Perhaps one of the most appealing aspects of soccer is its unpredictable nature. Much like other sports, it’s impossible to tell just how a match is going to turn out, but soccer stands out among the rest for having truly memorable moments that often change the nature of the game altogether.
One of the ways this happens is through the scoring of goals. While goals represent a way of earning points for a team to win, they’re also how the game is often turned in the favour of a specific team in an instant, and some of the goals that have been landed over the years have been truly magnificent. These are some of the great goals ever scored in soccer history.
Zlatan Ibrahimović
While playing in 2004, Ibrahimović landed a goal that instantly turned him into a true soccer legend. He managed to avoid all of his opponents a total of five times as they tried to take the ball away from him as he calmly and skilfully took it to the end of the field and made a neat skill.
It was something to behold for fans at the time as the player displayed a wide range of skill as he made his way past the other team. The team he was a part of at the time, Ajax, won the match 6-2, and it became something of a historical moment for soccer fans.
Roberto Carlos
Roberto Carlos is widely considered by many to be among the greatest players of all time, and there are plenty of examples to choose from when it comes to displaying the athlete’s incredible talent on the field.
Arguably his most well-known is his free-kick that took place in 1997 that left goalkeeper Fabien Barthez totally dazed as the ball sailed past him. It wasn’t the first time that Carlos made history, as another of his famous goals saw him make a player through such a narrow angle that it was close to being impossible to get right, but he somehow managed to do it with just the right timing.
Diego Maradona
Many believe that Diego Maradona’s goal during the 1986 World Cup to be the greatest goal in the history of the game. Playing against England at the time, he grabbed the ball and managed to get past four other players as well as the goal players before shooting it into the net.
It’s a goal that most soccer fans both new and old will be aware of, and it was enough to get Argentina the chance to win the tournament, with Maradona being given the title of the best player at the time, one that he wholly earned through his sheer skill.
Lionel Messi
Regarded as the greatest player of all time, Lionel Messi goal in 2006 while playing against Getafe has been called the best goal ever, one still used for betting tips, and shows many similarities to the one scored by Maradona some two decades before.
With the same starting position, Messi also managed to get around four players before landing the ball, and while there are plenty of similarities, Messi’s finish is considered to be even better.
