Fans in Chicago attending Lionel Messi's charity soccer game, Messi & Friends, surely knew they were in for some extremely impressive, "did-you-see-that?" moments.
But no one could have guessed which of the players would produce the game's most memorable sequence.
No, it wasn't Messi, although the Barcelona stud and four-time Ballon d'Or winner did score four goals.
Rather it was Matt Eliason, a former college star at Northwestern. Nearly 28 minutes into the game Eliason chested a pass from teammate Thierry Henry and pulled off a beautiful bicycle kick, rocketing the ball past the keeper.
"Once the ball was in the air, I thought I might as well go for it in front of all these fans," Eliason said after the game. "It's not every day that you get to play Messi. So I thought I’d give it a try, and fortunately it worked out."
The best part about this story is that Eliason isn't a professional soccer player, rather he's an analyst for GE Capital. Not bad for a banker.
Eliason, who wasn't able to catch on with an MLS team after college, is still training for a spot in the league. This play should help him get his name on someone's radar.
