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Sports

Shaqiri Scores a Bicycle Kick Made of Wonderment and Dreams and Magic

Shaqiri pinged the ball neatly off the post and billowed the net. Just gorgeous.

Winger Xherdan Shaqiri can be a point of frustration—both on the professional stage, for Stoke City, and the international one, for Switzerland. Huge droughts punctuated by simply fantastical goals. (Why can't he score those all the time?) But he isn't called "the Alpine Messi" for no reason. Today proved why.

In today's Euro 2016 Round of 16 match against Poland—a knockout, mind you—the Swiss Shaqiri found himself at the end of a bobbled ball right on the 18 yard box, when he launched his tiny form aerially to create one of the most deadly-accurate bicycle kicks you've seen in a while. Most bicycle kicks feel lucky to be going in the cardinal direction of the goal. Shaqiri's, on the other hand, pinged neatly off the post and billowed the net. Gorgeous.