It’s the anniversary of Michael Owen’s wondergoal against Argentina at the 1998 World Cup, and that got us thinking about some of football’s most breathtaking moments.
They don’t have to be the best strikes ever scored, but sometimes the combination of occasion and importance will see a goal lift us out of our seats in sheer amazement.
Owen’s was one of those, giving us real belief that England could go on and win the World Cup (well, for a couple of hours at least).
Here are five more of our favourites, which inspired that same blend of childlike excitement and a real ‘you remember where you were when…’ quality.
Zinedine Zidane v Bayer Leverkusen, 2002
By the time he made his world record move to Real Madrid, Zinedine Zidane’s ability was not in question, or at least it shouldn’t have been.
He had led France to World Cup glory and won Player of the Tournament at Euro 2000, yet for some there was still doubt in much the same way that many on these shores questioned Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s ability for so long.
The doubters were silenced in one motion with a goal that brought gasps from sofas across Europe, as a sumptous volley – on his weaker foot no less – won Real the Champions League.
Scoring a goal like this anywhere is impressive, but to do so on the biggest stage in club football is the mark of a true great.
Wayne Rooney v Manchester City, 2011
Everyone has an opinion on Wayne Rooney, and that will generally depend on how old you were when you saw him break through for Everton and England. If you were still young and impressionable when a teenage Rooney breezed past defenders at Euro 2004, you might have become disillusioned by the functional goalscorer he has become.
In contrast, if you saw others burn out before him after moments of flickering genius, you may repeatedly say to yourself “well, it could be a lot worse”. Regardless of which side of the fence you find yourself on, Rooney’s winner in the Manchester derby may well have caused you to rub your eyes in disbelief.
The game was symbolic for Manchester City’s pursuit of their more revered neighbours, with years of big spending finally elevating them to a point at which they could compete on a level footing with United. It would take something really special to see them off. Something like an acrobatic bicycle-kick winner.
There might have been 12 minutes left when Rooney struck, but it seemed like everyone, even the other players on the pitch, knew there was no way it wouldn’t be the winner. Somehow it looked as though the mid-2000s Rooney had stashed this one away, thinking he might need to use it later in his career, and you better believe it was going to be important.
Fernando Torres v Barcelona, 2012
It might be better known for Gary Neville’s infamous ‘goalgasm’, but the brilliance of Torres’ break-away strike at Camp Nou cannot be overstated.
Chelsea won the first leg of their semi-final 1-0, but had been all but written off, even before Barcelona drew level on aggregate.
Gary Cahill’s injury and John Terry’s red card left Chelsea with only one recognised centre-back on the pitch, so even when Lionel Messi missed a second-half penalty it still seemed a matter of when, not if, Barca would seal the deal.
While Torres’ goal wasn’t actually decisive, it killed Barcelona’s hopes and punctured the enormous pressure on Chelsea. The Spaniard had found the net just four times in more than 40 Premier League games for his new club after joining for £50m, but here he was coming good when it mattered…
Sergio Aguero v QPR, 2012
The 2011-12 season offered so much, and that’s not just a case of viewing it with rose-tinted glasses in the aftermath of a dismal 2014-15 campaign. While Chelsea were defying the odds in Europe, Manchester City were doing the same at home, making up an eight-point deficit on United only to seemingly throw it away against 10-man QPR on the final day.
Sky Sports’ final day simulcast, coupled with United ending their game against Sunderland top of the ‘as things stand’ table, made for an edge-of-the-seats stadium-like atmosphere in pubs up and down the country.
United fans were waiting to celebrate, City fans were practicing their ‘not again’ faces even after Dzeko’s header gave them hope, and neutrals were just hoping for excitement. When Agueroooooooooo almost broke Martin Tyler’s voice box, we just might have seen records broken for the number of pints simultaneously thrown up into the air.
Whether down to excitement, bemusement or a combination of the two, anyone not already on their feet was lifted off their seat by sheer force of drama.
Brazil 1-7 Germany, 2014
Less a case of jumping out of one’s seat and more an example of standing over it never to return, the World Cup semi-final almost reinvented the notion of preposterousness.
On more than one occasion, you had barely finished rubbing your eyes from one German goal only to see them find the net again, as the eventual champions raced into a 5-0 half-time lead.
Brazil had been lucky to scrape through against Chile and Colombia in earlier rounds, so a simple 3-0 humbling would not have been a huge shock. But this was on another level.
Rarely has a group of fans gone from optimism to confusion to despair in such a short space of time, and some have taken the best part of a year to recover from it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo2_yFv1kmQ
