Football is a team sport, so all players must strictly follow the strategy that the coach has established. However, there are also many cases where the level of a player can stand out of the team and beyond the plan set up before. They can turn the game into their own stage, where each of their moves can be the key to decide the final score.
The history of world football has witnessed countless such performances, and here is the top list of 10 matches in the real sense of “on their own”. Also, you can follow the greatest matches at dabong.net now.
The 10 Most Significant “On Their Own” Moments
1. Luis Suarez vs. Norwich City (2013)
Luis Suarez is a worry for Norwich City whenever this player has the opportunity to compete with “The Canaries”. The Uruguayan striker has scored 11 goals after only five encounters between the two. The most excellent performance of Suarez is undoubtedly the confrontation in 2013.
That day, Suarez made 4 “booms” on the net of Norwich. All four “shootings” of the 26-year-old star are beautifully scored with his high-level skills.
Luis Suarez/ Source: https://express.co.uk
If the opening goal in the 19th minute was perfect from a distance of 36.5 meters, the second one with his left foot showed how good his skill is. After only 35 minutes, Liverpool’s No. 7 completed a hat-trick with a solo performance from the outside of the goal area.
Of course, the last goal scored from the penalty mark made spectators in Anfield took off their hats. Finally, Suarez assisted Sterling to finish the match of 5-1 to Liverpool in the 88th minute.
2. Lionel Messi vs. Arsenal (2010)
The world calls the name – Lionel Messi over the years, but we cannot forget the greatest moments of his career on April 6th, 2010. That’s when Barcelona meet Arsenal in the quarter-finals of the Champions League at the Nou Camp.
With a tie in the result on the first leg, Arsenal went to the Nou Camp with the ambition of magnificently overthrowing the champion. Amazingly, Messi appeared and wholly submerged the London team with 4 consecutive goals. Thanks to that, Barca overcame Arsenal with a total score of 6-3 after two matches.
3. Gareth Bale vs. Inter Milan (2010)
90 minutes in the match between Tottenham and Inter in the Champions League in 2011 brought Gareth Bale to the world.
In the first round of the 2010/11 Champions League, Tottenham was led by a 4-0 score, and only ten team members were left on the field. But Gareth Bale scored a hat trick against the team from Serie A. In the second leg, Bale continued to be a nightmare for Maicon, who was called the most excellent defender in the world at that time. In the end, Tottenham won Inter Milan with a score of 3-1.
4. Cristiano Ronaldo vs. Sweden (2013)
This is one of the best performances of Cristiano Ronaldo during his career. Failure in the first round forced Ronaldo to confront Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the play-off match for the final round’s ticket of the 2014 World Cup. In the first leg, Ronaldo scored the only goal to help Portugal win 1-0 at home ground.
Cristiano Ronaldo in World Cup 2014/ Source: https://sportskeeda.com
In the second leg, while Ibrahimovic shone with a brace, the Portuguese captain was even better when scoring three goals, thereby helping “Brazil of Europe” to overcome Sweden and get the ticket to participate in the final round of World Cup.
5. Jermain Defoe vs. Wigan Athletic (2009)
For a player, scoring three goals in a match is so fantastic. Not many can get more than three goals in a match. However, Jermain Defoe did such an impossible thing. That’s when he met Wigan in a match in 2009, here Tottenham won with an unbelievable score of 9-1.
With this incredible feat, Jermain Defoe, along with Andy Cole and Alan Shearer, were the only players who scored five goals in a Premier League match until 2009. However, to achieve this, Andy Cole needed 68 minutes, Shearer needed 54 minutes while Defoe only scored from 51st minute to 87th minute.
6. Dimitar Berbatov vs. Blackburn Rovers (2010)
One year after Defoe’s victory, Dimitar Berbatov (former Man United’s attacker) regained it in Premier League.
In the match between United and Blackburn Rovers, Berbatov went into history when becoming the fourth name that scored five goals in a match. But it was worth to mention because this Bulgarian attacker was “ignorant” during the previous ten rounds.
7. Andrei Arshavin vs. Liverpool (2009)
Andrei Arshavin vs. Liverpool in 2009/ Source: https://independent.co.uk
This is considered one of the best heroic matches in the history of confrontation between Liverpool and Arsenal. At that time, Andrey Arshavin had just joined in Arsenal. The Russian attacker was expected to make a turning-point in the race to the Premier League’s Champion.
The first half of the match had only one goal by Arshavin, but in the second half, Fernando Torres and Yossi Benayoun gave Liverpool the lead in turn. Three minutes later, Arshavin scored two more goals, so Arsenal went ahead 3-2. Although the last score was 4-4 draw, Arshavin had an unbelievable performance that brought his name to the world.
8. Lionel Messi vs. Bayer Leverkusen (2012)
Lionel Messi/ Source: https://sportstar.thehindu.com
The name Lionel Messi continued to be called in 2012. This Argentine attacker became the hero in Barcelona’s 7-1 victory against Leverkusen in the 1/8 Champions League round of 2011/12.
Messi came back from the break, and he showed an impressive performance when scoring five goals, thereby helping the Catalan team defeat the representative from Germany with a score of 7-1.
From this moment, Messi became the first player who can do such a miracle in UEFA Champions League history.
9. Ronaldo de Lima vs. Manchester United (2003)
Ronaldo de Lima (Ro-Ro) had a memorable match of his career against Manchester United in the quarter-final of the UEFA Champions League 2002/03.
In the first leg, Real won Man United with a 3-1 score at the Bernabeu, so the Reds changed to attacking strategy. But it could not help the English team to get the ticket to go on.
That day, Ronaldo netted the Man United 3 times, thereby helping Real win the final 6-5 after two matches.
10. Ronaldinho vs. Real Madrid (2005)
The match in El Clasico on November 19, e 2005 marked one of the best moments in the history of confrontation between Real Madrid and Barcelona.
At the Santiago Bernabeu that day, two goals that the Brazilian legend draw that day helped him to receive applause from the fans of the rival.
Conclusion
All football lovers in the world will never forget the great moments that these footballers brought for the glorious football history. We will talk about these heroes again and again for our friends and children in the stories or movies. They also pride for their countries and international football.
