Memorable moments: Dimitri Payet and his beautiful rocket to the gallows!

A goal that went down in football history. Midfielder Dimitri Payet made this record in the quarter-finals of the 2021/22 Conference Europa League, when he hit the post with a shot in Olympique Marseille’s jersey to seal his team’s progress to the semi-finals over Greece’s PAOK.

Olympique Marseille took on PAOK in the quarter-finals of the 2021/22 edition of the Europa Conference League, with the French side playing the first leg of the double-header at home.

Marseille took the lead in the 13th minute. Brazilian Gerson opened the scoring when he sent Payet’s cross from the edge of the box into the left half of the net.

However, the fans at the Stade Vélodrome were able to celebrate again before the end of the first half. A corner kick in the 45th minute was taken by Cengiz Ünder, who directed his pass straight to Payet.

And he hit it really well. Payet sent it into the net to increase the home side’s lead to 2-0. You can see this great football moment in the video below.

It should be noted that Payet has always been one of the players who can launch a rocket from his kicks, which then ends up in the net. The goal from the first Conference League match between Marseille and PAOK has made him the hottest candidate to win the Puskás Award 2022 for the most beautiful goal of the year.

However, the now thirty-six-year-old Frenchman did not receive the award in the end. The trophy went to Poland’s Marcin Oleksy of Warta Poznan for the winning goal (1:0) against Rzeszów.

Let Payet take comfort in the fact that he scored the winning goal and, in fact, the promotion goal. The Greek team reduced the score to 1:2 shortly after the start of the second half, but that was all PAOK could do. In the return leg, Marseille won 1: 0, with Payet scoring again.

In the semi-final, however, Payet and co. were no match for Feyenoord. The team from Rotterdam first won 3:2 on their home ground, then drew 0:0 at the Stade Vélodrome. AS Rome dominated the first edition of the Conference Europa League, beating Feyenoord 1-0 in the final.

Sources: UEFA, Twitter