D.I.Y. Goals

Filed in archive Video on July 3, 2007

Here's the all time top 10 individual goals, as spotted here and put together by someone who loves a good dribble. Maradona's 1986 wondergoal against England comes in at number one, and co-incidentally I spotted this while reading El Diego: the autobiography of the wold's greatest footballer." Here's what the little Argentine has to say:

Here's how it went: I started off from the middle of the pitch, on the right; I stepped on the ball, turned, and sneaked between Beardsley and Reid. At that point I had the goal in my sights, although I still had a few metres to go. I passed Butcher on the inside and from this point Valdano was a real help, because fenwick, who was the last one, didn't leave my side. I was waiting for him to stand off, I was waiting to pass the ball - the logical thing to do.
If Fenwick had left me, I could have given it to Valdano, who would have been one on one against Shilton. But he didn't. So I faced him, then threw a dummy one way and went the other, towards the right. Fenwick tried so hard to close in on me, but I carried on and I already had Shilton in front of me.
I was on exactly the spot I'd been on at Wembley that time in 1980, the exact spot! I was going to finish the same way but . . . God, the Beard, helped me. The Beard reminded me, tic . . . and Shilton bought the dummy, he bought it. So I got to the end and I went tac, inside . . . At the same time Butcher, a big blond guy, caught up with me again and kicked me quite hard. But I didn't care, I'd scored the goal of my life.

Brilliant, and important, as this goal was and is, think I prefer Zlatan Ibrahimovich's effort. Partly because the Maradona goal has been overexposed and partly because Ibrahimovic dribbles his way past so many people in such a short space of time and partly because it looks even more impressive when a big lanky fellow does it.