Zlatan Ibrahimovic admires his handiwork along with awestruck opponents fromAnderlecht in the 2013-14 UEFA Champions LeagueAh! September, the month that marks the onset of that most beautiful of northern seasons – autumn – in the Western Hemisphere and the start of what is conceivably the greatest annual tournament on the planet. For come September, it is once again time for that carnival of footballing magic - The UEFA Champions League.With that carnival come players with unequalled talent, showing off their most awe-inspiring skills at the highest level of competition and scoring goals of the highest order. We had some blinders last year - the semi-cyborg that is Cristiano Ronaldo scoring spectacular goals seemingly at will, Zlatan Ibrahamovic - that playstation character of a footballer – chipping in with some stupendous efforts of his own, and what will go down as one of the greatest consolation goals ever - Klaas Jan Huntelaar’s perfectly dispatched volley against a Real Madrid side that had just ripped his Schalke team to shreads.The tournament has a long history of spectacular goals, goals that stand out as much for the fairytale narratives woven into the background as for the tremendous skill and technique invoved in the execution With that in mind, here’s a look at ten of the greatest goals scored in the Champions League era.Author’s note - The list is by no means definitive and the goals are listed purely in chronological order.
#1 Dejan Savievi vs Barcelona - Final, 1993-94
Going into the 1994 Champions league final, Barcelona –under the aegis of the Dutch master, Johann Cruyff, and with the legendary duo of Hristo Stoichkov and Romario in the form of their lives - were expected to win, and win comfortably, against Fabio Capello’s AC Milan side which came into the final plagued by injuries to key players.
In the end, attacking flair did triumph, it just wasn’t supplied by the team that was expected to do it – Milan put in what is quite possibly the greatest performance seen in the history of the Champions League (till date, anyway) as they absolutely hammered Barcelona to pieces. The Rossoneri ended up winning 4-0, but the pick of the bunch was the third – an insouciant effort from that magical Montenegrin, Dejan Savievi.
Charging Miguel Angel Nadal (yes, uncle to THAT Nadal) and robbing the ball from the dawdling Spaniard, Savievi found himself facing the goalkeeper, although quite far out and at a rather acute angle to the goal. Now, most footballers would have attempted to close down the distance to goal, or create a better angle to shoot from – and with glacier-like (in size and speed) Ronald Koeman being the closest covering defender, that would have made logical sense too.
The midfielder though, had always eschewed such mundane thinking – logic was for the aesthetically blind and Savievi proceeded to lift the most arrogantly lazy lob over the great Andoni Zubizaretta. It arced perfectly over the stationary goalkeeper and dipped just below the crossbar leaving the dumbstruck Zubizaretta, who was not too far at all off his line, absolutely no chance.
#2 George Weah vs Bayern Munich - Group Stages, 1994-95
George Weah was an inspiration to millions in Africa and throughout the world for he showed during his remarkable career and with trademark emphatic certainty that it didn’t matter where you were from, you could fight your way to greatness if you had the will to do so.
Weah certainly had the will, and allied with his incredible skill on the ball, scintillating pace and brute power, the Liberian was an irresistible force of nature when on song – which he was more often than not. 1995 was his year as he became the first and only African to ever be crowned the FIFA World Player of the Year.
And all this was a direct result of the incredible ’94-’95 campaign that Weah had with Paris Saint Germain, both domestically and in the UEFA Champions League. It was his performance in Europe that truly stood, as the Parisians romped to the semifinals unbeaten and Weah himself ended up topping the scoring charts with seven goals.
The pick of those was a flamboyantly aggressive effort against Bayern Munich. After receiving the ball in the opposition half, Weah evaded a couple of challenges as he meandered along in the middle of the park, before suddenly moving forward and engaging in a quick give and take with Valdo.
After this, he switched to top gear, as he effortlessly moved past a prone Munich defender and evaded another sliding tackler with contemptuous ease, while his shift to the right at that pace threw off a third defender. He then hammered a shot right into the top corner of the Munich goal, the ball hitting the back of the net before the great Oliver Kahn finished stretching to his maximum reach as he dived in vain.
It was a microcosm of the best of Weah - faster, stronger and more powerful than anyone else on the pitch with him.
#3 Mauro Bressan vs Barcelona First Group Stages, 1998-99
Most footballers go through their careers playing and living in relative obscurity. The Italian midfielder Mauro Bressan would have been the perfect epitome of one of those journeymen footballers – he had a career that spanned 20 years and across 12 divisions in Italy and Switzerland, but he would play his best football at Fiorentina between 1999 and 2001 where even though he didn’t have many league starts, he would start three Champions League games.
