Robin van Persie’s ‘miracle’ goal goes viral

Dubai: From Facebook to Twitter to YouTube, Robin van Persie’s stunning diving header in Netherland’s 5-1 World Cup thrashing of Spain on Friday has showcased all the magnificence of online viral power.

The Flying Dutchman’s heroics reportedly generated 183,076 tweets in less than a minute, which led to a staggering 8.3 million tweets spawned by a gripping Group B encounter.

Digitally altered images depicting Van Persie as a caped crusader, an airborne WWE superstar and a fantasy Disney character have been doing the rounds on social media, while football pundits have labelled his goal as a miracle and a “brilliant goal of vision, technique and athleticism.”

ESPN’s Paul Carr said via his twitter account that the 17-yard header is the longest headed World Cup goal since Bulgaria’s Nasko Sirakov in 1986, while Ben Walsh of Reuters reported that the last time Spain conceded five goals in a World Cup match was in 1950 against Brazil.

But perhaps Brian Phillips, staff writer for popular sports and pop-culture blog Grantland, posted the pick of the tweets when he had this to say via his handle Paul Carr@PCarrESPN: “The pass was a miracle, the goal was a miracle, and the fact that Van Persie didn’t explode into shards was the greatest miracle of all.”

BBC Chief football writer Phil McNulty @philmcnulty called it a “brilliant goal of vision, technique & athleticism by Van Persie and straight to Van Gaal ... sign of things to come at Old Trafford?”, while Matteo Bonetti @TheCalcioGuy of beIN Sport tweeted: “If I even tried to attempt that header that Van Persie scored, I, 1. would not have made contact with ball, and 2. Severed my spine in half.”