Cristiano leapt as high as Dick Fosbury at the 1968 Olympics
After "that" over-head kick, beIN Sports measured Cristiano's leap to contact the ball as 2.23 metres. Television analyst Santiago Segurola reminded me of how in the 1960's Dick Fosbury revolutionised the world of high-jumping with his new technique of jumping over the bar back first (a style employed to the current day). In the 1968 Olympic Games the American established a new Olympic record at the time with a jump of 2.24m. This is more or less the height the Portuguese player leapt to smash home the ball at the Allianz Stadium in Turin. I can't recall any other player reaching this altitude to come into contact with a ball when delivering an over-head kick although apparently Zlatan Ibrahimovic claims he rises higher when executing his own brand of "chilenas".
Evolution
Football is wonderful as no matter who much action one has witnessed over time, there are always new sights to behold through watching the game. Cristiano has now bagged 649 goals in his time as a professional player and this goal resembles little of the previous 648. Many players in LaLiga history have scored spectacular over-head kicks with Mexican striker Hugo Sánchez becoming somewhat of a specialist in his time as a player in delivering spectacular scissor-kicks. I recall a particular gem in a game against Logroñés but he never attained the same height at Cristiano did in Turin. The game has evolved and the modern player is capable of doing things that players in the old days weren't physically capable of achieving.
Boardroom
One area where the game has been slow to evolve is in the boardroom with the news that the election process to name a new head of the Spanish FA has been suspended with no new date as yet confirmed for the process. The reason given for the cancellation was that the ballot would have coincided with a domestic top flight fixture. The ramble that has been the process in finding a successor for Villar has been shambolic as now the trick is to scour the fixture list and establish a day where there are no LaLiga games scheduled.