The 10 Greatest Football Games in History and Why They're Iconic

Do you know what the greatest football matches of all time were?

We from the Sem Firula team chose the 10 biggest football games for you. The criteria used were technical level, historical relevance and emotional factor of the match (how much it moved the spectators).

Obviously, there will always be an important game missing from these lists, so don't forget to comment on which matches were missing, and which match you consider to be the greatest of all time. Let's get to the list!

Firstly, we have the final story of the 2022 World Cup, in which Argentina became three-time World Champion, in a game full of twists and turns, including Kylian Mbappé's Hat-Trick, in regulation time, scoring his 4th goal of Penalty on charges.

This final is considered the greatest World Cup final due to its historical context, Mbappé was very close to winning his second consecutive World Cup. And on the other side, the star of this generation, Lionel Messi, was looking for one of the only titles he was missing to finally enshrine him in the Football pantheon as one of the best of all time.

In technical terms, the game was one of the highest level matches of all time. With emphasis on Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, who, with his strong personality, made miraculous saves during the game, and saved 1 penalty during alternating penalties, being one of the main elements in the Argentine victory.

This final is one of the most historic games of all time, due to a war context. England and Argentina, a few years before this final, fought bloodily over the territory of the Falkland Islands. The dispute ended with an English victory, which generated a culture of disgust among the Argentines towards the English due to the casualties and great violence that occurred during the battles.

Thus, the atmosphere at the Azteca stadium in Mexico City was not at all pleasant among the fans.

This final was marked by one of the greatest performances by a player in cup finals, with Diego Maradona scoring two historic goals. The first at 6 minutes into the second half, with his hand, known as “The Hand of God”, and the second, 4 minutes later, after dribbling through the entire English defense, he scores the goal known as the “Goal of the Century”.

After and before the game, several English “Hooligans” came into conflict with the Argentine “Barra Bravas”, who stole flags from the English, leaving several “Hooligans” hospitalized.

This was the first time that two teams, already world champions, faced each other in a final. The Brazilian team of 70 is still considered one of the best football teams of all time, which won the matches of this cup, with a very visible superiority over its opponents.

This was Pelé's last World Cup, who, to this day, is the only player in the world with 3 World Cups. With this title, Brazil became the first triple-champion team in the world, and marked Pelé in the history books as the greatest player of all time.

This game has enormous historical relevance for Brazil as a football country, and in technical terms, few teams have come close to the technical level performed by the Brazilian team of 70.

In the first game, PSG scored 4 goals against the merciless Barcelona of the most decisive attacking trio of all time. Neymar, Messi and Suarez were going through one of the best phases at the club, which was currently the greatest power in Europe.

The 4-0 in the first game was a laughing stock in several European newspapers, which already declared Barcelona eliminated from the Champions League.

The return game at Camp Nou was marked by one of the biggest and most controversial football comebacks of all time, with a direct goal from a free kick by Neymar, an own goal by PSG and a simulation by Suarez, which guaranteed a penalty for the Barcelona.

Sergi Roberto's last goal at 95 of the second half is marked by one of the greatest narrations in Brazilian football with André Henning's striking phrase: “My Lady! The impossible happened, my God in heaven!”

This game may not have any historical relevance for non-Brazilians, however, it is without a shadow of a doubt the biggest match in Brazilian national football.

This game was marked by the confrontation between Neymar and Ronaldinho Gaúcho.

In this match we had it all:

Hat-trick by Ronaldinho, including a free kick with the ball going under the wall

Neymar's double, one of his goals was awarded the 2011 Puskás.

Santos scored 3x0 before 25 minutes of the first half, and Flamengo in less than 16 minutes, tied the game 3x3 in the first half.

Santos misses a penalty, which the player Elano hits with a “Cavadinha”. Flamengo goalkeeper Felipe, after defending, makes three throws with the ball in celebration.

Due to this game, free kicks with the ball under the barrier began to become popular in Brazil, thus a tactic was created of leaving a player lying on the ground, behind the barrier, to prevent this from happening.

Italian football was going through a great phase at that time, and Milan was considered one of the best clubs in the world, with a gigantic squad, with names like Kaká, Pirlo, Dida, Gatusso, Shevchenko, Maldini, Cafu and Seedorf, truly a national team.

The game was marked by a 3-0 Milan score in the first half, with the first goal scored in the first minute, opening a considerable advantage on the scoreboard and in the morale of the players. During the break, the Liverpool fans kept singing the famous song “You’ll never walk alone”, which impressed the Italian press, who were confused by the English party despite losing 3-0.

Driven by the fans, Liverpool, led by Xabi Alonso and Gerrard, scored 3 goals, tying the game in the second half, taking the match to penalties. In the kicks, Pirlo, Serginho and Shevchenko were wasteful, for Milan, bleeding Liverpool as champions of the Champions League in a historic turnaround.

This final was marked by deciding who would be the first four-time world champion team. It was the second time that Brazil faced Italy in the finals, creating a rivalry between the countries in terms of football.

This was the first cup final decided on penalties, which were one of the most iconic penalties in world football.

Brazil had goalkeeper Taffarel, and strong hitters like Dunga, Romário and on the other side, Italy had one of the greatest Italian players of all time, generational idol Roberto Baggio.

Márcio Santos misses the first Brazilian penalty, leaving everyone tense, then Baresi for Italy also misses it. Taffarel saves the 4th Italian kick, and Roberto Baggio kicks out on the 5th kick, consecrating Brazil as four-time world champions.

This World Cup was marked by the legendary narration by Galvão Bueno, who shouted “IT’S TETRA!” hugging Pele.

Bayern had been winning the match since the 6th minute of the first half with Mario Basler's goal. In stoppage time of the second half, after the legendary football coach, Alex Ferguson, put players Teddy Sheringham and Gunnar Solskjær on the field, both scored in the 91st and 93rd minutes of the second half, respectively.

United hadn't won a Champions League in 31 years.

This final was marked by the Madrid city derby, with its two main teams reaching the final of Europe's biggest competition.

Atlético scored in the first half with Godín, in the 36th minute. The game goes into extra time in the second half, and when everyone thought that Atlético would end Real Madrid's dominance as the best European club, Sergio Ramos scores in the 93rd minute, tying the game and taking the match to extra time.

During extra time, Bale scores midway through the first half, and Marcelo scores at the start of the second. In the 120th minute, Cristiano Ronaldo scored from the penalty spot, making it 4 goals to 1 in a historic match that seemed to be lost to the sovereign Real Madrid.

Where were you in 7x1?

This is the question that every Brazilian asks, similar to the “where were you on September 11th” question that Americans ask, alluding to this being the greatest tragedy to happen on Brazilian soil.

This sad game was not marked by its technical level, but it is certainly one of the most memorable games of this generation, for a result that was a source of national ridicule, shame and humiliation for Brazilians.

If you've read this far, thank you very much, I hope you had fun and enjoyed the content.

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