Just a friendly thread, whereby we post two goals with some (at least vague) similarity and comparability in terms of quality and other posters can pick the one they think is best, or alternatively just the one they like the most from an enjoyment perspective: I'll kick it off with Gianfranco Zola vs Wimbledon (FA Cup 1997) & Neymar vs Villarreal (La Liga 2015/16)
Now I think about it this goal by Paul Gascoigne might have been a good one to compare to Neymar's (vs Scotland Euro 96) But I'll put it against Matt Le Tissier vs Newcastle (Premier League 93/94)
And finally from me for now (this should be enough to be getting on with) another each from Del Piero (vs Lazio - Serie A 94/95) and Le Tissier (vs Blackburn - Premier League 94/95): Yeah, so just feel free to pick the best IYO or just your favourite of the two in each case. And to post your own options (you can venture more outside the 1990's of course!, and some team goals would be very welcome rather than only individual ones - although there were a few nice passes involved for some of those anyway).
That's a close one! I placed Belanov's goal two spots higher when I made a World Cup goals video (but on another day the order and inclusions would surely vary a bit): So I'll go with that, even though the Matthaus goal, from an individual perspective, involved a long run from midfield; Belanov takes it on the spectacular final shot if anything!
I like Belanov's cause it hit the bar! Manfred Burgsmueller Klaus Fischer Both shots did against Switzerland(1977 friendly). Actually Manfred's was disallowed by referee. Fischer's goal was awarded goal of the year, goal of the decade, goal of the century.
I'll go with Fischer's there I think, for distance/quality and not cos it wasn't disallowed. (Many people are free to make calls on each goal btw).
Gotta be Neymar's goal for me. I think the initial skill Neymar did with the incoming ball was a bit tougher. But, more importantly, he volleyed the ball on its way down, while Zola didn't do something equivalent. In essence, there were two super impressive things about Neymar's goal and one super impressive thing about Zola's. Zola's goal happened in a more important match, I suppose. But it should be pointed out that Villarreal is really good this season and has an elite defense, so this was still an important match and was against a tough opponent. Also, I'll note that I'm fairly upset because I was in Barcelona during that Villarreal match, but had chosen to go to the match before that instead. I could've been in the Camp Nou for that goal!
Le Tissier seems better to me because it's basically the same thing but with an added great first touch and dink over one opponent beforehand. Gascoigne's was in a bigger moment, though. Overall, I still go Le Tissier, but it's close!
Costa for me. The topspin on that was marvelous. I'd take Suarez's similar goal against Norwich over Costa's though.
Burgsmüller later said in an interview "you know what's funny? I scored a spectacular goal just like Fischer did in the very same game but it was disallowed! History would have changed if the goal had counted!" (not a quote but from memory). Seeing the two goals we can see that Fischer's was clearly in a different league compared to Burgsmüller's (who even stopped the ball with his chest before kicking it). Both crosses by Fischer's Schalke teammate Rüdiger Abramczik.
At the start of the Burgsmüller clip one can see left back Bernard Dietz (#3) on the right side of the pitch. This illustrates the man-marking still used by Germany in the 1970s where each defender followed his assigned opponent regardless of keeping any kind of defensive order. It shows the tactical backwardedness of the highest-ranking German manager of the time, Helmut Schön. One his statements regarding zonal defense was this: "in zonal defense the players get into a state of disorder more swiftly (than in other systems)".
I'd have to go with Bergkamp's, but if the Zidane one had been scored at the end of a knockout World Cup game also then that'd probably make me think twice.