Kaoru Mitoma reminds fans of ‘prime Lionel Messi’ with ‘astonishing’ solo goal for Brighton

Kaoru Mitoma was hailed for playing like ‘prime Lionel Messi’ as he scored a stunning solo goal for Brighton against Wolves.

The Japan international channelled the World Cup-winning maestro as he beat four defenders on his way to netting past goalkeeper Jose Sa – and a lovely finish it was, too.

Mitoma opened the scoring for Brighton against Wolves with a stunning individual goalGetty

The Japanese star was mobbed by his teammates as fans on social media made Messi comparisonsGetty

Brighton travelled to Molineux on Saturday high in confidence after their 4-1 thrashing of Premier League new boys Luton Town over the opening weekend.

And Mitoma got their trip to Wolverhampton off to a bang with a goal was was described as ‘astonishing’ by talkSPORT’s Ian Danter.

The 26-year-old cut in from the left wing, breezed past a number of challenges before beating Sa with a lovely finish, opening up his body and sidefooting the ball into the far right corner of the net.

Commentating live at the stadium, Danter said: “It’s a wonderful individual goal from Mitoma!

“He came in from the left-hand side, broke the lines of the Wolves defence, waited for Jose Sa to commit himself and then just slipped the ball past him into the bottom corner.

“A quite fabulous goal from a fabulous little player, Kaoru Mitoma – it’s astonishing play from the Japanese international!”

Mitoma managed seven goals and six assists for Brighton last season – the most goals by a Japanese player in a Premier League campaign ever.

It’s taken him just two games to get up and running in the 2023/24 campaign – and by the quality of the goal, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Mitoma is the next Brighton star to get a £100million-plus price tag…

Fans on Twitter were stunned

One fan on Twitter said: “Mitoma just turned into prime Messi.”

A Brighton supporter account tweeted: “Am I watching Mitoma or Messi?”

A Liverpool fan also heaped praise on the Seagulls star, saying: “If Messi scored that Mitoma goal it would be all over every channel. Great Individual run, skill and finish.”

Meanwhile, the commentator for BeINSports’ Arabic feed compared the goal to another Argentine great, branding the Brighton ace ‘Diego Mitoma’.