Goals

The 11 Greatest Goal Celebrations In Soccer History

A friend once asked me, “Why do football players celebrate so ridiculously?” I didn’t have an answer for him at the time but, upon further reflection, it occurs to me every goal celebration is an extension of the sport – a mini-drama that captures the essence of football in one act. Goals are hard to come by in football. When a player hears the swoosh of the ball in the back of the net, the cries of thousands of frenzied fans, it evokes raw emotion unrivaled in almost any other sport.

Think American Soccer Is Bad? The Best Free Kick Of The Year Came From MLS.

Orchestrated free kicks are very hard to pull off. The choreography of the runs and passes is something people are used to seeing on Sundays in the NFL, not Saturdays in MLS. Each pass, it must be said, is also yard-for-yard harder to complete, because, you know, the players are using their feet and not their hands.

On This Day In 2006, Paul Scholes Scored His Most Amazing Goal Ever

We're not going to lie. We here at The18.com are partial to any player who sports our digits on his or her back. (Note to Harry Kane: We liked your old number better.) So, it's only fitting that today we celebrate another #18 – Paul Scholes – and what many consider to be the Manchester United legend's finest goal. It came during a match against Aston Villa on this very day in 2006.

Walcott or Toure? Who's Goal Was Better?

There are three things that are certain in this world. Death, taxes and that Mesut Ozil will register an assist whenever he steps on the pitch. In Monday's 2-1 victory over Manchester City, Ozil chalked up assists on both Gunner goals bringing his total for the 2015 EPL campaign to 15! The next highest assist total in the league is 7, which is held by Everton's Gerard Deulofeu. Now that we gave props to Ozil's ridiculous assist numbers, we go onto the real discussion of this Amazing Goals post. Which goal was better between Theo Walcott's and Yaya Toure's?

At 17, This Defender’s Debut Was A Miracle. In 4 Minutes He Sparked A Title Run.

Ajax weren’t in crisis during Jairo Riedewald’s debut, just in danger of stumbling at a critical point. They had botched some critical games at the beginning of the season, but had turned things around with a 5-game winning streak that had seen them move from 6th to 2nd. Finally within striking distance of first place Vitesse – an Ajax win and Vitesse loss would see Ajax clear into first place, while a win and a tie would have Ajax in first place on goal differential – Ajax found itself down 1-0 to 14th place Roda JC. They were in danger of missing out on first place yet again.

Xabi Alonso With A Boomer

Xabi Alonso, you 34-year-old dog you.  So are you resorting to only scoring goals as far out as your age? Because this 30+ yard cracking volley is pure greatness. That touch to kill the clearance, and then the approach on the bouncing ball that resulted in the back of the net. Your greatness will never be forgotten and we at The18 thank you for giving us this gem of a goal. Keep being you Xabi. 

Mahrez and Vardy Owning Chelsea

What would you say the odds were that Leicester City was going to be atop the table 16 games into the BPL campaign? Or the odds that Jamie Vardy would have as many league goals as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi combined? Well, Leicester was about a 2500-1 favorite to win the title back in August, and Jamie Vardy having as manys goals as CR7 and La Pulga combined, we'll go ahead and set the odds at 1,000,000-1.

Bend It Like Ceni. This Goalkeeper Almost Scored More Free Kicks Than Beckham.

Sometimes we see freak cases where goalkeepers score goals, whether it be from a kick within the box that ends up in the opposite net or a last minute set piece. Rarely do you see a goalkeeper taking a free kick or a penalty kick. Even rarer do you see a keeper with over 100 goals. Because there’s only one. The man, the myth, the legend, Rogerio Ceni.

Remember Ronaldinho's Crossbar Challenge? An Australian Just Pulled It Off In A Game.

What Ronaldinho can accomplish in a commercial, James Jeggo is capable of conjuring in the middle of a professional match. Channeling the great Dinho, Jeggo performed his own personal crossbar challenge while an Australian A-League game took place around him.

With the score level at 0-0 in the 61st minute, Jeggo smashed an unstoppable drive against the crossbar before receiving the ball again, this time making no mistake as he unleashed a venomous rip which found the back of the net. Spectacularly, all of this took place in the space of less than five seconds.

Michael Essien Screamer Vs Arsenal 2006

The London Derby between Arsenal and Chelsea has countless highlights. But on this day, December 10th, 9 years ago Michael Essien scored a screamer that nearly made Stamford Bridge explode. Sure, it was only an equalizer, but the 84th minute rocket was huge for Chelsea at the time as they were trying to keep pace with runaway leaders Manchester United. The game was back and forth, with pushing and shoving and loads of talent on the pitch.

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