All time performances by non all timers

[Red the Bear]

Not every footballer gets to reach greatness on same the plane as the likes of messi or Maradona the same way few if any musicians ever reach the greatness of Beethoven or Mozart but every once in a while one of those supposedly mediocre players seizes the moment grabs the game by the scruff of the neck, puts a performance of mythical proportions and reaches levels of greatness which they never tasted before before and will never do so again and thus they're etenernalized for eternity.

An example would be Hendrick Larson in barca's triumphant 2006 final triumph.

Any other examples?

 

[GlasgowCeltic]

Terrible first example

 

[Yagami]

John Aston Jr vs Benfica in the 1968 European Cup final. Played like prime George Best.

 

[Red Star One]

Michu for Swansea in 2012/13 season. 18 Premier League goals, Spanish national team call up. Looked like a world beater

 

[Red the Bear]

Terrible first example

Stop nitpicking and give an example

Larson was great obviously but he's not really an all timer.

 

[Vidyoyo]

Shinji Kagawa vs Norwich

 

[RedRonaldo]

I am not sure how to define all timers.

But off the top of my head, Beckham vs Greece, and Rivaldo vs Valencia, is up there with best all time performances I've ever seen from a player.

 

[Red Star One]

Danny Welbeck against United, any time

 

[VorZakone]

Eder 2016.

 

[Gringo]

David Healy vs Spain. What a night. Got a move to Fulham after and I thought he was going to smash it..

 

[Red the Bear]

I am not sure how to define all timers.

But off the top of my head, Beckham vs Greece, and Rivaldo vs Valencia, is up there with best all time performances I've ever seen from a player.

Rivaldo is definitely an all timer, same with beckham to a degree so I think neither counts

But yeah the definition can be pretty hazy, basically I'm mean performances by playesr who were not among the very best but managed to put a performances above what they ever did beforehand.

 

[Gehrman]

Fellaini against us when he played for Everton.

 

[Maluco]

David Healy vs Spain. What a night. Got a move to Fulham after and I thought he was going to smash it..

I was at that game, what an absolute legend. Still remember the roar at the sensational finish for the third. It’s definitely one of my best memories in football.

 

[PSV]

Solskjaer vs Forest, never reached that level of efficiency ever again.

 

[Invictus]

Daniele Massaro in the 1994 Champions League Final at the Olympic Stadium, Athens (and in general through the entire season). Milan were heavy underdogs against Johan Cruyff's Barcelona, had lost important players like Franco Baresi, Marco van Basten, Alessandro Costacurta as well as world record signing Gianluigi Lentini, but Massaro played a big role in taking them to promised land. A brace in the first half of the final to put his team in a commanding position, and he also scored 31% of Milans total league goals to complete the double — and was duly selected as the Serie A Player of the Year by Guerin Sportivo (even though he ranked only 14th in the goalscoring charts). For context, his career total for the Champions League is 5 goals and he scored 62 goals in 349 Serie A matches (reaching double digits only twice, that season and in 1990).

"Barcelona are favourites," Cruyff said before the game. "We're more complete, competitive and experienced than [in the 1992 final] at Wembley. Milan are nothing out of this world. They base their game on defense; we base ours on attack."

 

[Eriku]

Carew for Lyon against Real Madrid in 06-07. Cannavaro and Ramos tried to get physical and were just bouncing off him. Cannavaro said Carew was the toughest opponent he’d met, and this was him coming off a brilliant WC06.

 

[Grylte]

Shay Given every time against United - atleast it felt like every time.

 

[Red the Bear]

Daniele Massaro in the 1994 Champions League Final at the Olympic Stadium, Athens (and in general through the entire season). Milan were heavy underdogs against Johan Cruyff's Barcelona, had lost important players like Franco Baresi, Marco van Basten, Alessandro Costacurta as well as world record signing Gianluigi Lentini, but Massaro played a big role in taking them to promised land. A brace in the first half of the final to put his team in a commanding position, and he also scored 31% of Milans total league goals to complete the double — and was duly selected as the Serie A Player of the Year by Guerin Sportivo (even though he ranked only 14th in the goalscoring charts). For context, his career total for the Champions League is 5 goals and he scored 62 goals in 349 Serie A matches (reaching double digits only twice, that season and in 1990).

Another great post as usual.

While I consider savicevic to be the man of the match in that fateful final but Massaro's contributions were immensely for the entirety of that seasons.

Schillaci is another who had an otherworldly performance while being quite mediocre for the rest of his career.

 

[Attila]

Tadic Vs Real Madrid at the Bernabue

 

[harms]

Balotelli stopping Germany from reaching the Euro 2012 final was pretty special, especially the 2nd goal. I probably shouldn’t remind everyone just how great that Germany team was — Neuer, Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Kroos, Özil…

Although Balotelli was certainly an outstanding talent even though he never managed to reach world-class, let alone all-time level

 

[Oranges038]

Brad Friedel vs Utd
Two chops vs Utd
Mark Crossley vs Newcastle I think he made about 45 saves.

