Anthony Elanga wowed fans and pundits alike with his remarkable goal for Nottingham Forest against his former club Manchester United on Tuesday night. The 22-year-old picked the ball up midway inside the Forest half before driving with pace and power towards Andre Onana’s goal.
Alejandro Garnacho was effortlessly brushed aside by the Sweden international, who soon found himself on the edge of the box. Given time to pick his spot, Elanga coolly stroked the ball into the bottom corner of the net past Onana.
Although it was scored on the first day of the month, there’s every chance that Elanga’s brilliant solo effort will win April’s Goal of the Month competition. It was a moment of individual brilliance from a player who has shown that Man Utd potentially made a big mistake selling him to Forest for £15 million.
Asked if it was frustrating to see Elanga perform so well against his former employers, United boss Ruben Amorim was emphatic with his response, telling reporters: "No. They have to perform at Manchester United. We cannot look at the players that go away, they had their chance. You have to look at the players inside United, not outside. I'm focused on my team and improving my team."
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Elanga's Potential 100m Time Calculated
How the Forest star's sprint compares to Usain Bolt's world record time
Anthony Elanga sprint vs Manchester United
However, United fans could be forgiven for wondering why their club failed to keep hold of a talented young player who clearly possesses many top attributes - including blistering pace. TNT Sports, who broadcast the match at the City Ground, calculated that Elanga ran 85 metres in just nine seconds.
That’s even more impressive when you consider Forest’s No. 21 was running with the ball. But how does that compare to Olympic legend Usain Bolt’s world record time?
Sky Sports crunched the numbers and calculated that Bolt, one of the top five greatest athletes of all time, ran 85 metres in a mind-blowing 8.1 seconds. While Elanga doesn’t look far off that time, on the face of it, 0.9 seconds is a significant gap in the sprinting world.
Bolt’s world record 100m time of 9.58 seconds, recorded back in 2009, wouldn’t have been remotely in danger from Elanga’s time of 10.63 seconds - but that’s still an insanely quick 100m sprint time, considering he was playing in his football kit, with the ball at his feet, and had several opponents chasing him down.
We’d love to see how fast Elanga could run 100m on a sprint track. One thing’s for sure, the livewire winger is clearly one of the fastest players in the Premier League right now.
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