West Ham reject rattles Real with wonder strike
West Ham fans have reacted with stunned exasperation after Simone Zaza scored a sublime goal to help Valencia beat Real Madrid 2-1.
The Italian striker flopped spectacularly at the London club after arriving at the start of the season, but he looks like a player reborn at Valencia.
That transformation was no more evident than in the first five minutes against La Liga leaders, Madrid, when Zaza opened the scoring in scintillating fashion.
The Juventus loanee lit up the Mestalla after controlling, turning and volleying Munir El Haddadi's cross into the top corner of the goal past the diving Keylor Navas.
Not surprisingly, Hammers fans lit up social media after the game as they struggled to fathom why the Italian couldn't bring that goal-scoring touch to West Ham.
@WestHam_Central curse of West Ham. He's actually a good player just frustrating we didn't get that
— West Ham Zone (@thewesthamzone) February 22, 2017
@IbrahimMustapha haha Zaza suddenly being good is so very west ham
— Freddie Harding (@freddie7h) February 22, 2017
Zaza has failed to live down his infamous penalty miss for Italy at Euro 2016 but he'll go a long way towards doing so if he keeps scoring goals like the one against Madrid.
Zinedine Zidane's side had two games in hand on second-placed Barcelona heading into their clash at the Mestalla, but remain just one point clear after just their second league loss of the season.