{"id":245561,"date":"2025-11-05T15:59:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T15:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/245561\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T15:59:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T15:59:15","slug":"micky-van-de-vens-record-breaking-strike-and-the-longest-runs-for-a-champions-league-goal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/245561\/","title":{"rendered":"Micky van de Ven\u2019s Record-Breaking Strike and the Longest Runs For a Champions League Goal"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nMicky van de Ven<\/a> ran the length of the pitch to score one of
\nthe great Champions League goals this week, but where does it rank
\namong the competition\u2019s longest such runs?<\/p>\n

On Tuesday night at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, something
\nextraordinary happened.<\/p>\n

No, we\u2019re not just talking about Tottenham<\/a>
\nwinning a match at home, although they did record their biggest
\nmargin of victory under Thomas Frank, scored all four goals in open
\nplay and did so despite the fact they\u2019d had a man sent off
\nwith the score at 2-0 and more than a third of the game
\nremaining.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a game we completely controlled from minute one,\u201d Frank
\nsaid afterwards, which isn\u2019t something he has been able to say very
\nmuch at his new club.<\/p>\n

But Spurs doubling their lead with 10 men to win a Champions
\nLeague<\/a> encounter with FC Copenhagen 4-0 on home soil, where
\nthey have struggled for good results and performances of late,
\nwasn\u2019t the most remarkable element of this game.<\/p>\n

Instead, it was a single moment when the clock read 63:38. Spurs
\nwere two goals to the good but a man down, and Copenhagen were
\nlooking for a way back into the game. Jo\u00e3o
\nPalhinha<\/a> nudged former Southampton forward Mohamed Elyounoussi
\noff the ball and laid it off a single yard to centre-back Micky van
\nde Ven on the edge of his own penalty area.<\/p>\n

Everything about the game at that point screamed for Van de Ven
\nto play it safe. His team had a two-goal lead that could easily be
\nmade to feel quite brittle given they were also a man down, and
\nSpurs needed to prioritise protecting their lead. A simple pass to
\nleft-back Destiny
\nUdogie<\/a> (top right of the below image) was very much on.<\/p>\n

\"Micky<\/p>\n

But Van de Ven got his head down and charged forward, fully
\nconfident in his ability to run his way out of trouble. He recorded
\nthe highest top speed of any player in the Premier League last
\nseason (37.1 km\/h), and he is also pretty strong. Once he gets
\ngoing, he can be difficult to stop, as Copenhagen would soon find
\nout.<\/p>\n

A few seconds later, he was well clear of danger, but he was
\nsurrounded by five opponents and he had only one teammate \u2013 striker
\n
\nRandal Kolo Muani<\/a> \u2013 ahead of him.<\/p>\n

\"Micky<\/p>\n

Then, with a quick shift of his feet, he skipped past the one
\nremaining obstacle between him and the Copenhagen goalkeeper, and
\nhe was away.<\/p>\n

\"Micky<\/p>\n

By this point, the crowd had realised a goal was possible.
\nEveryone was on their feet, and Van de Ven still had half the pitch
\nto run into.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to note the role of Kolo Muani, who didn\u2019t even
\nget close to touching the ball at any point, but without him, the
\ngoal may well not have happened.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because Copenhagen centre-back Pantelis Hatzidiakos
\nwasn\u2019t able to engage Van de Ven as he would have left Kolo Muani a
\nclear run at goal. Udogie (top left of the below image), meanwhile,
\nhad his hands on his head in disbelief at what he was
\nwitnessing.<\/p>\n

\"Micky<\/p>\n

Hatzidiakos may have known about what Van de Ven has done
\nbefore, so he could have foreseen the Netherlands international
\nlooking for a pass.<\/p>\n

In August and September 2024,
\nVan de Ven recorded two of the top five longest assist-ending
\ncarries on record<\/a> (since 2015-16) in a Premier League game. On
\nthose occasions, he ran 60.4 metres to set up Son Heung-min against
\nEverton and 56.1m to tee up Brennan
\nJohnson<\/a> against Manchester United.<\/p>\n