One of those would be enough for this unknown midfielder from a tiny town in the vine country of Trevisio in the north of Italy to forever etch his name in Champions League folklore. In a high scoring group stage clash against Barcelona, Bressan would pull off one of the most memorable goals ever scored. When the ball was cleared out of defence, it appeared that the danger was averted and yet another La Viola attack had broken down. But, with the ball bouncing around just in front of the Catalan penalty box, Bressan decided to take matters into his own hands. Or feet, rather.
With the kind of technique that would have made the likes of Rivaldo and Marco van Basten proud, the Italian jumped up and executed a perfectly timed bicycle kick that had his more illustrious opponents, not to mention one or two of his own teammates, awestruck. This was the kind of goal, kids kicking a ball about on a playground dream about scoring. And Mauro Bressan had just gone and done it against freaking Barcelona!
He wasn’t done for the night either, as he produced a gorgeous back-heeled assist to set Abel Balbo up later in the match, which would end with the scores level at 3-3.
Bressan will recede into anonymity in the annals of the great history of European club football, but, in that one moment of technical perfection and pure audacity he had shown why this beautiful game was loved by so many – everyone has it in them to flirt with immortality.
And for that signor, take a bow.
#4 Fredrik Ljungberg vs Juventus Second Group stages, 2001-02
Arsenal have never truly made the kind of impact on Europe that seemed to so effortlessly make on the domestic football arena, but there were glimpses to be had of the regal class of the Gunners.
One such instance was the match against a powerful Juventus side at Highbury where they brushed away the Bianconeri with breathtaking chutzpah. Early on in the match it looked like the skill of Alessandro Del Piero and the guile of the great Pavel Nedved would sweep aside any pretensions of superiority the Londoners had, but slowly that great midfield partnership of Patrick Viera and Ray Parlour established their dominance.
Going into the 88th minute, the match was set up for a grandstand finish – Arsenal were leading 2-1 and Juve were throwing all of their considerable might forward. The Italians’ hopes were snubbed soon though by a moment of pure class from one of the greatest playmakers to grace the game.
When Dennis Bergkamp received the ball at the edge of the penalty area, there were two defenders sticking to him like remoras to a shark and it looked like the best the Dutchman could do was to keep hold of the ball and wait for a teammate to come along and relieve the pressure.
Well he did keep the ball, but not in the way conventional wisdom decreed it must be done. Twisting this way and that, Bergkamp bamboozled the two Juve defenders, making the two feet he had to play with look like an entire football field and slowed down time to suit his own needs. Fredrik Ljungberg made the kind of brilliant run that would see him score so many goals for the Gunners, and by the time he had scampered through, the ball was waiting for him to lift it calmly over the onrushing Gianluigi Buffon.
As deceptively marvelous as Ljungberg’s run and finish were, it was the ridiculously fast feet and even faster footballing brain of Dennis Bergkamp that had added that rare touch of majesty to the goal.
#5 Zinedine Zidane vs Bayer Leverkusen Final, 2001-02
41 years ago, in 1960, Real Madrid had put in what is arguably the greatest attacking display ever seen when they destroyed Eintrach Frankfurt 7-3 in the European Cup final at Hampden Park, Glasgow. They were back to that legendary venue and they were faced with German opposition again – this time in the formidable shape of Bayer Leverkusen.
Los Meringues took an early lead when Raul (who else) opened the scoring after latching onto a long throw but Leverkusen hit back almost immediately to draw level through a Lucio header. The current lot of Galacticos weren’t finding the opposition as accommodating as Messrs Di Stefano and Puskas had, back in the day.
Then, on the stroke of half-time, magic happened. Roberto Carlos had embarked on one of those adventurous romps he tended to embark on down the left flank and had just flung in a trademark hopeful punt into the box. It was a rather horrible ball too, the trajectory of the arc making it come almost vertically down on the Real player at the edge of the box. Most players in this situation would have attempted to control the wild ball and try and fashion a shooting or passing opportunity out of the situation.
Zinedine Zidane however was not like most footballers. The great Frenchman steadied himself (he seemed to have an eternity to set himself up – a trick of the mind created by the man’s genius, no doubt) and with his so-called weaker foot (the left), let fly an absolutely scintillating volley into the top left corner of the goal.
Leave the necessity of having a rich enough imagination to conceive such a goal; the basic technique and skill that would be required to even get a proper connection - at a little higher than waist level, with your weaker foot - on a football dropping down almost vertically on you, was preposterously high.
But to actually go ahead and execute it perfectly, in a Champions league final at that, was truly mind –boggling.
Real Madrid would hold on for the win, their record 9th Champions Legaue triumph – this one sealed by the greatest winning goal (in a match decided by a single goal) scored in the history of the tournament.
