Opponents knew who Zola was when he signed in November 1996, but trying to play against him was a very different matter
By
Chris Evans for The Set Pieces
David James was not the first goalkeeper to feel this way. Picking himself up from the Stamford Bridge turf, he looked around to see the ball nestled in the net behind him. Moments earlier, there did not appear to be any imminent danger of conceding. There was a forest of players between the
Liverpool goalkeeper and the ball as Gianfranco Zola rolled it out of his feet 25 yards out. It was the Italian’s second touch that was so devastating, a sweep of his left foot that managed to swerve the ball past the crowd in front of him and beyond an outstretched James.
“It was just a freaky goal because at the time I thought, ‘how’s it gone in?’,” says James of Zola’s goal in the FA Cup tie between
Chelsea and Liverpool in early 1997. “It wasn’t until watching it on replays that I saw I couldn’t have done anything about it because I’m diving in the right place for where the shot started. But by the time it goes in the back of the net, I’m already 100% committed.”