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The reasons to watch football are endless. There is the obvious commitment to support one’s team and defend it in the face of rival fans as well as the equally important obligation to enjoy watching rival teams lose with their fans whining and complaining (there are always, of course, rival players we secretly have an unhealthy liking for and so we use this as a premise to watch them play).The quest for following promising youngsters, innovative tactical changes, relegation dogfights and league permutations ensure that a football fan has no dearth of excuses for watching any and every game of football within his/her reach. It is another matter that all these base human reasons sometimes prevent us from experiencing the true joy of the beautiful game.A handful of matches every season quickly remind us why we love the beautiful game. The unpredictability, the competition, the initial euphoria of taking the lead, the disappointment of a missed chance to draw level, the feeling of despair while trying to equalise, the anticipation of a goal and, at the end of it all, the ecstasy of winning on one side coupled with the sorrow of losing on the other.Honourable mentionsSevilla’s season was filled with matches that would keep you at tenterhooks but the Europa League final was the icing on the cake for the Spanish side as they came from behind to win 3-2 against Dnipro to clinch the trophy. Lazio’s 4-2 win away at Napoli was also among the best games of the season but more because of Napoli’s profligacy than Lazio’s brilliance.Their exploits were commendable, but there were still more impressive shows on display. Here’s a look at the 5 most edge-of-the-seat, thrilling encounters of football which were on display in the top divisions of countries across Europe –
#5 Wolfsburg 4-1 Bayern Munich, Volkswagen Arena, 30th January, 2015
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Bayern Munich were in cruise control. The German champions had taken an 11-point lead into the midseason break and the critics of Bundesliga were once again voicing their concerns over the monopoly of the German domestic top division by the Bavarians.
Bayern’s first match after the break was against the second-placed team, VfL Wolfsburg. The Wolves possessed considerable flair going forward and the recent death of young club defender Junior Malanda had left their players full of emotion.
Sure enough, Wolfsburg began the match on a positive note. The home team seemed undaunted by the reputation or the possession game of Guardiola’s men. In the fourth minute itself, they would show the footballing world the perfect game plan to defeat Bayern Munich.
Winning the ball deep in his own half, Maxi Arnold passed the ball out to the right winger, Caliguiri. Caliguiri raced into the space left on the flanks by Bayern’s high line. When stopped by Dante, he passed the ball through the gap left between the former and Boateng, Bayern’s two central defenders.
Kevin De Bruyne, the fulcrum of Wolfsburg’s attack, latched onto the ball and passed it sideways to striker Bas Dost, who expertly slotted it home past Manuel Neuer. The Wolves had just scored against the German champions through a ruthless counter-attack. The duration of the move? 8 seconds.
Throughout the match, Dieter Hecking’s men kept to their game plan - Let Bayern keep the ball, lure them into your own half, give them the false feeling of security. Then, when you get the ball, immediately pass out to the wings, then pass inside to an advanced midfielder (primarily, De Bruyne) and switch wings or shoot.
By the end of the match, Wolfsburg had put 4 past Neuer and they could easily have had at least 2 more. Pep Guardiola had become an easy prey to Hecking and his lack of plan B was evident that night.
But the night belonged to the green and white Wolves. In his goal-scoring celebrations, Kevin De Bruyne looked up and pointed to the heavens – “This one’s for you, Junior. Anything for you..”
#4 Barcelona 3-2 Villareal, Camp Nou, February 1st 2015
Villarreal were visiting Camp Nou on the back of an 18-match unbeaten run. Barcelona too came into the match on the back of impressive performances in the past month following Messi’s return to the right wing.
The match began with Messi tormenting Villareal defenders from the first minute itself. The Argentinean wizard was clearly in the mood, setting up chances for Neymar, Jordi Alba and Iniesta in the first 20 minutes. The attempts at goal were coming up thick and fast for Suarez as well, one of them a goal-bound curling shot inducing a fingertip save from Sergio Asenjo.
Somehow, Villareal managed to not concede and, at the half-hour mark, scored against the run of play through Real Madrid loanee Denis Cheryshev. The away team clearly had a plan to beat Barcelona through swift counter-attacking and the first part of the plan - to get the first goal - had been accomplished.
The waves of Barcelona attacks, though, kept on coming and Neymar equalized at the stroke of half-time after yet another incisive run from Messi. At half-time, things were well and truly level.
The second half arrived with more of the same - Barcelona constantly attacking, Villareal stoically defending and looking dangerous on the counter. In the 51st minute, the Yellow Submarines were ahead for the second time in the match.
