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L'Equipe is a French sports daily, and it covers various sports such as football, rugby, motorsport, and cycling.
L'Equipe hands out player ratings for football matches based on the performances of the players. It has a reputation for being critical with their ratings and till date, only nine players have managed to get a perfect "10/10" rating from the French newspaper.
Dusan Tadic was the latest entrant to the list after his spectacular performance against Real Madrid in the Champions League Round of 16 second leg. To put into perspective how tough it is to receive a perfect rating, Cristiano Ronaldo only got a "9/10" after his performance against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League earlier in the week.
Here are the nine players who have been fortunate enough to get the rare "10/10" rating from L'Equipe:
#1 Franck Sauzee - FranceU21 vs GreeceU21s (1988)
France won the U-21 World Cup in 1988, a decade earlier than the feat achieved by the senior national team. The first leg of the final was a goalless draw between France and Greece. In the second leg, 22-year-old Franck Sauzee scored two outstanding goals and was a menace throughout the game.
The Frenchman went on to represent the national team 39 times and was largely a journeyman in the Ligue1. He ended his career as a cult hero for Scottish club Hibernian and earned great plaudits for his performances in Scotland.
#2 Bruno Martini - FranceU21s vs Greece U21s (1988)
Another player from the same game to win a perfect rating from the French publication was Bruno Martini. The former Auxerre goalkeeper also won the same accolade, following his heroics against Greece.
Martini was highly praised for keeping a clean sheet against Greece in the final. The goalkeeper represented Auxerre for 13 years. He would go on to have 31 caps for the French national team and participated in the UEFA European Championships in 1992 and 1996.
#3 Oleg Salenko - Russia vs Cameroon (1994)
Oleg Salenko won the Golden Boot in the 1994 World Cup. Most of that can be attributed to the fact that Salenko scored five goals in a single match against Cameroon which also enabled him to receive a perfect rating from L'Equipe. The Russian scored six goals in total to win the Golden Boot.
Salenko was also the top scorer for the Soviet Union U20 team in the 1989 Fifa World Youth Championship. He is the only player to win Golden Boot at U20 World Cup and Fifa World Cup.
#4 Lars Windfeld - Aarhus vs Nantes (1997)
Lars Windfeld is a Danish goalkeeper, who played for Aarhus Gymnastik Forening(AGF) and is the second goalkeeper to get the perfect rating from L'Equipe.
The 1997-1998 UEFA Cup match between Aarhus and Nantes will always be remembered for the inhuman performance by Windfeld that allowed the Danish team to win 1-0 after the first leg ended 2-2.
The Dane would represent Aarhus in 221 games across all competitions.
#5 Lionel Messi - Barcelona vs Arsenal (2010) & Barcelona vs Bayer Leverkusen (2012)
The only player to feature two times in the L'Equipe "10/10" ratings. In fact, the publication had gone 13 years without giving the rating 10/10 to any player in any game before Lionel Messi in 2010.
The first came when he scored all 4 goals in the second leg the Champions League quarter-final against Arsenal in April 2010. The Argentinian slotted the ball in between Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia's leg for the fourth goal.
“He made the impossible possible,” said Arsene Wenger that night. “He has six or seven years in front of him, touch wood that nothing happens to him, and he can reach unbelievable levels.”
The second came two years later when Barcelona faced Bayer Leverkusen. The magician one-upped himself and scored five goals this time around, becoming the first player to do so in the Champions League.
#6 Robert Lewandowski - Borussia Dortmund vs Real Madrid (2013)
Robert Lewandowski completely decimated Real Madrid in the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2013.
The Polish striker had already won the Bundesliga a couple of times with Borussia Dortmund under Jurgen Klopp. He announced himself on the European stage with this spectacular performance and cemented himself as one of the elite No. 9s' in the world.
Lewandowski scored four goals against Real Madrid, whose defence consisted of Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane, and thereby earned the perfect rating from L'Equipe.
#7 Carlos Eduardo - Nice vs Guingamp (2014)
The Portuguese midfielder has had quite an underwhelming career in Europe with short spells at various clubs before eventually moving to Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal in 2015.
But he had a shining moment in 2014 when he scored five goals in a match for Nice, whilst on loan from Porto, against Guingamp. Nice would go on to win the match 7-2 and Eduardo got a perfect rating from L'Equipe.
In 2015, the midfielder made his move to Al-Hilal and scored the only goal of the match in his debut for the Saudi Arabian club.
#8 Neymar - PSG vs Dijon (2018)
Neymar became the most expensive footballer in 2017 when he signed for French side Paris-Saint Germain in a fee worth €222 million from Barcelona. The Brazilian has had an injury prone spell in Paris. But when fit, he has completely mesmerized the fans all over the world with his sheer brilliance.
One such performance was against Dijon, midway through his debut season in 2018. Neymar scored four goals and assisted further two goals in the rout 8-0 rout of Dijon as he was handed a perfect rating by L'Equipe.
#9 Dusan Tadic - Ajax vs Real Madrid (2019)
One of the best comebacks in recent times in the Champions League, when the underdogs upset their much-fancied opponents, took place in the match between Ajax and Real Madrid. Dusan Tadic was at the forefront of that outstanding performance by the Dutch side.
Tadic, who struggled during his stint at Southampton, gave Luka Modric and Toni Kroos nightmares throughout the game. He scored only one goal but the highlight of the game was when he twirled around Casemiro and placed a perfectly-weighted through ball to David Neres, who scored from close.
Tadic became the first player since 1997 and fourth-ever player to get a perfect rating after scoring less than four goals.
