Off The Ball has teamed up with Pepsi Max who are bringing the Champions League Trophy to Ireland! The legendary piece of silverware lands on Irish soil on February 29th and March 1st, which is the first time Pepsi Max has brought it to Ireland!
In a new series of articles, we'll be looking at the goals, rivalries, controversies and all the rest that makes the Champions League an unmissable part of our football calendar.
First up, following several intensive hours spent trawling YouTube, we are finally ready to bring you Off The Ball's definitive list of the greatest ever Champions League goals.
5. Ronaldinho v Chelsea, 2005
Starting off our list is the Brazilian magician Ronaldinho. The 2005/06 Champions League winner brought some of the finest samba skills to Europe's premier football tournament and won the Ballon d'Or the same year he scored this goal at Stamford Bridge.
With seven Chelsea players within 15 yards of him and three near-lined up in front of him, Ronaldinho, with the slightest of backswings, managed to place the ball perfectly through the space available.
A peak Petr Cech could only turn and watch as the ball bypassed him into the net.
4. Mario Mandzukic v Real Madrid, 2017
The first of our Champions League final goals on the list, Mario Mandzukic's bicycle kick joins a prestigious club of great Champions League acrobatic goals.
The 2017 Puskas Award nominee was all the more beautiful for its build-up play, with the ball not touching the ground for eight seconds until it falls in the Real Madrid goal. If you scored it in head-and-volleys it would be a great goal. The Champions League final setting makes it all the sweeter - even if Juventus went on to lose 4-1 that night in Cardiff.
3. Lars Ricken v Juventus, 1997
Our earliest entry on the list and the only goal from the 1990s. Arguably, there's a bit of nostalgia factor with Borussia Dortmund's incredible luminous jersey nearly as beautiful as the goal itself.
The game remained finely balanced with Dortmund leading by one goal with 20 minutes remaining.
Enter super-sub Lars Ricken to run onto a through ball. With the time and space to take a touch, Ricken instead opted to hit it first time, perfectly lofting it over the on-rushing Angelo Peruzzi and engraving Dortmund's name on the trophy.
2. Gareth Bale v Liverpool, 2018
Another super-sub moment on our list, Gareth Bale was on the pitch for all of three minutes before producing the greatest bicycle kick ever seen in a Champions League final.
The pace of the ball across from Marcelo should have made it difficult for the Welshman to control, but Bale turned his body with pace flinging his foot at it with power.
Loris Karius didn't have the best time in the Liverpool goal that night but no one in the world could have stopped that flying effort from Bale.
1. Zinedine Zidane v Bayer Leverkusen, 2002
Another Real Madrid Champions League final goal, Zinedine Zidane's technique-perfect effort is the undisputed king of goals scored in the 17 years of the Uefa-branded tournament.
Roberto Carlos' chip into the box takes an eternity to come down during which time any player could overthink what they should do when it finally falls.
Zidane though, as cool as ever, positions his body before executing the perfect volley into the top corner.
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Pepsi Max is a proud partner of the UEFA Champions League. On the 29th February, Off The Ball will be running a skills challenge in association with Pepsi Max as we’ll have the Champions League trophy in Dundrum Shopping Centre with David Meyler and Damien Delaney judging the skills. The two former Irish internationals will also be in the Pavilions Shopping Centre on the 1st March for another skills challenge with the trophy, come down either day for your chance to win a signed football from Lionel Messi as well as other spot prizes! Maximum Taste. No Sugar #ForTheLoveOfIt
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