Image by Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay
With the news this week that, after a two month interlude, English football will soon be returning to our screens, football fans will not have to wait much longer to get their fix. With the Premier League set to return on 17th June and the English Football League set for the 20th June, the long awaited drought will soon be over.
Our screens will instead be flooded with games almost non-stop, with the Premier League announcing that there will be new slots available for games. Matches are set to be played throughout the weekend, but also on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings. With still two weeks to go though, here are five games from the past that you should be watching before football returns to our screens.
Fulham 4 – 1 Juventus | 18th March 2010
In the 2009/10 season, Fulham went on a European run to rival the best of them. Taking on the likes of German champions Wolfsburg, to reining champions Shaktar Donetsk, the small south western club only fell at the final hurdle, being beaten 2-1 in extra time by Spanish side Atletico Madrid.
But it was their last 16 tie against Italian giants Juventus that best captures the magic of their Europa League run. 3-1 down in the first leg, Roy Hodgson’s side had a tough hill to climb, made only harder by conceding within the first 2 minutes, with David Trezeguet opening the scoring. Just minutes later, Fulham striker Bobby Zamora netted to put Fulham back into the game, before Juventus’ World Cup winning captain saw a red card. Over the next hour Fulham fought back, with a Zoltan Gera double putting Fulham 3-1 up on the night, needing just one goal to head into the quarter final.
With mounting pressure from the Juventus attack, which included Brazil international Diego, Fulham brought on their bruising American attacker, Clint Dempsey. With just minutes left to play, Dempsey pulled out an audacious chip from the edge of the box, seeing the ball fly over the head of the Juventus keeper. Sending the white through against the 35-time Italian champions.
Liverpool 3-3 AC Milan | 25th May 2005
Despite famously never winning the Premier League title, Liverpool have a rich recent history in Europe’s premier competition, reaching four of the last 15 finals and winning the trophy twice. In 2005, Liverpool headed into the game against a legendary AC Milan side – which featured Balon D’or winners Andriy Shevchenko and Kaka, as well as Clarence Seedorf, Cafu and Paolo Maldini. Despite a strong squad, Liverpool were forced to field a comparatively weak side, with Djimi Traore at left back and Jerzy Dudek in goal.
The gulf in class was apparent, Liverpool found themselves pegged back immediately and went behind after just one minute, Paolo Maldini volleying home an Andrew Pirlo free kick, conceded by Djimi Traore.
By half time Liverpool were 3-0 down, thanks to a double from Hernan Crespo. Whatever Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez said at half time clearly worked; within 10 minutes Steven Gerrard had pulled one back and just two minutes later Smicer made it 3-2. Steven Gerrard put in perhaps the game of his career and within just 15 minutes of the second half Xabi Alonso had made it 3-3. That night in Istanbul has gone down in history as one of the great comebacks, completed when Liverpool held on at 3-3 until the game went to penalties. Jerzy Dudek the surprise hero; putting off Serginho with goal mouth antics, before saving penalties from Andrea Pirlo and Andriy Shevchenko. The trophy headed back to England.
Barcelona 6-1 Paris Saint Germain | 8th March 2017
The game that made Neymar. Luis Enrique’s Barcelona side found themselves 4-0 in the tie after a being dismantled in Paris by their attack of Edinson Cavani, Angel di Maria and Julian Draxler. PSG headed into the game at the Nou Camp with an incredible chance of breaking their duck – failing to ever get past the last 16 stage of the Champions League.
Enrique threw caution to the wind, starting with a 3-5-2 that saw them dominate the early stages of the game. Despite dominating, with 71% possession and peppering the PSG goal, they found themselves still 5-3 down on aggregate (3-1 up on the night) with just 2 minutes of normal time to go. Then Neymar produced one of the most spectacular individual performances in Champions League history, scoring in the 88th and 92nd minutes, taking the game to 5-5 – but with PSG heading through on away goals.
As time ticked on, Barcelona one a free kick in the final third. It was looped high into the box where Sergi Roberto – the Catalonia native who came on in the second half – was found in space in front of Kevin Trapp, the PSG keeper. Despite overrunning the clock, Roberto smashed home to send Barcelona through and prove the PSG last 16 curse could not be broken. Roberto may have scored the winner, but Neymar’s performance in the last minutes saw him gain the plaudits, joining PSG later that year for a world record €220 million.
Manchester City 3-2 Queens Park Rangers | 13th May 2012
In 2008 Manchester City were beaten 8-1 on the final day of the season by a Middlesbrough side who finished the 13th in the league that season. Just four years later, they would be lifting the Premier League title in the most dramatic fashion.
With the investment of Qatari cash in the summer following their defeat, Manchester City had fast become one of the dominant sides in English football, competing for the title with players such as Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero in their side. Throughout the season they had competed for their title with their cross city rivals, Manchester United for the title, with the result coming down to the final day – they needed a win at home against relegated QPR to seal their first Premier League title.
With just minutes to go, City found themselves 2-1 down. In the 92nd minute, 6ft4 stiker Edin Dzeko popped up to equalise for city, as the table flashed up on screen showing city still 2 points behind. The final whistle had gone in United’s game, beating Sunderland 1-0 meaning as things stood, the title was theirs – the trophy was in transit to the Stadium of Light for their trophy presentation. With just seconds to go, Sergio Aguero scored the most dramatic goal in Premier League history and sent commentator Martin Tyler into a frenzy. “Aguerooooo” had sealed the most dramatic of title wins with the last kick of the season. “I swear youll never see anything like this ever again”.
Brazil 1 – 7 Germany | 8th July 2014
Brazil last won the World Cup in 2002, led by their star striker – with a dodgy haircut – Ronald Nozario. In 2014, the World Cup was being hosted on Brazilian soil for the first time since 1950, where the Seleção lost in the final to Uruguay. With their new star man – sporting a dodgy haircut – Neymar, the nation dared to dream that they might right the wrongs of 1950.
They had cruised through the tournament, finding themselves in the semi-final against a Germany side that had not won the tournament in two and a half decades. But heading into the semi-final, Neymar found himself out of the game, with captain Thiago Silva suspended. Brazilian breaths were bated at the Maracana stadium, the same place that had played host to their crushing 1950 defeat.
After just 10 minutes the ghosts of World Cups past came back to haunt Brazil, with Germany taking the lead through Bayern Munich’s Thomas Muller. By half time it was 5-0. Brazilian hearts were breaking as their side whimpered against an all-conquering Germany side. By the 80th minute their humiliation was complete, 7-0. Not even a late strike by Oscar could restore their pride. Brazil not only couldn’t they correct the wrongs of 64 years before, but they had suffered their greatest ever humiliation, but they could not resurrect the hopes of their nation, under the shadow of Christ the Redeemer.
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Calum Paton is a History and Politics student at the University of Warwick. His writing predominantly focuses on American and British politics. Twitter: @Paton_Calum
