Best and worst finals

[Spoonsky]

Yesterday's match seems to have prompted a small debate, so I'm wondering: what are the best and worst finals in football history, in your opinion? What are the best and worst you've seen?

[Yevrah]

World Cup 94 springs to mind immediately for the bad.

[Magic]

Holland Spain was rancid as well.

[Pepe]

Best:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7PE7bRVLkg

Cruz Azul :harold:

[Ian]

The United / Liverpool FA Cup final was pretty shit in the mid-90s if memory serves.

[Pepe]

Best:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQO7vyFtgL4

[Lewis]

The United / Liverpool FA Cup final was pretty shit in the mid-90s if memory serves.

Every United FA Cup final I've seen has been crap. If we're going off what I've watched live (which we should), I think it would probably be:

World Cup: 2006 (almost by default because the others were crap)
Euros: 2000 (2004 was lol)
Champions' League excluding that one Liverpool won: 2013 was relatively exciting, since I don't remember 2002 all that clearly beyond that goal
FA Cup: 2006 and 2014 are the only decent FA Cup finals I've ever seen
League Cup: Every League Cup final is great

[Giggles]

The FA Cup final that Cantona scored in. I remember being very high that day, but it seemed awful though.

[Lewis]

United vs Chelsea in 2008 was probably a better game than people tend to remember. It's just that nobody took their chances, otherwise we would have a memorable 3-2 or 4-3. That counter-attack that Carlos Tevez put a pathetic finish onto would have been one of the all-time great goals.

[Baz]

Best ever was clearly Istanbul 2005.

Nothing will ever come close.

[Reg]

Best:
Man United 2-1 Bayern Munich (CL)
Liverpool 3-3 Milan (CL)
Liverpool 2-1 Arsenal (FA Cup)
France 3-0 Brazil (WC)
France 2-1 Italy (Euros)

Worst:
Last night.

I was surprised looking back at the list of World Cup and Champions League finals - not a great bunch of games in my time.

Italy v France in 2006 had the headbutt drama but I can't remember it being great other than that?

Real Madrid have made the most recent CL finals relatively dull.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Best ever was clearly Istanbul 2005.

Nothing will ever come close.

As much as it pains me to say, you're right.

[Lewis]

Liverpool 2-1 Arsenal (FA Cup)

I forgot this one.

[Kikó]

United Arsenal fa cup final was heartbreaking (coupled with the Glazer takeover).

Best final I've been at was Portugal - France.

[Giggles]

I heard it couldn't have gone ahead without you.

[igor_balis]

the FINAL season of game of thrones, amrite?

[Lewis]

I heard it couldn't have gone ahead without you.

:lol:

[Jimmy Floyd]

I thought the most recent World Cup final was pretty good.

[Kikó]

Germany Italy was a cracker actually.

And wasn't the Trezeguet Golden goal one decent? What a cruel rule that was for 4 years.

[Giggles]

This is the greatest final of all time :cool:


https://youtu.be/Rv9FGy9MqOY

[Shindig]

I can't remember much from our two trips to Wembley. I think we hit the post in one of them.

[ScousePig]

Charlton vs Sunderland 1998 is the answer to both questions.

[Offshore Toon]

I can't remember much from our two trips to Wembley. I think we hit the post in one of them.
I remember us playing pretty shit in both.

[ScousePig]

I remember us playing pretty shit in both.

At least you're not eight Wembley final defeats in a row.

[Spikey M]

The only Cup Final I have been to is the Johnsons Paint Trophy, in which we got beat 2-0 by Crewe.

I would not care to repeat this experience, however, I would like to nominate it for the best final ever because Spikey woz ere.

[ScousePig]

The only Cup Final I have been to is the Johnsons Paint Trophy, in which we got beat 2-0 by Crewe.

I would not care to repeat this experience, however, I would like to nominate it for the best final ever because Spikey woz ere.

After the Wembley experience in the Checkatrade trophy we were hoping not to have to make the trip again in May, with plenty of people actually saying they wouldn't bother.

Most people did of course, only for the same thing to predictably happen again.

[Mellberg]

Lewis might be on to something.


League Cup (all decent):

United '94 - Dalian and Deano ran riot. Four goals. Good game for the neutrals.
Leeds '96 - Savo scored an absolute worldie. 3-0, but Leeds were never really in the game.
United '12 - Good game for the neutrals I think. Villa went 1-0 up and lost 2-1. Still seething about Vidic on Gabby not being a red.

FA Cup (all shit):

Chelsea '00 - Only thing that happened all game was Di Matteo scoring. Properly terrible game.
Arsenal '15 - Some might enjoy this if they enjoy seeing a half arsed rabble get absolutely served.

[Smjffy]

Watford v Leicester deserves a shout if only for the ending alone.

[John]

Liverpool in Istanbul would be one of the best even if the match was shit purely because it made Boom-Boom, a non-Liverpool fan, post in all caps begging Jamie Carragher to fuck him up the arse.

[Pepe]

I heard it couldn't have gone ahead without you.

:D

[Spoonsky]

In my memory the 2012 Champions League final was pretty epic, but I'm not sure I actually saw the match until the 70th minute or so. As far as NARRATIVE goes, from Muller's goal onwards it was incredible. (It also sticks out because Jimmy Floyd wrote a literal novel about Drogba's header in the aftermath.)

I thought 2010 World Cup final was better than 2014. The degree of violence was truly spectacular, Casillas' save on Robben was an amazing moment, and it was a nice goal in the end. 2014 was just tight and tense, and Gotze the most random goalscorer.

[Shindig]

At least you're not eight Wembley final defeats in a row.

We're currently on five. :D

[niko_cee]

Most finals are shit. You could probably count the number of decent Champions League ones on one hand. I think a lot of that is down to them underdog so very rarely wining, which you sort of need to elevate a shit game into a good one. Arsenal v Barca was decent and had the potential to be great, but the inevitable happened so it was just average at best. The Madrid derby one where Real skanked them late was decent, but, again, ended up wrong. Same with the all Germany one, if Dortmund get a late dodgy pen it's a good one.

edit - 1999 and the one Chelsea won were good, although probably more from a drama and the british team perspective.

Maybe they should make them 2 leg affairs. No more exorbitant travel costs, no more local organising committees, no more complete lack of atmosphere and less stifling heat.

Liverpool have more than pulled their weight. Both 2001 finals were good (UEFA Cup was mega), 2005, the 2006 FA Cup, I'm sure they beat Cardiff in a League Cup barnstormer at some point - but then, for a lot of people, the above 'wrong team won' rule would probably negate those. The white suit United one was a stinker, the one where they lost to Chelsea was probably alright, the various league cup defeats have also been ok games, I guess.

[Jimmy Floyd]

The 2012 one was good iirc. We went 2-0 up, I had a screaming headache, and then they brought Andy Carroll on and bombed our area for the next half hour. Makes my head hurt again just thinking about it. I think they had King Kenny in charge which made it all the better, binman derby against Di Matteo.

[Guybrush]

The 2012 one was good iirc. We went 2-0 up, I had a screaming headache, and then they brought Andy Carroll on and bombed our area for the next half hour. Makes my head hurt again just thinking about it. I think they had King Kenny in charge which made it all the better, binman derby against Di Matteo.

Yep, and that ridiculous save from Cech from Carroll's header right at the end.