Greatest soccer games of all time

Czech international Vladimir Smicer fired a powerful low shot past Dida to bring the score at Xabi Alonso would go on to equalize. All of this happened within six minutes after the break. Liverpool went on to win its fifth European crown in the eventual penalty shootout.

Only four years removed from the Falklands War, it was in a very tense atmosphere between the two rival nations in the heat of Azteca Stadium. After a goalless first half, Diego went on to score two of the most storied goals ever. Just after the break, El Pibe de Oro netted the most controversial goal in history; "The Hand of God" goal, a handball disguised as a header over Peter Shilton which everybody but referee Ali Bin Nasser saw.

A few minutes after, the Argentine legend went on to score "The Goal of the Century" by dribbling past six English defenders before beating Shilton.

Both teams came into Barcelona with dreams of adding the last and most prestigious silverware to their Treble bid after winning both their domestic leagues and cups.

Early in the game, Bayern drew first blood on a free kick from the temperamental but brilliant Mario Basler. They dodged the knockout blow twice as Mehmet Scholl saw his chip shot landing on the right post and Carsten Jancker, with the same bad luck, hit the crossbar on a powerful overhead kick. What followed is the perfect heist ever orchestrated in football. A battered, bullied, outplayed and dominated Manchester United stole the title hopes away from Bayern and his skipper, the legendary Lothar Matthaus, with two late strikes in stoppage time leaving the German bench and supporters stunned in disbelief trying to realize what just hit them.

The single most spectacular football match I have ever seen. Some of you will say, "How come an exhibition made the list?

The tournament itself, featuring Brazil, Italy, England and France, was first conceived as a prestigious rehearsal one year before the World Cup kickoff. It turned out to be as compelling and competitive as any international tournament since and ever.

PES was a slower, more considered version of the beautiful game, with less emphasis on beating players for pace and more on patient build-up play, but when everything fell into place and you unlocked a defence the sense of satisfaction was glorious.

But once mastered, Kick Off made every other football game suddenly seem dull and dated by comparison, even if it was at times the football game equivalent of juggling bars of soap while riding a unicycle down a hill. Back in it was merely one of several games vying for the hearts and minds of floppy fringed teens, and it was far from being the best.

World Cup 98 built on that in some style, keeping the free-flowing football of the previous title and adding in-game tactical changes. It was all wrapped up in a slick World Cup skin that no other game at the time came close to, complete with commentary and unlockable classic games. And what a game it was: on your little Spectrum, you could buy and sell players, pick a team, and watch highlights on pitches with comically large goals. Today, it all looks a bit primitive the C64 conversion was at least a bit prettier , and yet its simple gameplay remains surprisingly compelling in an era of over-complicated micro management sims.

This was a fast game, in part down to the trackball controls, and decent goalies also ensured that matches were often frantic end-to-end battles. The game very heavily influenced Sensible Software, and more or less came to the C64 in the form of Microprose Soccer , but its legacy was really being the grandfather to the outstanding Sensible Soccer series. And now a TANK! Its successor, New Star Manager, is more in-depth, but lacks the addictive simplicity of the original.

Pro Evo was generally the better game, but FIFA retained a strong following by virtue of its proper team and player names and presentation nous. But with FIFA 10 that winning uppercut finally connected. Both games introduced degree player control for the first time in their editions, but FIFA 10 did it better, allowing you to expertly slide a pass through at just the right angle for your striker to run on to it.

Or, more commonly, for you to expertly slide a pass straight to an opposition defender. Coupled with a wealth of game modes — from Be A Pro to Ultimate Team and Manager Mode — FIFA 10 was a more complete footballing experience than any previous title in the series and finally edged ahead of its rival too. The result was the first truly fluid football game, where you could string together some genuinely breathtaking moves. No expensive equipment is required, but despite this, it can be played to an insanely high level, with a tactical depth that rivals that of generals in a war, and more drama than the complete works of Shakespeare.

Transferring all of these different elements of the sport to video games is a tricky proposition, but sometimes, games just nail it. Here are our ten favorite soccer games ever.

A quick note: We're just going to include one entry per series. Developed by Sheffield-based team Gremlins Interactive, Actua Soccer was one of the most well-rounded soccer games ever, when it was released in For the first time in a home-console football game, there was a fully-3D graphics engine. Its gameplay was superb, featuring deep strategy and fantastic visuals, but perhaps most interestingly of all, it actually featured motion capture technology.

A very cool little game, all things considered. Little-remembered these days, Virtua Striker , from the developers of Daytona USA and Virtua Fighter , is hugely important in the history of soccer games.

It was the first soccer game ever to use 3D player models, and boy did we love it. The arcade version had you competing in a tournament, alongside 16 other teams, desperately trying to make it through to the final. It wasn't complex, by any means, but it was incredible fun, and for those who'd grown up with top-down soccer games, incredibly realistic. It's rare for a soccer game to be truly original, and yet New Star Soccer manages it.

