Best performance from one player you've ever witnessed live

Flipz4Rollz

What is the best performance form one plyer over 90 minutes you've ever witnessed live. A performance so good you were in awe.

Mine would be:

-Duff vs spain 2002 World Cup second round

-Ronaldinho vs Real Madrid 2004 La Liga

-Beckham vs Olympaikos 2004 Champions League Group Stage(I know people will say it was a nothing match but it was the best passing performance i've ever witnessed. It didnt really matterwho he was palying. He was hitting 50-yard passes for fun! I've tried youtubing it but nothing shows up.)

keane2097

Roy Keane against Holland in WCQ 2001.

noodler

Rivaldo hat-trick against Valencia to pip said team for fourth place a couple of seasons back.

~Rebel~

Grudgingly, one of the best would be Roy Keane for ManU against Juventus in the second leg of the champions league semi final 99.

edit> Is this only meant to be games you just saw live, or in person?

If its the latter, then probably Steve Finnan for Liverpool at home against Porto in the champions league, year before last - the game where Rafa's job was on the line and we had the march for him from the Sandon to Anfield. Its the best I've ever seen him play, he was absolutely immense both in defence and in attack.

OPENROAD

Very hard to say, could pick many many Thierry Henry matches for Arsenal, possibly the Liverpool match stands out, but very hard to say.

Liam O

keane2097 wrote: »

Roy Keane against Holland in WCQ 2001.

goin to say Keane against Portugal in 2001, but then I didn't go to the Holland match...still think he played better against Portugal though, he was the team that day whereas it was much more of a team effort against Holland.

Agricola

Roy against Juve in the champions league semi final of 99 maybe.

ParkRunner

Paul McGrath against Italy in 1994.

Helix

EF wrote: »

Paul McGrath against Italy in 1994.

bastard

deisedevil

Again, Keano vs. Juve. My favourite player ever to watch and his best performance.

Julez

deisedevil wrote: »

Again, Keano vs. Juve. My favourite player ever to watch and his best performance.

Same again. and he got banned from the final pretty early on for his yellow.

TonyD79

Nani vs Arsenal Fa Cup 2008 !!

eZe^

noodler wrote: »

Rivaldo hat-trick against Valencia to pip said team for fourth place a couple of seasons back.

Without at doubt.

Barca won 3-2 that game, with Rivaldo's last goal being 'that' overhead kick in the closing minutes of the game to seal a victory. That victory meant Barca got the 4th CL spot (and not Valencia). And it's that CL spot that ensured Barca had the financial power to buy the likes of Ronaldinho. Otherwise they would have been consumed by debt. Some people think that game is the difference between Barcelona being what they are today, and being a high level mid table team.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2ujBOUQIxw

TonyD79

I extremelly doubt Barca would have struggled had Rivaldo not scored and Ronaldinho wasnt that expensive in fact no where near a world record fee.Barca were struggling when he joined considering Beckham rejected them.For Barca and Real 2nd place is struggling!!!

eZe^

TonyD79 wrote: »

I extremelly doubt Barca would have struggled had Rivaldo not scored and Ronaldinho wasnt that expensive in fact no where near a world record fee.Barca were struggling when he joined considering Beckham rejected them.For Barca and Real 2nd place is struggling!!!

Mate, you don't realise how fcuked Barca were financially before Laporta became president. The debt was eating up the club, and you could see that in the league finishes. There no trophies won in a 5 year period - 1999 and 2004, it was because we were financially going to the dogs. That CL qualification meant we had some extra revenue, as well as better buying power (top players want to be in the CL).

Ronaldinho cost a little over 32 million euro, which may seem a drop in the water now compared to Barca's spending power, but it was a huge amount of money for a team that was trying to service hundreds of millions of euros worth of debt while in a barren trophy spell. Laporta and Ronaldinho have to a certain extent made the club what it is today, and I don't think that would have been possible without consistent CL qualification, and in 2000-2001, Rivaldo single handedly ensured that in the final game of the season. Best individual performance I've ever seen.