Gerard Pique lost possession to Giovanni dos Santos at the half-way line. The Mexican forward ran into vast empty spaces in the Blaugrana half and on reaching the by-line, coolly beat Pique once more to square the ball for Vietto to score.
Barcelona instantly replied. Within two minutes, Iniesta caressed a through ball into the path of Suarez, who squared the ball to Messi. Messi’s header was saved by Asenjo, but the rebound was slotted home by Rafinha. Camp Nou was alive again - this was not a match to be missed.
The game was being played at breakneck speed by now and barely two minutes after Barca’s equalizer, Suarez got the ball just outside the penalty box. Instead of having a go at goal, the Uruguayan laid the ball in the path of the onrushing Messi.
At that moment, Messi finished - he finished the move, he finished Villareal’s dominant spell, he finished the match. Lionel Messi has scored goals far more superior than he did that day, but the efficiency and the effortlessness with which he came running onto the ball and struck a curler, with his weaker right foot no less, right into the far corner of Asenjo’s goal, meant the game was over. Villareal had played well, but the chances of matching this were slim to none.
The encounter with Villareal showcased Barcelona’s newfound strengths under coach Luis Enrique. The direct attacking play, the determination to win from losing positions and the selfless nature of Luis Suarez to complement the brilliance of Messi and Neymar were the key factors which eventually led the Blaugrana to a historic double-treble.
#3 Tottenham Hotspur 5-3 Chelsea, White Hart Lane, January 1st 2015
Jose Mourinho was a worried man around the New Year mark. The Chelsea manager had a strong starting eleven, which had helped him stay atop the Premier League since day 1. The bench, on the other hand, was not contributing enough and the gruelling holiday fixtures meant that Chelsea’s first team was a tired lot.
The away match against Spurs confirmed his fears. Chelsea started the match on a strong note, dominating possession and restricting the home team to their own half. By the 18th minute, they had a goal from Diego Costa to show for their efforts after Eden Hazard had made one of his trademark mesmerizing runs from the wing. They also had a decent penalty shout for Spurs defender Fazio’s handling of the ball.
At the half-hour mark, Danny Rose passed the ball to striker Harry Kane on the left wing. The young English forward was having a breakthrough season already- he had scored in 4 of his last 5 appearances and had established a place in Tottenham’s starting eleven.
The move was a dead end - what could a striker do from the wing? Nothing much, except he could turn inside, escape from the clutches of right-back Ivanovic, dribble past Chelsea’s defensive midfield and rifle a low shot into the bottom far corner of Thibaut Courtois’ goal. Harry Kane had well and truly arrived.
Near half-time, Tottenham struck again, this time Christian Eriksen’s playmaking proving to be decisive and Danny Rose scoring from a goal-post rebound. In first half stoppage-time, Kane was tripped over by Cahill. Penalty, goal. Tottenham 3-1 up. White Hart Lane was delirious with happiness.
At the restart, Kane started off from where he left in the first half. A decisive turn, dribble and shoot to evade Chelsea defenders and beat Courtois once again resulted in a goal as impressive as, if not more than, the first one. He would later sign off the match with an assist to Nacer Chadli for Tottenham’s fifth.
Chelsea tried to come back into the match, with Hazard and Fabregas in particular raising their performance levels, but the Blues were fighting a losing cause. Some of their weaknesses came to light after this match - the lack of mobility of Matic was exposed by Eriksen’s agility while the room given to Chadli and Townsend on the wings was equally worrying. More importantly, Mourinho realized his team would have to adopt a more cautious approach if they were to maintain their lead and win the title.
This match, however, will be remembered for Harry Kane - the childhood Tottenham fan who tormented the meanest defence in the Premier League in his breakthrough season.
#2 Leicester City 5-3 Manchester United, King Power Stadium, 21st September 2014
“We had the game in our pocket, and then we gave it away... WE gave it away!!”
Dutch manager Louis van Gaal came to Manchester United last year and brought along his acclaimed ‘philosophy’. This philosophy, Van Gaal said, was ‘physical, technical and tactical’ and according to him, would help United dominate games as well as develop young players.
The game against Leicester City was United’s fifth of the season and, to be fair to the Dutch manager, United did dominate it, for 60 minutes anyway. What happened next was surely not part of the philosophy.
At 3-1 up in the 62nd minute, United full-back Rafael gave away a penalty after apparently being fouled by Leicester forward Jamie Vardy. Nugent converted from the spot. United felt hard-done by but were still one goal up.