As you might be able to imagine from the title, New Star sees you create a footballer and play with them, dragging them up the rungs of the footballing ladder, while trying not to get in too much trouble along the way. A bizarre, but compelling mix of RPG and sports sim, it's well worth a look, particularly as its a phone game.

During his career, Lattek managed an incredible eight league titles, leading both Bayern Munich and Borussia Monchengladbach to domestic glory. His intellectual and motivational approach to management often left many questioning his credentials, but wherever Lattek went, success tended to follow. It wasn't just league success which made Lattek so great, as he even etched his name into European folklore as well.

The big man. When Stein took over Celtic in they were at one of their lowest ever ebbs. Within two years they were European champions and by the time he left to take over Scotland 12 years later they had won the league 10 times under in his tenure. Yet perhaps his greatest accomplishment is the influence he had over Sir Alex Ferguson, his international assistant, who describes him as the greatest ever. By Jack Gallagher. Vittorio Pozzo is one of the greatest managers of all time because he is the only manager in history to win two consecutive FIFA World Cups.

That's pretty good. Maybe too good to be 27th on this list Then maybe Pozzo's ranking makes a bit more sense. One of the very best coaches, working right now, Jurgen Klopp has been so successful due to his knack for taking talents and squeezing something extra out of them that no-one else even knew was there. He ended Bayern's Bundesliga dominance for a while anyways , brought Liverpool back to the very top of the European game, and has made every player he's ever worked with better.

A true modern great. It became the bane of Brazilian football. A mission to somehow get a one of the most talented group of footballers the world has ever seen all singing from the same hymn sheet. One would argue that moulding the likes of Pele, Tostao, Rivellino and Jairzinho into a formidable force is more a joy than and assignment, but it had yet to crafted successfully. Mario Zagallo did that. And, not only did he thrive under that pressure, he blossomed in it, with the Brazil World Cup team often revered as the greatest of all time.

Two triumphs as a player and two as a manager, Zagallo is the World Cup. You always know you've made it in life when you've got an entire curse named after you.

That's when you're a 'someone'. Bela Guttmann. Two-time European Cup winner, Holocaust survivor, man who nailed dead rats to management's doors, qualified dance instructor. A rare shot of Valeri Lobanovski not looking utterly stoic. Kiev celebrate a domestic Cup win. Second only to Sir Alex Ferguson in terms of managerial trophy collections, the former Soviet scientist was the first trailblazer when it came to sports science and bringing in the idea that the team is the star, not the individual.

With the exception of Lev Yashin, there may not be a name more synonymous with Soviet football than Lobanovskyi, who created the dominant Dynamo Kiev side of the late 20th century, and he is considered a national icon in Ukraine. By Jamie Spencer. Louis van Gaal had the honour of managing four of the most famous clubs in history during his career — Ajax, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester United — and he won trophies with all of them. The Dutchman has famously fallen out with plenty of people over the years, but his greatest strength was his faith in young talent.

With a career split into two distinct chunks, Otto Rehhagel was the great German coach humiliated in his own country by failure at Bayern Munich, who went on to transform Greece into the most unlikely European champions in history. He turned Kaiserslautern into national champions after his Bayern disaster, but it was with Greece where his greatest achievement came — stealing the show with pragmatic brilliance at Euro When you think of Brazilian football, chances are you will think of joga bonito - 'the beautiful game'.

Whilst Tele Santana did not found this movement, his time with Brazil was certainly behind its rise to prominence. During his two separate spells with the Selecao, Santana may not have won any silverware, but he is credited with forming some of the greatest international sides in history.

His side were fantastic, but his squad was something else. His love for attacking football quickly infected the nation, and Brazil still pride themselves on their free-flowing attack to this day. Even at club level, Santana helped transform Sao Paulo into one of the world's finest teams, winning back-to-back Intercontinental Cups in and Put simply, Liverpool would not have the domestic or European legacy they herald today without the remarkable rebuilding process they underwent in Shankly's 16 years at Anfield.

His enthusiasm for the job and belief in the club restored an average second division side to the top flight and won the league three times before stepping down, leaving his long-term assistant Bob Paisley to take Liverpool into the next step of their evolution in the 70s.

It's a title bestowed upon you that is achieved through no less than total dedication, loyalty and a burning desire to give your heart and soul to the cause. Ottmar Hitzfeld earned legendary status, not once, but twice, with the two biggest clubs in German football. Firstly at Borussia Dortmund and then Bayern Munch, the man's supreme marshalling of his troops ultimately meant he obliterated all the competition on a march towards the upper echelons of German football.

Brushing aside those in his way, he won everything with Die Borussen, before eventually repeating the feat in Bavaria. On a one-way trajectory towards Bundesliga royalty, Hitzfeld now stands in a league of his own. The former European Cup-winning player navigated what should have been a perilous transitional period to transform the ageing Galacticos of Ferenc Puskas and Alfredo Di Stefano into the youthful Ye-Ye's named after the Beatles chorus in She Loves You of Amancio and Pirri, while keeping them at the very apex of Spanish and world football.