You’ll always hear that it’s one of the most difficult techniques in football.
A ball coming over your shoulder, begging to be hit on the volley and sometimes it hits the back of the net but, more often than not, it’s blazed over the bar.
There’s no denying that Romelu Lukaku is a talented centre-forward but he seemingly hasn’t quite mastered that particular skill as he side-footed an inch-perfect diagonal from Alexis Sanchez into the stands at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium on Wednesday night.
Manchester United played out a 0-0 draw in their Champions League round of 16 first leg clash against Sevilla but they weren’t without opportunities.
It turns out Lukaku isn't as good as Van Persie… #SEVMUN #UCL pic.twitter.com/nfk2x1NaXv
— Robert Redmond (@RobRedmond10) February 21, 2018
It was a frustrating 90 minutes for Lukaku up front, plenty of which he’s already experienced since making his £75 million move from Everton last summer.
The first-half chance made the United supporters watching from home hark back at the days when Robin van Persie was hammering home such efforts for the Red Devils.
The Dutchman won the Premier League in his first season at Old Trafford and secured the title with a first-half hat-trick against Aston Villa in 2013.
RVP’s second of the afternoon came via an almost identical chance to the one Lukaku blasted high on Wednesday.
Van Persie perfectly judged a Wayne Rooney pass and hammered the ball into the Villa net with a strike that was regarded by Sir Alex Ferguson as “the goal of the century for me.”
Having mastered the art of the volley, Van Persie scored some belters in his time but he considers his second against Villa that day as the greatest of his career.
“Maybe if you look at the day, the occasion and the importance of the goal it was my best one,” Van Persie said. “It was a great pass from Wayne for a start. He had to spot my run because I went in front of Ron Vlaar. It was straight into my path. The only thing I had to do was time it right and keep my body straight, level with the ball.”
And if he needed to be reminded of the quality of the hit from five years ago, he just has to take one look at his Twitter mentions on Wednesday evening…
@Persie_Official would have buried that lukaku! #SEVMUN
— Subhayu Sen (@thesen2002) February 21, 2018
@Persie_Official wudve burried this in the net! I know, lukaku is no rvp! #JustSayin #SEVMAN #ChampionsLeague
— King Yas (@YasRulz) February 21, 2018
Only if it was RVP! @Persie_Official #SEVMUN #MUFC
— Navid Kazem (@Navid_Kazem) February 21, 2018
Seeing lukaku sky a left foot volley makes me miss @Persie_Official even more . 😭
— Faizal Lunat (@fez638) February 21, 2018
that pass by Sanchez had @Persie_Official written all over.. i miss Rvp #MUFC #SEVMUN
— j. (@jnRjoeY) February 21, 2018
Exactly…. How I wish that was @Persie_Official he would have scored
— faizan ullah (@faizan_191) February 21, 2018
Appreciation tweet @Persie_Official….that lukaku chance of the sanchez ball goes in the back of the net if it was RVP….miss you man #ucl #mufc #sevmun
— Ginninder Singh (@GinninderSingh) February 21, 2018
#SEVMUN @Persie_Official I wish it’d have been you in place of #Lukaku for that #Sanchez pass
How about it? 🙏🏻🙌🏻😅@ChampionsLeague @amrkharbe
— Romano (@RRNR_0) February 21, 2018
https://twitter.com/RedDevil09/status/966404762265518080
I miss @Persie_Official
— Mister Ibrah (@ChukyIbrah) February 21, 2018
