Alan Shearer couldn't resist a cheeky dig at Micah Richards after the former Manchester City defender claimed he could have scored David Beckham's iconic wonder goal from his own half.
Beckham scored for Manchester United from behind the halfway line at Wimbledon on the opening day of the 1996/97 season, announcing himself to world football in the process.
"It changed my life," Beckham later said.
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"The ball seemed to be in the air for hours and it all went quiet. Then the ball went in and it just erupted. I was on cloud nine."
A select group of players have achieved the feat since Beckham’s goal, including England captain Harry Kane – who scored from his own half for Bayern Munich earlier this season.
On the latest episode of The Rest Is Football podcast, former England internationals Shearer, Richards and Gary Lineker debated whether it is harder to score a long-range goal like Kane's, or an acrobatic effort like Alejandro Garnacho's spectacular overhead kick for United against Everton earlier this season.
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"Garnacho, easy. Anyone can hoof it 50 yards up the pitch," said Richards.
"Come on. You can hoof it – even I could do that."
Shearer immediately shot back: "Hoof it? You were a regular at f***ing hoofing it into the stands!"
Lineker then asked whether Garnacho’s strike is potentially the greatest Premier League goal of all time, beating Arsenal legend Dennis Bergkamp's iconic effort against Newcastle in 2002.
"I don't think so," added Shearer.
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"We've never seen one like Bergkamp's before have we? We've seen overhead kicks – we know how difficult they are. Bergkamp's was just…"
To which Richards replied: "Still No 1."
Garnacho's wonderful strike is not eligible to win the 2023 Puskas Award, given the scorer of the best goal of the year, as it occurred outside of the qualifying period and will be therefore be considered for the 2024 award instead.
The 2023 award will be handed out at the Best FIFA Football Awards on January 15 in London.
Topics: Alan Shearer, Micah Richards, David Beckham, Football, Premier League, Manchester United
Rory O'Callaghan