Former Gunner scores Champions League Goal of the Season contender

Former Gunner Vlad Dragomir scored a Champions League Goal of the Season contender in Pafos’ final League Phase match, but it ultimately wasn’t enough to see them through.

Photo via Dragomir on Instagram

Former Arsenal academy youngster Vlad Dragomir currently plays for Pafos in Cyprus, often captaining the side, and his team had the chance to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League on Wednesday night.

With so many other teams around them, Pafos needed a big win and to hope results went their way elsewhere, and Dragomir set them on the right path with a fantastic opening goal against Slavia Praha.

Picking up the ball well outside the penalty area, the 26-year-old fired a left-footed effort across the goalkeeper and into the far top corner, with the ball arrowing into the net at some pace. Dragomir has only scored five goals this season, but that was surely the pick of the bunch.

Photo by Michael Campanella/Getty Images

Slavia scored an equaliser just before half time, but Pafos continued to push in the second half and ultimately won the match 4-1.

Yet the night ended in heartbreak, with Benfica and Marseille racking up just marginally better goal difference than Dragomir’s side. Two more goals or one more point would have seen the Cypriot side into the knockouts.

Pafos will feel they did all they could on the night, and they’ll perhaps look back on a frustrating 0-0 draw with Kairat Almaty earlier in the tournament as the biggest missed opportunity. 36th-placed Kairat only picked up one point in the entire League Phase, and it was in that game.

Vlad Dragomir signing his Arsenal contract. Picture: Getty Images

The highlights from the game are available here, including that Dragomir wonder-goal.