Here are some other biased Barca performances that could be contenders;

A boy called Lionel Messi. 19 years of age, at the Camp Nou playing against rivals Real Madrid in the biggest club game on earth. His team go down to 10 men, but he manages to score a hat-trick to clench a vital 3-3 draw, the last goal being in extra time. Absolutely amazing tbh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbAfbTqbzVU

Ronaldinho vs Real Madrid at the Bernabeu. Untouchable, his two goals were breath taking, and his performances earned a standing ovation from the Madridista faithful, the last player to earn that being Diego Maradona.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz3yOlNgwt0

Boskowski

I guess that must have been Franciosco Copados performance in 'our' 1998 cup tie with Hertha.

3hn2givr7mx1sc

Owen Hargreaves on the right wing against Roma.

Paul Tergat

Ronaldo for Madrid vs United.

To see every one of us in the whole stadium stand up and applaud an opposition player being subbed showed just how good he had been.

Xavi6

Zidane v Brazil, both 98 and 06

dfx-

Telly live - Barcelona v Valencia

Live live - Paddy McCourt v Bray in 2005

The_Kew_Tour

On telly Duff against Spain

At game, Dave Barry against Bayern Munich in 1991 for part timer against a team that had players who just won WORLD cup year before was fantastic.

FlawedGenius

Defo Rivaldo against Valencia. Considering what it meant at the time aswell. I loved Rivaldo, hed try anything. A mad bo!!ocks aswell:P

Flipz4Rollz

GerCPM wrote: »

Defo Rivaldo against Valencia. Considering what it meant at the time aswell. I loved Rivaldo, hed try anything. A mad bo!!ocks aswell:P

He'd try anything alright: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVksdN4QnvA

Muff_Daddy

Unfortunitly I only saw highlights or Rivaldo vs Valencia, so best performances I've witnessed life -

Keane vs Juventus 99 semi final
Schmeichel vs Bayern 99 final
Beckham vs Greece 02 world cup qualifier
Henry vs Leeds 03/04 at highbury in the league (he was unreal that day)
Zidane vs Brazil 06 world cup

ArmaniJeanss

Ruud Gullit, Dalymount 1983. Euro84 qualifier.

Half Time. Ireland 2, Holland 0.
Substitutions at half time, Gullit and Van Basten.

Full time. Ireland 2, Holland 3.
The little afro-ed black kid (as we were calling him then, it was 1983 after all) totally destroyed us with two goals and laying on the other in only his 3rd game for his country.

In truth I didn't appreciate it at the time as much as I should have, I'd only been going to games for a year or two and I thought someone did this in every international match.

kinaldo

Tino Asprilla against Barcelona. Newcastle's first ever game in the CL, against the King Louis' soon to be Kings of Spain, he simply did everything. Scored a hat-trick and held the ball up at times seemingly forever as Newcastle clung on for a 3-2 win.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPGe9OrT53Y

chopperbyrne

O Fenômeno - Man Utd vs Real Madrid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31FOdoYKcEc

riflehunter77

EF wrote: »

Paul McGrath against Italy in 1994.

Plus one, what a game and what a performance a true irish legend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQqVsD_eK-4

Soby

Beckham v Greece?

Chardee MacDennis

Arshavin against Liverpool last season, 4 shots - 4 on target - 4 goals afair. Can you ask for anything else from a forward?

tdv

Zidane vs Brazil 06

Xavi & Iniesta vs United 09

Ronaldo vs United 03

Riquelme vs Inter 05

Romario vs Uraguay 93 or 4 not sure.

Maldini vs Brazil 94 (even tho Italy lost Maldini was amazing. Romario & Bebeto couldnt get past the wall Maldini & Baresi had created.)

Schmeichel vs Newcastle 96

Zidane vs Juventus 03 I think it was.

Muff_Daddy

Soby wrote: »

Beckham v Greece?

Yep. Stand by that 100%. I remember at the time watching it and being thououghly impressed with him. He seemed to have covered every blade of grass in that game, and just seemed determined to get his England to the world cup. Capped off with an amazing free kick to put them there, unbelievalbe composure considering he came close with about 5 frees prior to that. Criminally underrated player overall is Beckham - outside of Enland that is.



I'd also like to add McGrath vs Italy - that slipped my mind.

therokerroar

Thierry Henry. Sunderland V Arsenal around 4 years ago. I'm a SAFC fan myself but the whole of the Stadium of Light gave Henry a standing ovation, pure class.