Shay Given every time against United - atleast it felt like every time.

That's funny. I always feels he seems to be in goal when you look back at Utds best or memorable PL goals, several for Newcastle and a few for City.

 

[hasanejaz88]

Grafite vs Bayern 2009
Bentley vs United (don't remember the year but when he scored a hat trick)
Trapp vs Rangers EL Final 2022

 

[Grylte]

Brad Friedel vs Utd
Two chops vs Utd
Mark Crossley vs Newcastle I think he made about 45 saves.

That's funny. I always feels he seems to be in goal when you look back at Utds best or memorable PL goals, several for Newcastle and a few for City.

Maybe because we needed the sickest shots to beat him!
I just remember him being a proper pain in the behind quite a lot.

 

[gormless]

As mentioned above Brad Friedel was able to become prime Buffon on a semi regular basis against us.
Tim Howard had a great world cup performance against Belgium.

In the non American Keeper category Anderson was absolutely incredible against Arsenal in the FA cup game which led to his shits on Fabregas chant. He then very much did not shit on Fabregas since.

Owen Hargreaves single handedly turned round his reputation in England with a great performance vs Portugal in the 06 World Cup.

 

[Red Rash]

Grafite vs Bayern 2009
Bentley vs United (don't remember the year but when he scored a hat trick)
Trapp vs Rangers EL Final 2022

Yea the Bentley hat trick is one I was going to mention. I would also add Lukaku for WBA when he scored the hat trick in SAF final match

 

[harms]

Grafite vs Bayern 2009

Oh yeah

 

[Gringo]

Clint Dempsey for Fulham vs Juventus

 

[Erics_Collar]

I remember United played Nantes in the Champions League maybe 15 years or so ago. Maybe more.

I'll always remember the name of their keeper after his performance against us. Mickael Landreau. Never seen him before, never seen him again since then - but he was unbeatable that day.

 

[JPRouve]

I remember United played Nantes in the Champions League maybe 15 years or so ago. Maybe more.

I'll always remember the name of their keeper after his performance against us. Mickael Landreau. Never seen him before, never seen him again since then - but he was unbeatable that day.

Landreau was an excellent shot stopper and one of the best french goalkeepers.

 

[Baxquux]

McTominay against City in the 2-0. One of the few occasions when strategy and personnel truly clicked in a big game under Ole, rather than being reliant upon fortune, in terms of soaking up pressure, strategically pressing and using the counter--attack efficiently, and McTominay was at the centre of it. Unfortunately this, more than even games like the 6-2 Leeds, is what he's dining off at the club, where his most effective performances otherwise have been as a slightly harum-scarum grafter with some technically-awkward tackling. On that occasion he actually looked like he might become a prime Fletcher-level harrier and carrier. Plus he scored a worldie.

 

[hellhunter]

Brad Friedel was made for this thread

 

[berbatrick]

Tadic Vs Real Madrid at the Bernabue

Yes - magnificent.

Valencia vs Bayern in the 3-2 "win"

 

[Uniquim]

John Aston Jr vs Benfica in the 1968 European Cup final. Played like prime George Best.

Yes! That was the first Busby game I watched, and I thought he was one of the best players in the team afterwards.
Realized he wasn't from other games, but he played brilliantly in the final.

 

[Irwin99]

Phil Neville vs Patrick Vieira in 2003.

The Mirror (think it was them) had the headline: who would have thought it- Phil Neville is the man to blow the title race wide open

Scholes and Veron scored the goals in the 2-0 win but Phil got MotM and absolutely bossed Patrick. Vieira got his own back by putting in a stunning performance against us in the FA cup that season but it was not his finest hour getting smashed by Neville that day.

 

[Lecland07]

Surely Klose every time he played for Germany.

 

[Cloud7]

Gary Cahill was monstrous the first season Chelsea won the CL. I seem to remember him being especially good against Barcelona

 

[calodo2003]

Leicester

 

[DWelbz19]

Wasn’t Ryan Bertrand good as a winger/wingback for Chelsea in a CL final? I’m sure it was his debut as well or something

 

[Munkehboi]

Ji Sung Park vs Arsenal

/edit also Vs Pirlo

 

[Lay]

Carlos Alberto for Porto during their UCL campaign under Mourinho. Was utterly brilliant but his career nosedived soon after

Nery Castillo in one of the Copa America’s. Was a mini Maradona. Was so good City signed him where he barely played and had a meh career after.

Cabanas for Paraguay in another Copa America looked like he was going to become someone like Tevez. Unfortunately was shot in the head but luckily survived. Had such a promising and interesting style of football.