1) Zinedine Zidane in 2002 (Bayer Leverkusen 1-2 Real Madrid)
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Two early goals in the 2002 final set the stage for a mouthwatering finish to the 2001/02 Champions League campaign as Real Madrid took on Bayer Leverkusen at Hampden Park. Raul had given Los Blancos the lead in only the eighth minute before Lucio equalised just five minutes later.
Then came the moment of inspiration that sealed Zinedine Zidane’s status as a bonafide legend. Santiago Solari lobbed the ball into space in the left channel for Roberto Carlos to beat his man on the sprint before lobbing the ball himself into the box.
Three men surrounded Zidane in the box as he waited patiently for the ball to come back down to earth but none of them interfered. Why would they, it was a tough angle to score from – that too with his ‘weaker’ left foot.
But this was Zidane after all. He wound up his left leg and he made sweet contact with the ball as it came down. Leverkusen goalkeeper Hans-Jorg Butt could do nothing as it whistled past him to almost tear the back of the net, such was the force with which he smacked it goalward.
It was a goal worthy of a final and one that eventually saw Real Madrid lift the trophy for the ninth time in history.
