I'm sure we all have a few random players who, against all odds, we'd love to see at Chelsea Football Club. Whether that's for any particular football reason or just whatever whim or hair or personality tick it is that makes that connection for you, it hardly matters. Sometimes, they don't even have to be good at football.
Fortunately, Marek Hamšík is really good at football. Like, Frank Lampard-level good. A bit different, yes, but on that level. Unfortunately, he's probably never leaving Napoli, a place he's called home for the last decade. There was once a chance he might leave, around 2012 when Napoli's attacking trident of Lavezzi-Hamšík-Cavani was everyone's favorite thing ever. Of the three, only Hamšík stayed. He's now third on their all-time appearances list. Even when he was robbed by upstanding citizens of Naples, he stayed. Later, he survived The Rafaluzzione, too, which restricted him in a way that the Slovak national team often tended to restrict him in big games by playing him in a deeper, less free role.
This year's edition of Slovensko have not made that mistake. And while against Wales they failed to reap the proper rewards thanks to some poor goalkeeping and a lucky pass (and an even luckier finish), against Russia, the Hamšík show was in full effect.
First came the assist, a 50-yard ball that seems so en vogue off of Italy-based feet nowadays, finding former Manchester City trainee Vladimir Weiss, who finished with ease thanks in no small part to some hilariously bad defending.
If that wasn't enough, Hamšík then graced us with, arguably, the goal of the tournament so far. Pure ridiculousness. Ping!
Russia may have finished with the majority of possession, but it was Hamšík and Slovakia who were the better and more dangerous side. Their showdown against England on the final matchday of the group should be something to behold.
BONUS:
Since we missed a day, how 'bout them Hungarians their Magical little man in the middle, László Kleinheisler, the Hungarian Scholes!? Hopefully we'll get to hear from him later in the tournament, too, after his Man of the Match performance against Austria. The 22-year-old currently plies his trade at Werder Bremen, alongside Chelsea legend Papy Djilobodji. You know what to do, Big Papy!