West Ham boss Slaven Bilic compared Dimitri Payet to Lionel Messi after his latest wonder goal.

The Hammers were trailing Middlesbrough thanks to a header from Cristhian Stuani when Payet picked up the ball out on the left.

What happened next, even by Payet's standards, was remarkable as the France star beat half the Boro team before slotting the ball past keeper Victor Valdes.

He turned Antonio Barragan on the wing, breezed past Marten de Roon on the edge of the area and then skipped away from Calum Chambers and Ben Gibson before leaving George Friend on his backside as he rolled the ball home.

It was a stunning strike which secured a 1-1 draw for the Hammers after four straight defeats, and Bilic said: "It was a great goal, a brilliant individual goal which brought us back into the game.

"I don't see many players scoring these type of goals. You see free-kicks, you see volleys, scissor kicks, all different types of goals, but this was like Messi's goals.

"It was a brilliant, brilliant moment of magic. But we can't rely on him doing that every week."

The atmosphere could have turned ugly during the game after Stuani nodded in a corner, but Payet's rescue act prevented a fifth straight loss.

"That gave us a point and gave us half an hour to go on and win the game, but we couldn't win it so it's mixed emotions," added Bilic.

"We got a point after four games that we lost and showed what the team is all about, the quality and spirit.

"From that perspective I couldn't ask for more. But was it the result we were looking for? No. We wanted to beat them."

Boro have been on a pretty rotten run themselves but at least managed to avoid a fourth defeat on the spin.

"It's a good point, but I'm happier with the performance," said manager Aitor Karanka. "We knew West Ham weren't in the best moment, but when they have players like Payet we knew we would have problems so a point was fair.

"He hasn't just scored goals like that against us. He's a top-class player and we knew that. We have to try to stop players like that, but sometimes it's difficult."

Source:
courtesy of ESPNFC

by ESPN Staff

If you have any stories or news that you would like to share with the global online community, please feel free to share it with us by contacting us directly at [email protected]