Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho suggested football greats Pele, Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi would have been proud of the stunning long-range goal Stoke's Charlie Adam produced against his side at Stamford Bridge.
A 2-1 win for Mourinho's men edged them closer to the Premier League title, but it was Adam's goal that was the major talking point after the game, as his 65-yard effort arrowed over Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois for one of the most memorable goals in Premier League history.
"It was a fantastic goal," Mourinho told Sky Sports. "It's one of the goals that every super player in the world would like to score.
"Go to Pele to Maradona to Messi, to all these brilliant players. All of them would love to score this goal. Not all of them will score this goal in their career, so it is a magnificent goal."
Mourinho offered somewhat cruel criticism of his keeper Courtois as he conceded the goal on the stroke of half-time, with the Blues boss suggesting his Belgian shot-stopper should have been more alert to prevent the strike.
"When my goalkeeper plays in the limit of the box, he has to read the game," stated the Chelsea boss. "He has to know the quality of the opponents and Charlie Adam is a player who has a strong left leg and he has conditions for a 50-metre shot. You should anticipate that goal the moment we lose the ball."
Mourinho went on to suggest the victory his side achieved thanks to a second half Loic Remy strike was hugely significant in their push for the title, as they maintained a seven-point gap over second-placed Arsenal with a game in hand and just seven fixtures for their title rivals left to play.
"The importance of the victory is obvious," he added. "We start the game with the need of six victories and one draw to be champions and now we need just five. It is a massive victory for us. Difficult, but deserved.
"Nobody would expect that the first shot they had they would score a goal, so we were thinking about going in at half-time at 1-0. Suddenly we concede a goal and go 1-1 and the game becomes difficult.
"We tried everything. We went to two strikers to try and create more chances against a very well organised defensive block and we scored the goal. We deserved to win, but this is the pressure we have in the final months. I would not expect to play beautifully and win 4-0 or 5-0.
"Performances are what you have at the beginning of the season and what puts you in position to be champions. During the season, you have little ups and downs, you have your problems. You have opponents that do very well against you. The three points were the most important thing."
Chelsea captain John Terry played down the suggestion that this latest victory had all-but sealed his side's title triumph, as he insisted there is still plenty of work to be done.
"It's just about ticking this box and move on to the next game," Terry said. "Now we have a massive, massive game next week away to QPR, a big London derby for us. We have just got to frustrate teams for the next few weeks.
"This was a tough game. We knew it was going to be difficult. They are a very well organised team, but we ground it out and I thought the determination and the patience from the players was excellent."