Leeside

Gunther Netzer against Cork Hibs early 70's

major bill

roy keane v iceland 1997 world cup qualifier

roy keane v juventus 1999 champions league semi final

roy keane v cyprus 2001 world cup qualifyer

kevin hunt v bate borisov 2003 champions league qualifier bohs won 3-0

keith fahey v hertha berlin 2008 uefa cup first round

just some irish performances i can think off

Hammer Archer

One that sticks out in my mind is Rob Green in goals against Arsenal at the Emirates in 2007 (our great escape year). Single handedly kept Arsenal out by making so many unbelievable saves. Probably was the difference between staying up and being relegated.

therokerroar

Hammer Archer wrote: »

One that sticks out in my mind is Rob Green in goals against Arsenal at the Emirates in 2007 (our great escape year). Single handedly kept Arsenal out by making so many unbelievable saves. Probably was the difference between staying up and being relegated.

I remember that game well as my mate had stuck €20 on West Ham to win and won about €250 back lol.

IIRC, Zamora scored for you lot after about 10 minutes and Rob Green single handedly kept the out for the remaining 80 minutes. He must have made at least 8 top, top saves that day.

Pity he's so inconsistent because on his day he really is a good goalkeeper.

Ush1

Ronaldinho vs Villareal 2006

Amazing performance, 4-0 with Dinho scoring a pen and finishing with the most ridiculous overhead I've ever seen.

Hammer Archer

therokerroar wrote: »

I remember that game well as my mate had stuck €20 on West Ham to win and won about €250 back lol.

IIRC, Zamora scored for you lot after about 10 minutes and Rob Green single handedly kept the out for the remaining 80 minutes. He must have made at least 8 top, top saves that day.

Pity he's so inconsistent because on his day he really is a good goalkeeper.

Yep I think Zamora's was our only shot on target in that game. Twas just on the stroke of half time and Arsenal were all over us before and after. Best save was a point blank save from Gilberto's header. Only goalkeeping performance that comes close to it was Ludo Miklosko's efforts in denying United the title in 95
IMO he's still a fantastic keeper but his weaknesses have always been his kicking and coming for crosses. The latter has become more apparent recently thanks to our back four regularly going AWOL this season. It's ironic that he's England's number one at the moment yet couldn't get near the squad (he had "England's Number 6" printed on his gloves last season) when he was top of his game.

kincsem

EF wrote: »

Paul McGrath against Italy in 1994.

Paul McGrath against Italy in 1990 for me. We lost, but half the Italian team shook his hand.

kincsem

And Johann Cruyff in the 1974 World Cup, every game.

scudzilla

p_larkin99 wrote: »

Ronaldo for Madrid vs United.

To see every one of us in the whole stadium stand up and applaud an opposition player being subbed showed just how good he had been.

+1

antomorro-sei

Paddy McCourt for Derry City v Pats... We still won 1-0

LuckyLloyd

kincsem wrote: »

And Johann Cruyff in the 1974 World Cup, every game.

Did you watch the games in full at the time Sean? From the highlights / documentaries on that tournament it is clear that the Dutch and Cryuff were just a touch of class. But I'd love to see them in action for a full 90 and properly understand just how dominant they were.

marwelie

Ronaldo v Villa at Old Trafford in 2008. his backheeled pass to Rooney for his first goal that day was nothing short of miraculous considering the conditions.

Keane v Juventus at Old Trafford in 1999. Its all been said before but if anyone ever has been better in a red shirt than Keane was that night I'll eat my hat.

Schmeichel v Newcastle 1st Half Old Trafford 1996. Singlehandly kept Utd in the game. Cantona scored the winner in the ultimate smash and grab.

Much to my disgust Ludo Miklosko for West Ham Utd v Utd in 1995 at Old Trafford. On any other day Utd would have murdered them.

Special mention to fat Ronaldos performance against Utd at Old Trafford

antomorro-sei

major bill wrote: »

keith fahey v hertha berlin 2008 uefa cup first round

This too.

Fratton Fred

No particular performance springs to mind, but I witnessed Robert Prozinecki win several games almost single handedly. The guy is/was a football genius