Czech striker Schick’s kick being hailed as one of the greatest goals in football history

Patrik Schick’s second goal for the Czech Republic against Scotland in the UEFA European Football Championship has caught the attention of social media. It also has pundits speculating on how it ranks in the history of football goals.

Schick, who normally plays for Bayer Leverkusen when he’s not on the Czech national team, sent the ball 49.7 meters into the net in the match at Glasgow's Hampden Park. This helped the Czech team to beat Scotland 2–0 in UEFA Euro 2020 Group D. He also scored the match’s first goal. (The tournament was postponed from last year but has kept the original date in the official name.)

UEFA said the goal set a distance record for the tournament, easily beating the previous 38.6 meter record by Germany midfielder Torsten Frings at Euro 2004.

BBC Sport’s Nick McPheat is already asking if it is greatest goal ever in the history of the Euro championship. “It has some stiff competition, with the likes of Marco van Basten’s angled volley for the Netherlands in the 1988 final, Paul Gascoigne's solo effort against Scotland at Euro '96 and Hal Robson-Kanu's turn and finish in Wales' 2016 win over Belgium all lauded for their greatness,” McPheat wrote.

The BBC’s list of possible greatest Euro goals also includes Antonín Panenka’s winning penalty for Czechoslovakia in a 1976 European Championship final against West Germany. The exact type of shot he made is named after him, and even has its own Wikipedia page. It’s perhaps too early to see if the “Schick kick” achieves that level of glory.

British online newspaper The Independent said it joins the list of immortal goals. “Schick didn’t ‘just hit it’. He planned it like a golf shot and executed his idea with precision to create what will become one of many the iconic European Championship goals,” the paper’s Miguel Delaney said.

U.S. news source CNN was a bit more muted. “Questions will be asked as to why [Scotland goalie David] Marshall was so far off his line but nothing can take away from the brilliant vision and execution from Schick, who opened the scoring with a slightly less dramatic header in the first half,” CNN’s Ben Church said.

The Associated Press was to the point: “His second goal will be talked about for years to come.”

While dozens of people posted videos of the goal on social media, with ample praise, much of social media keyed in on goalie Marshall missing the ball and also getting tangled in the net when he failed to block it.

Some people were too stunned to even attempt a comment, and threw the virtual mic to the audience.

The goal earned a reference from the original version of The Office. But the viewers seem more impressed than disgusted with the epic shot.

This NSFW cartoon probably sums up the feelings of many Scotland fans.

Many people turned to Trainspotting to express their feelings at being Scottish after the bitter defeat.

Braveheart also gave some fans inspiration, if that is the correct word.

Work caused one viewer to miss the pain of the match, but Twitter quickly got him caught up in the news.

The loss for Scotland came early in the tournament.

But is just one of a long line of football disappointments for Scotland.

But there was also local pride. Many people recalled that Schick had played for the Prague club Bohemians 1905 not that long ago.