#6 Steven Gerrard vs Olympiakos - Group Stages, 2004-05
From 1977-1985, Liverpool had bestrode the European scene like a Colossus. Anfield in those days was a veritable fortress within which the Merseysiders preened around with well-deserved arrogance, till tragedy struck in the form of the Heysel stadium disaster. This saw them banned from European competition and coupled with a sharp decline in domestic form, the all-powerful Liverpool sides of yore soon became nothing more than a vague memory for the continent’s elite.
The 2005 edition was looking like it would end disappointingly, again, for the Reds, when needing victory over Olympiakos in their final group game, and that too by two clear goals, to qualify for the knock-out stages, they went behind early to a magnificent Rivaldo freekick. Florent Sinama Pongolle pulled one back early in the second half, but it still looked like Rivaldo and co. would emerge from Anfield with the result they wanted.
Then in the 81st minute, young Neil Mellor stabbed in from six yards to give a glimmer of hope for the erstwhile powerhouses. Mellor, however would be best remembered in Liverpool folklore for the part he played in a move five minutes later.
The whole match, Steven Gerrard - captain of Liverpool Football Club and a living, breathing personification of the frenzied passion of the Kop – had been driving his team forward in that relentlessly dominating style of his. When Mellor cushioned a header on to his path in the 86th minute, the stage was set for the great man. Taking a couple of steps towards the ball, he hit it first time on the half volley with trademark venom.
The ball seemed to take a life of its own as it arrowed into the bottom corner of the goal, far too accurately placed and powerfully driven for the despairing dive of Antonios Nikopolidis to even get close to saving it.
This was drama scripted by the Gods – Gerrard’s goal would push Liverpool through to the knockout stages where they proceeded to embark on one of the great European fairytales, culminating in the Miracle of Istanbul.
#7 Kak vs. Fenerbahce Group Stages, 2005-06
There was a time in the early-to-mid 2000s when Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite was virtually untouchable. The man better known as Kaká seemed to float over the surface of football pitches across Italy and Europe with the grace of a swan and the speed of an impala on steroids. He had everything - strength to hold off challenges, vision to pick out the most memorable passes (that pass for Crespo in the Istanbul final is as good a through ball as you will ever see) and the ruthless finishing of a natural goal-scorer.
His greatest individual display in Europe came in the 2007 Champions League semifinal against Manchester United where he had every single person playing for/supporting United trembling with fear everytime he touched the football. It was absolutely astonishing to see the awe and fear one man could inspire, even amongst such distinguished company.
But it was against Fenerbache where he scored arguably his best goal in a Milan shirt. He had started off the scoring in the tense Group match with a cracking effort - a low drive that arrowed into the bottom corner. Alex leveled the scores in the second half from the penalty spot though, and soon it appeared the San Siro faithful had resigned themselves to a draw.
Then suddenly, out of the blue, Kaká started on one of his slaloming runs through the middle of the field. The beauty of a Kaká slalom is that when he starts off it appears everybody else is just standing there, stationary, watching in awe, as they struggle to contain his pace and power. (He often seemed to run faster with the ball than anyone else could without it!)
In this instance, he skipped past three tacklers with nonchalant ease and as he breezed into the penalty box, found himself with enough time to pause for a moment (seemingly to contemplate the meaning of life for such a superior being) and pick a spot low to the left of the keeper. The finish was as nerveless as the run was exhilarating, and the Rossoneri faithful rose as one to applaud the genius of their adopted son. Andriy Shevchenko would add one more customarily ruthless finish to the tally a couple of minutes later as Milan ran out 3-1 winners.
But the night, as was the case with most nights during his pomp, belonged to Kaká.
#8 Ronaldinho vs Chelsea Round of sixteen, 2004-05
These days the animosity between Barcelona and Chelsea is an intriguing, and integral, sub-plot to the Champions League, and it was all kick-started by Jose Mourinho (Hah! Who else!) and Frank Rijkaard during the course of the epic round of sixteen clash in the 2005 edition. Barcelona arrived at Stamford Bridge with a somewhat controversial first leg lead of 2-1.
This meant Chelsea had to score, and by Jove did they do that! Within 19 minutes, they were 3-0 up thanks to goals from Eidur Gudjohnsen, Frank Lampard and Damien Duff. While the Bridge was brimming over in celebration, it appeared that they had forgotten one key thing. The power of Barcelona’s attack and the magic that lay within their orchestrator-in-chief, a certain long haired, toothy grinned Brazilian called Ronaldinho.
Now on the attack, Barca won a penalty within 5 minutes, which Ronaldinho duly converted. They kept up the offensive, but Chelsea’s defensive acumen and discipline held them in check. Until the 38th minute that is, when a moment of magical fantasy ripped them apart.
