Baleba: I don’t even know why I shot!

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Carlos scored a terrific goal to secure Albion a 3-2 win over West Ham on Saturday.

Charlie Hanson

2025-04-30T09:00+01:00

Carlos Baleba has scored three Premier League goals so far this season. 📷 by James Boardman.

Carlos Baleba’s winner against West Ham will go down as one of the best moments of the season – but the Cameroon international can’t quite fathom what made him shoot from 30 yards out.

“Before I shot, there was nothing in my head. So I just thought, go on – shoot,” the 21-year-old said. “When the ball went in the net, wow! I couldn’t believe it. I normally try to shoot just with power rather than placing the ball.

“When it went in there were so many emotions in my head. I’m happy to get a goal which allows the team to win. I do that a lot in training but I always hit it with power. If that is on target, it will go in. It’s rare I try and place the ball like that in training.

“Why did I shoot like that? I don’t even know why I shot. When I had the ball at my foot, I had had this feeling of emptiness. Nothing was going through my head. I just took his decision to shoot and it ended in the net.”

Carlos’s goal capped off a terrific turnaround that saw us come from 2-1 down to win 3-2, and he says the team’s belief was key to response.

“It was five minutes of madness. At 1-2, then 2-2 we stayed as a collective, we stayed all together. We kept our heads to get back level.

“We believed amongst ourselves. In these moments you can’t panic, you can’t rush things. We kept playing together. We were so pleased to get this win.”

The former Lille man admits that playing at centre-back isn’t natural for him, but he is coached through the game by skipper Lewis Dunk.

“For me, centre-back is not so new because I played there in pre-season and I played there against Leicester.

“But I just need to listen to the captain, Lewis, who is next to me. Everything works better when I listen to him. When he is there, everything goes well and it becomes a bit easier for me to play centre-back.

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Yasin Ayari gave Albion a first half lead, before Kudus and Soucek turned things around for the visitors. Albion fought back first through Kaoru Mitoma in the 89th minute, before Carlos Baleba picked his spot to secure all three points for Albion.

“On the ball, the game is in front of me. I can see the spaces to play into, I can see my teammates so they can go forwards and in behind to finish.”

And his hopes for the remainder of the season?

“I believe we can reach Europe. Conference League, Europa League - I believe!”