Erik Lamela Photo: VCG

Erik Lamela began last weekend's North London derby on the bench and he ended it in the bath after being sent off but in between the Spurs schemer scored one of the all-time great English Premier League goals.

With a cross breaking in the penalty area, the Argentine adjusted his feet to shoot with his favored left foot - employing the rabona technique of kicking around the non-striking foot to send the ball through Thomas Partey's legs and past the despairing Bernd Leno in the Arsenal goal.

It left teammate Sergio Reguilon, who was behind Lamela when he scored, with his head in his hands and the commentary team on the BBC speechless.

"I can't believe what I've just witnessed. It's one of the goals of the season," former Crystal Palace and Republic of Ireland striker Clinto Morrison said. "It is a superb, top-quality finish. It is world-class!"

Similar praise came from former Arsenal player Freddie Ljungberg in his punditry role over on Sky Sports.

"The goal is insane. It's probably the best one I've ever seen, the technique, the power and keeping it down - he even gets a bit of curl on it to take it back in," Ljungberg said.

Former Spurs midfielder Jamie Redknapp was also in the Sky Sports studio. "That is one of the best goals ever in the Premier League," he said at halftime. "It is brilliant."

It is already being talked about as a possible Puskas Award winner, the trophy handed out to the best goal of the year by FIFA - and one that teammate Son Heung-min, the man Lamela replaced in the derby, currently holds.

That suggestion came from former Spurs defender Jan Vertonghen on Twitter, where Inter Milan striker Romelu Lukaku was among a number of footballers to praise the former Roma winger for his audacious finish.

"Sensational from Lamela," former Spurs striker Gary Lineker wrote on Twitter. "Truly wondrous."

Lineker then pointed out that Lamela has history with the technique, of which there is YouTube footage of a 7-year-old Lamela scoring with a rabona when at River Plate. Lineker was not even referring to that, though.

"The thing about the Lamela goal is, it's not even the best Rabona he's scored," he wrote in another tweet after the game.

Lineker was referring to Lamela's goal against Greek side Asteras Tripolis in the Europa League back in 2014, where he scored with a rabona from outside the area.

That's not even the only Europa League rabona scored by an Argentine winger.

Roma's Diego Perotti did just that against Victoria Plizen in 2014 - though he later admitted that his goal was meant to be a cross.

"The truth is that I tried to cross it," Perotti admitted afterward. "But it's good that it went in - for the team, because it killed off the game, and for me because until then I had only scored from penalties."

Fellow Argentine Jonathan Calleri scored one for Boca Juniors against Quilmes, with Diego Maradona watching on as Carlos Tevez returned to the club. They won 2-1 thanks to Calleri's goal. 

Lamela's international teammates Angel di Maria and Marcos Rojo are also famous exponents of the rabona, though the defender has yet to score with one, and it is fitting that the Argentina players favor the technique.

"Though it's difficult to identify exactly who used this trick first, it is believed that the first "rabona" was performed by Ricardo Infante in a game between Estudiantes and Rosario in 1948," Bleacher Report wrote in 2013.

"The term 'rabona' came about because an Argentinean football magazine, El Grafico, displayed a picture of Infante performing the trick with the caption 'Infante played hooky' - 'rabona' in Spanish meaning to play hooky or to skip school."

Other possible reasons for the name suggest that the name comes from the Spanish word for tail ("rabo") as the move resembles the swish of a cow's tail, while it is known as a "kettle" or "letter" in Brazil.

Popularized in the 1970s by Italian footballer Giovanni "Cocò" Roccotelli, the rabona was better known as the  incrociata or "crossed-kick." He is now known as "il padre della rabona" - the father of the rabona.

Whatever it is called the technique can be seen the world over.

Eran Zahavi scored one for Guangzhou R&F in the Chinese Super League in 2019. The Israeli international and CSL golden boot winner bagged a 2-1 winner over Tianjin Teda in injury time with a rabona that went viral on social media.

Colombian striker Carlos Bacca scored a rabona in 2016 when he netted for AC Milan in the Coppa Italia against lowly Carpi. Bacca needlessly tapped into an empty net with a rabona after going around the goalkeeper.

It is a technique more often seen in training, as we saw when Real ­Madrid's goal on returning from injury in December. With cameras at the club's training ground that went viral on social media too.

That happened with Wigan Athletic youth teamer Thelo Asgaard in 2017. He scored a rabona from outside the area in a game against local rivals Blackburn Rovers and the under-15s star got his 15 minutes of fame.

In October West Australian women's footballer Katarina Jukic went viral for her goal in the WA NPL for Murdoch University Melville FC.

 "I'm buzzing. Obviously I was lucky that their keeper was off the line. And as soon as it went in, I knew it was a worldie," she told FTBL.

"I was stoked. Probably one of the best feelings I've had in my soccer career. To have the whole world see it and not just local fans is amazing." 

"I scored one earlier this season against Subiaco," she said. "But the game at 7-0 was over, while this one was when we were 1-0 down to Fremantle.

"I checked my phone after the game. I've got heaps of messages."