Diego Gomez’s 51-Metre Goal Powers Brighton Past Palace

Brighton moved up to third in the Premier League after crushing Crystal Palace 5-0, with Diego Gomez scoring a spectacular 51-metre goal at the Amex Stadium on Sunday.

The 23-year-old Paraguay midfielder struck from just inside the Palace half as Walter Benitez stood off his line. Gomez’s powerful, lofted effort flew over the backtracking goalkeeper and gave Fabian Hurzeler’s side a two-goal lead inside seven minutes.

Quick facts

Brighton beat Crystal Palace 5-0 in the M23 derby.
Diego Gomez scored from 51 metres for his first league goal this season.
It was the longest Premier League goal since Wayne Rooney’s 58-metre Everton strike against West Ham in 2017.
Brighton have taken five attempts from beyond 50 metres this term; every other Premier League club combined has taken eight.
The Seagulls have scored 23 goals across their opening seven league matches.

Gomez said he spotted Benitez’s position immediately after receiving the ball. With Brighton’s attackers bunched together ahead of him and no simple forward pass available, he chose to shoot rather than try to force a move through the Palace defence.

“When it went in, I did not know where to run or what to do,” Gomez said after the win. “I saw the goalkeeper was a bit high. I was very happy with it. It is about the brotherhood and the intensity — we work on this in training and in matches.”

Benitez was playing because Palace first-choice goalkeeper Dean Henderson remains out with an ankle injury. The Argentine was exposed by Brighton’s rapid turnover, with the home side repeatedly sharp in transition.

Gomez joined Brighton from Inter Miami for £11m in early 2025, having previously played alongside Lionel Messi in MLS. His quality from range had already been evident in his first campaign in England, when he scored four times in Brighton’s 6-0 Carabao Cup win over Barnsley, including a 35-yard half-volley.

The strike also put Gomez in the company of famous halfway-line scorers. David Beckham’s long-range goal for Manchester United against Wimbledon in the opening match of the 1996-97 season remains one of the division’s defining moments, although Gomez generated his goal through a driven, high strike rather than Beckham’s curling finish.

Brighton’s attacking approach under Hurzeler is producing increasingly ambitious shooting decisions. The emphatic derby win kept them behind only Manchester City and Arsenal, with the Seagulls now applying pressure at the top of the table.