The Brazilian wizard was standing in front of the penalty box when he received the ball when suddenly, with one delicious swivel of his hips and a simultaneous wave of his foot, he wrong footed three covering defenders (THREE!). Sensing an opening (he could hardly have seen his target from where he was standing), and with hardly any back-lift, he toe poked a shot of outrageous power past a stationary Petr Cech. The Czech goalie’s expression of complete wonder - as if he can’t quite digest what has just happened - says it all.
We must remember that this was the defence in the world (at the time), behind whom prowled the best goalkeeper in the world (at the time) and as always during that remarkable period in Chelsea’s history, their positional discipline had been excellent. It was almost perfect. Almost.
John Terry would go onto score the vital fourth goal for Chelsea as they saw off wave after wave of Barca attack, but after that night, more than the victory (and the high quality of the match) what resonated was the magic of Ronaldinho
He showed the world that even the greatest of defences can be unlocked with just a wave of the wand that is his right foot and he showed that it didn’t matter whether it was a Champions League humdinger at Stamford Bridge or a World Cup cracker at Shizouka – for him, every football match was just like any other friendly kick-about he used to have with his pals on one Porto Alegre’s lovely beaches.
#9 Alan Smith vs Roma - Quarterfinals, 2006-07
Manchester United have never put in a more convincing performance in Europe than the one they did against an unsuspecting Roma side at Old Trafford in the 2007 edition of the Champions League. After coming with a valuable away goal from the Stadio Olimpico, United still faced a tough task against a highly skilled Roma outfit led as always by their indomitable captain, Francesco Totti.
The visitors however were obliterated by a display of the greatest footballing skill played out at break neck speed. Of the seven they scored the pick was the second goal scored by that most unlikely of scorers, Alan Smith. The fiery Englishman had had his leg broken and ankle dislocated at Anfield fourteen months ago, and he had just recently made his first start post that horrific injury. Straight it into the heat of battle, then!
Even if we keep aside the great human drama of it all, it’s a shame that the goal came in the midst of such attacking excellence, as it probably didn’t get the kind of adulation it deserved. It was a move that was trademark Manchester United, a flurry of one touch passes played at high speed that saw the ball moved from their own penalty box to the opposition’s goal in about ten seconds.
This was a brilliant team goal – not all great team goals have to involve 35 passes and 3 minutes of unbothered possession within one’s half – a training ground routine that was executed at high speed and with superlative skill at the highest level of competition.
The move started off deep in United’s half, and picked up speed by the time two one-touch passes had reached Gabriel Heinze on the left, his first time effort finding Giggs whose final ball through to Smith was a thing of beauty. The striker showed incredible composure to open up his body, let the ball run past him and smash a first time volley into the back of the net.
The move, and the goal, epitomized everything that was good about Manchester United – in terms of football and the incredibly fast, incisive passing and ruthless finishing as well as the nature of the club, to keep their faith with players who had had to suffer long injury lay-offs.
#10 Lionel Messi vs Real Madrid, Semifinal, 2010-11
When you make the extra-ordinary look commonplace on day-to-day basis, nothing you do seems to stand out as exceptional, for the benchmark you set is so damn high. This is a sad truth of life, and no one knows that better than Lionel Andrés Messi.
The great Argentine has scored so many goals, so often that we rarely pause to think about the incredible amount of skill that goes into each individual goal. The man has practically ruled over the continental competition with a velvet covered iron fist for most of the recent years.
As consummate as his performances were in the 2009 winning Champions League campaign, the extreme heights of Messi’s magic were still on show for the world to see in 2011. The previous year, Messi had single handedly blown away Arsenal, and this time around it was pretty much the same story. The goal he scored - where he ran on to Andres Iniesta’s genius through ball and rounded the keeper with a delicate chip carrying the ball over the goalkeeper (that’s right, he didn’t go through the legs, he didn’t go for a lob, he chipped the ball over the poor guy to himself) - was astounding in the fact that he made such ridiculously tough skill look like child’s play.
At the next stage he would go one better, when with tie seemingly meandering along to a routine one-nil victory, when he received the ball somewhere on the halfway line in the 88th minute. He touched the ball onto Sergio Busquets, who did what most sensible men would have done and just stood there with the ball at his feet, from where Messi took it and embarked on one of those magical scurrying runs that tend to prompt defenders into questioning their career choices.
Weaving through five defenders as if they were merely traffic cones, he sprinted into the area where he slipped the ball past Iker Casillas with the kind of easy calm that comes from knowing you are the best player in the world. Casillas stood there berating his defence, but in his heart, he surely must have known there was nothing they could have done - this was sublime genius at its irresistible best.
