An Ode to Brest Striker Irvin Cardona's Majestically Mind-Bending Last-Minute Volley

Some goals take a second viewing to really grasp their majesty.

The technique that goes into a finish isn't always immediately apparent; at first glance, some spectacular goals can easily be overlooked with a shrug.

Take Irvin Cardona's stoppage-time volley against Dijon in Ligue 1, for example.

Watching it on your phone screen as you scroll through Twitter, the first angle paints it as a good finish. He anticipates the cross, connects, and sends it into the roof of the net. Job done.

But then you see a replay, a more close-up look at how he shapes to hit it, and actually...what?!

The cross appears to sail past its intended target at that awkward middling height - too low to head it, and far too high to strike it from a standing position. But despite having no leverage from his starting point, and despite the cross floating in with minimal pace, Cardona manages to lift himself a good four feet off the ground and connect with enough venom that it explodes into the roof of the net.

"Look at this f***ing mad goal. "

- 90min's Scott Saunders

He does this with a movement of his body that just shouldn't have been possible. I've watched it a good 25 times now and I'm still not grasping it.

His eye constantly on the ball, he rises with a straight, salmon jump, and then defies physics in mid-air. In one firm, fluid motion, he alters his shape, turns to face the goal, cocks his left leg back and connects with his right.

All without touching the ground. It's a circus act.

The ball is clearly moving away from him. He has no purchase to generate any sort of power, but he digs it out with enough venom that it nearly shatters the net. Scientifically, it just shouldn't happen.

On top of all that, this was the moment that won the game. Cardona had emerged from the bench 20 minutes earlier, seemingly to help his side see out their first win of the season, and he goes and does this in stoppage time.

Incredible - especially considering Huddersfield legend Steve Mounié had started ahead of him.