Rising Tottenham Hotspur star Dele Alli has told FourFourTwo that his wonder-strike at Crystal Palace came naturally to him.
It was just natural instinct to flick it over and finish it off. Thankfully I caught it cleanly and it went in
The 19-year-old, who has scored seven goals in 26 league appearances since arriving from MK Dons for £5 million last summer, underlined his status as one of the Premier League’s breakthrough talents with a stunning individual finish at Selhurst Park at the end of January.
With Mauricio Pochettino’s side tied at 1-1 with the south Londoners, Alli received Christian Eriksen’s knock-down, nonchalantly flicked the ball over both his and Mile Jedinak’s head and smashed the ball home from 20 yards to keep the Lilywhites’ hopes of securing a first top-flight title since 1960/61 alive.
Speaking exclusively to FourFourTwo about his his top three goals in 2015/16, the youngster said: “That was all just natural instinct. We were looking for the win and pushing on them [Palace], and it was just natural instinct to flick it over and finish it off. Thankfully I caught it cleanly and it went in.”
Watch Dele Alli describe his goal at Goodison Park against Everton and maiden England strike at Wembley in the video below, and read the exclusive interview with Alli in the April 2016 issue of FourFourTwo magazine, available now.
Want to watch more exclusive interviews with Alli, plus our other April 2016 cover stars Dimitri Payet, Riyad Mahrez and Hector Bellerin? Of course you do! Subscribe to FourFourTwo’s YouTube channel to see them all, and get stuck into our library of Performance videos on how to train, think and play like a pro.
Gregg Davies is the Chief Sub Editor of FourFourTwo magazine, joining the team in January 2008 and spending seven years working on the website. He supports non-league behemoths Hereford and commentates on Bulls matches for Radio Hereford FC. His passions include chocolate hobnobs and attempting to shoehorn Ronnie Radford into any office conversation.