Whatever the reason, Hatzidiakos hesitated, and by the time he\u2019d
\nchanged his mind, it was too late. Elyounoussi had tracked Van de
\nVen all the way, desperate to make up for giving the ball away, but
\ndespite doing pretty well to keep up, he couldn\u2019t stop him.<\/p>\n

\"Micky<\/p>\n

Van de Ven charged into the Copenhagen box and finished like a
\nseasoned centre-forward (he is Tottenham\u2019s top scorer this season,
\nso maybe that was to be expected) to score one of the great
\nChampions League goals.<\/p>\n

UK readers can relive the goal below:<\/p>\n

In the 10 seconds between taking his first touch and scoring,
\nVan de Ven ran 67.7m with the ball. It is the longest goal-ending
\ncarry by any player in Opta\u2019s record books in a Champions League
\ngame (since 2015-16), overtaking Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior\u2019s 64.9m run to
\nscore for Real Madrid against Borussia Dortmund in October
\n2024.<\/p>\n

\"Micky<\/p>\n

Comparisons have naturally been made with an astoundingly
\nsimilar goal scored at the same ground, in the same goal, almost
\nsix years ago by the now-departed Spurs legend Son. The two players
\npicked up the ball in incredibly similar positions before running
\nthe length of the pitch to score.<\/p>\n

Son\u2019s goal, scored against Burnley on 7 December 2019 and the
\nwinner of that year\u2019s Pusk\u00e1s Award, required a run of 72.3m with
\nthe ball before he scored.<\/p>\n

That is almost five metres longer than Van de Ven\u2019s goal, in
\npart because it was a more winding run \u2013 and Van de Ven\u2019s was more
\ndirect \u2013 but also because Son ran closer to goal before
\nfinishing.<\/p>\n

Son\u2019s remains the third-longest carry ending in a goal recorded
\n(since 2015-16) in a Premier League game.<\/p>\n

The longest goal-ending carry ever recorded in the Premier
\nLeague was scored by former Spurs man Andros Townsend for Crystal
\nPalace against West Brom, when he ran an incredible 78.9m with the
\nball before scoring in March 2017. Townsend didn\u2019t even have the
\nenergy to celebrate his goal, instead just collapsing to the
\nfloor.<\/p>\n

Van de Ven has written his name into the Champions League
\nhistory books, but given he has previous when it comes to running
\nthe length of the pitch with the ball, this might not be the last
\ntime we see him do something like this.<\/p>\n

The
\nLongest Goal-Ending Carries in the Champions League<\/p>\n

*since 2015-16; data as of 5 November 2025<\/p>\n

Micky van de Ven\u00a0\u2013 67.7m, Tottenham vs FC
\nCopenhagen, November 2025
\nVin\u00edcius J\u00fanior\u00a0\u2013 64.9m, Real Madrid vs
\nBorussia Dortmund, October 2024
\nRafael Le\u00e3o\u00a0\u2013 62.6m, Milan vs Dinamo
\nZagreb, October 2022
\nKarim Adeyemi \u2013 62.1m, Borussia Dortmund vs
\nChelsea, February 2023
\nMarco Asensio\u00a0\u2013 60.8m, Real Madrid vs
\nBayern Munich, April 2017
\nLo\u00efs Openda\u00a0\u2013 57.8m, RB Leipzig vs
\nManchester City, November 2023
\nBrais M\u00e9ndez\u00a0\u2013 55.4m, Real Sociedad vs
\nRed Bull Salzburg, October 2023
\nDavide Zappacosta\u00a0\u2013 55.3m, Chelsea vs
\nQarabag, September 2017
\nOusmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9\u00a0\u2013 51.5m, Barcelona vs
\nTottenham, December 2018
\nJos\u00e9 Izquierdo\u00a0\u2013 47.1m, Club Brugge vs
\nLeicester, November 2016<\/p>\n

\"UEFA<\/a><\/p>\n

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