Football’s Greatest Goals No.6
This is the epitome of the individual goal. If there was a football dictionary then this would be the example given for both ‘individual goal’ and ‘mazy run’.
Today’s ‘Football’s Greatest Goal’ came from AC Milan’s 4-1 victory over Verona on 8th September 1996 and was scored by George Weah.
Weah became the first African ‘World Footballer of the Year’ the year before and this goal showed why he deserved the award.
The score was 2-1 and Verona were pushing for an equaliser. They won a corner in the 85th minute out on the right.
The corner was over-hit and went over all the Verona players waiting in the penalty area. George Weah was waiting behind all the other players and as the ball dropped out of the air, it was he who took the ball.
In an instant, Weah controlled the ball and turned towards the Verona goal. He began running full-pelt away from goal and reached the halfway line before he had to deal with two Verona defenders.
One tried to take the ball off Weah from behind and another slid in to tackle him face-on.
The Milan striker stepped over the defenders sliding challenge and pirouetted a full 360 degrees. He had to steady himself and after a couple of paces, had a third defender to beat.
Weah knocked the ball past one side of the defender and ran round the other as if he wasn’t even there and was now clean through on goal.
As he reached the edge of the box, the Verona goalkeeper came rushing out to narrow the angle. Weah hit the ball hard and low across the keeper intot the far corner of the net.
Roberto Baggio added Milan’s fourth a few minutes later but the game would only be remembered for Weah’s wonder goal. Those who were in the San Siro that day would be able to say “I was there when George Weah scored THAT goal!”.
The goal was one of the greatest in the 1990’s and was shown over and over again on Channel 4’s Football Italia. It is probably the most famous goal that Weah scored in his career.
Somehow I don’t think that Ali Dia would ever have scored a goal of this quality. He was a player who famously was said to have been George Weah’s cousin and managed to play for Southampton two months after this goal. You can read the full story of Ali Dia here.
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