What’s more, they had controlled proceedings the whole match up until then, scored majestic goals (including a goal-of-the-season-contender chip from Angel Di Maria) and attempted outrageous shots (Falcao volleying to hit the crossbar). Surely, all was not lost?
The next Leicester goal showed it was. With the ball in the air over their penalty box, United defenders decided it wasn’t yet time to clear and instead began heading it towards each other. Inevitably, it fell in the path of none other than Esteban Cambiasso.
Cambiasso latched onto the ball and volleyed it into the goal with aplomb. Leicester had equalized, the King Power Stadium was rocking and United had lost before the score-line confirmed it.
The next two goals were mere formalities that confirmed the inevitable. Tyler Blackett, the young defender Van Gaal had promoted to the first team, totally lost the plot - first leaving acres of space for Vardy to concede the fourth and then fouling him in the 18-yard box to give away a penalty and get a red card.
Credit must go the way of Leicester City, notably Jamie Vardy. The 28-year old worked tirelessly throughout the game and thoroughly exposed United’s weakness on the flanks in the diamond formation. The home crowd or the “Blue Army” too backed the Foxes to the hilt and, in return, got an afternoon to remember.
So much for philosophy. Welcome to the Premier League, Louis van Gaal.
#1 Barcelona 3-0 Bayern Munich, Camp Nou, May 6 2015
It was the Champions League semi-final. It was a battle between two European heavyweights. It was Pep Guardiola against his beloved Barca. It was dubbed the UCL ‘Final’ - whoever won this tie, would become champions-elect.
The world of football watched the first leg between Barcelona and Bayern Munich with bated breath. It did not disappoint.
The match began to unfold with an astonishing move by Guardiola. The former Barcelona manager had started Bayern in a 3-5-2 formation, which meant the deadly trio of Messi, Suarez and Neymar would be marked man-to-man.
The lack of a spare man against ‘MSN’ soon began to hurt Bayern. The trio in their usual fluency began to create around the Bayern defence that seemed beaten all ends up, but Neymar and Suarez’s finishing on different occasions wasn’t up to the mark.
Needless to say, sanity reigned and the Bayern coach reverted to a back four. Immediately a chance was created at the other end, Thomas Muller setting up Lewandowski. The Polish striker, normally deadly in these situations, hesitated for a moment and missed a tap-in.
The second half saw Bayern Munich getting more of the possession, but their transition from attack to defence looked dangerously slow. Barcelona were literally pounding the proverbial door but one man, in more ways than one, stood between them and the goal - Manuel Neuer.
The German international was having a stellar game- he had already emerged victorious in two one-on-one encounters with Suarez and Dani Alves, smothered Messi’s attempts on goal and in a jaw-dropping show of ‘sweeper-keeper’ skills, killed a through ball from Messi to Neymar outside the penalty box. Neuer’s towering figure looked invincible and something special was needed to beat him.
And then, Messi decided enough was enough.
It was not that the Argentine wizard had not been playing well until the 77th minute; it was just that what he did next was, much like the player himself, something else. Receiving the ball from Dani Alves, he took a short stride forward. Manuel Neuer was getting ready- the ball was on Messi’s left foot, surely he was going to try and curl it around the defenders and into the far post.
Messi caught him in that moment. Putting his laces through the ball, he struck a snapshot at the near post. The ball dipped and bounced wickedly, went underneath Neuer’s outstretched arms and lay inside the goal, wondering why it had taken so long. 1-0 to Barcelona.
The Argentine international was not done though. Three minutes later, it was Jerome Boateng’s turn to witness divinity. Coming inside from the right-hand side of the box with the Bayern defender marking him, Messi shifted his weight onto the left foot and, in the blink of an eye, was back on the right. The agility, the movement, the intelligence proved too much for Boateng in a show of meek surrender, the German simply collapsed on the Camp Nou pitch.
The rest was simple (for Messi, that is) - a perfectly weighted chip from the weaker foot to beat Neuer and a diving Juan Bernat. 2-0 to Barcelona.
Bayern were blown apart. In desperation, Guardiola committed one too many men forward and in the dying moments of the game, Messi struck the killer blow, laying a pass to the previously-wasteful Neymar who made no mistake this time. 3-0 Barcelona. Game over.
Although they were disciplined, Bayern Munich were punished by two moments of genius from Lionel Messi, two moments that caught them unawares and left them trailing badly.
