6WU
Incredible athlete. Best header I've ever seen live was Ronaldo against AS Roma in the Stadio Olimpico. This is just as astonishing https://t.co/XWDwtCgu7v
— Oliver Holt (@OllieHolt22) December 18, 2019
That Ronaldo goal reminded me of Pele’s iconic header against Italy in 1970 World Cup final which prompted Nereo Rocco’s famous quote “Mi no credevo che un omo podessi far questo” which translated to English from dialetto triestino means “I didn’t think a man could do that”
— David Amoyal (@DavidAmoyal) December 18, 2019
