Every week, footballers accomplish extraordinary feats, prompting overblown statements such as “I’ve never seen anything like that!” Let’s face it: talking about soccer is entertaining, and exaggerating about soccer is even more entertaining. But then there are the records, the once-in-a-lifetime events, which are just as entertaining.
In this thread, we shall be discussing about the Greatest records and feats in football history, feel free to share your opinion.
Lionel Messi set a new European record with 73 goals in 2011/12, making him the top goalscorer in a single season.
Gerd Muller had previously held the record. In the 1972-73 season, the Germany striker scored 67 goals for Bayern Munich, a record that many thought would never be surpassed.
Messi did it in style, scoring a hat-trick in a home match against Malaga.
This was Asmir Begovich, riding the wind of fate into the net in 2013. The ball traveled 97.5 yards. It was the third kick of the game. It gave Stoke City the lead over Southampton.
Odds BK’s Jone Samuelsen redirected a blasted header in the opposite direction and bounced it into the net to secure the win in 2011. The header is measured at just over 58 meters (190 feet, 8.58 inches)
Sir Alex Ferguson, the most successful manager in football history, announced his retirement in the summer of 2013.
His 49 trophies dwarfs the surrounding competition. Only 27 major titles were won by his closest competitor, the legendary Jock Stein.
Ferguson’s achievements include a Champions League title and a total of 13 Premier League titles. Perhaps most notably, he won ten titles in Scotland with Aberdeen, breaking the Celtic-Rangers duopoly.
On November 14th 2012 England played Sweden in a friendly to open a new stadium. England fans sang “You’re just a shit Andy Carroll” at Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Swede responded by scoring 4 goals including a 15 minute hat-trick in which he scored his most famous goal of all time. He scored a stunning bicycle kick from 30-yards, i.e. 1/4th of a football field away. He was also the first player since 1988 to score a hat-trick against England!
Ceni was a Brazilian goalkeeper who plied his trade for sao paulo He was an excellent goalkeeper and even represented his country at two World Cups. He was also extraordinarily good at set-pieces.
In a career spanning two-and-a-half decades, Ceni scored 131 goals. That is more than 60 goals more than the second most goal-rich keeper in history…
From 1955 to 1960, Real Madrid went on a rampage, destroying teams en route to their five consecutive European Cups. It is from this their obsession with the Champions League stems.
During those five years, Madrid enjoyed a stranglehold over European football unlike any other and set them on their path to become the greatest European side ever.
This record is immortal and will never be broken.
If it is rare that a defender has a reputation as a goalscorer then it is even more so for a keeper, but there have been some notable examples, such as Rogerio Ceni, the Sao Paulo legend who scored 130 in his career, largely thanks to penalties and free kicks.
Honourable mentions also go to Jose Luis Chilavert (62), Johnny Vegas (45), Dimitar Ivankov (43), Rene Higuita (41) and Jorge Campos (40).
Since the English football league’s inception in 1888, Everton have spent just four seasons in the second tier.
The Toffees were one of the league’s founding members and have gone on to be almost ever-present. It’s a remarkable achievement and one that speaks volumes about the club’s careful management and intelligent planning.
Lionel Messi breaks records as easily as he weaves between defenders.
In 2012, he achieved another remarkable feat as he scored in 21 consecutive La Liga games.
According to the official Barcelona website, Messi broke the record set by Teodor Peterek, who scored in 16 consecutive league matches between 1937 and 1938.
To achieve such a high level of consistency in the modern game is phenomenal.
The 1950 World Cup final – Brazil versus Uruguay. The event most commonly remembered for the huge upset – dubbed Maracanazo – is also remembered for hosting the highest number of people in a football game.
The official attendance is listed at 173,850 tickets sold, but unofficial estimates claim that almost 210,000 people were in that stadium. Ticket policies and safety concerns were a little more reserved in 1950 than it is today. This was taken full advantage of, and people managed to cram in and fill the stadium more than was maximum capacity.
Stadium disasters since 1950 have seen a shift in public perception of safety and has helped enforce stricter regulations on match-going crowds. The colossal crowd seen on that fateful day will never be possible again.
JUST FONTAINE - Most goals in a single World CupThe most goals scored by an individual player in a World Cup finals tournament is 13 by Just Fontaine (France) in 1958 in Sweden.
Fontaine did not hold down a regular French international spot before the tournament and only got his chance due to injury to his Rheims teammate Rene Bliard (France).
He opened his account with three in France’s 7-3 win over Paraguay
Added two more in its loss to Yugoslavia.
Then notched the winner in a 2-1 win over Scotland.
Two more followed as Northern Ireland was despatched 4-0 in the quarterfinals.
The Moroccan born striker bagged another when France went out against Brazil 5-2 in the semifinals.
Finally, in the third place playoff Fontaine scored four in a crushing 6-3 defeat of West Germany, setting a record that is unlikely to ever be broken.
As of now, the Frenchman is fourth in the list of most goals at the World Cup, but the record for goals scored in a single edition will likely always be his.
The players that came closest were Kocsis in 1954, Müller in 1970 and Portugal’s Eusébio in 1966, with 11, 10 and 9, respectively. The lowest scoring top scorer was in 1962, when six players tied at only four goals each.
Nicknamed the ‘Lisbon Lions’ after the venue of the 1967 European Cup, the claims to greatness of this winning team are twofold.
Firstly, all 11 players were born within 30 miles of the club’s ground. This is an unsurpassed achievement and speaks volumes about the great Coach Jock Stein’s ability to build rather than buy a winning team.
Secondly, the 2-1 victory, against a legendary Internazionale Milano side, represents a key juncture in the history of European club football. Not only did Celtic represent the first British winners of the Cup (beating any English club to the trophy); they also represented the first Northern European winner after Latin clubs had dominated the competition for its first 11 years.
The treble against Spain in Portugal’s World Cup opener was a special one even by Cristiano Ronaldo’s high standards. He was under insane pressure for Russia. Many wrote Portugal off against pre-tournament favorites Spain. However, La Roja had another thing coming.
Ronaldo delivered arguably one of his finest performances to steal the show with a hat-trick in a thrilling 3-3 draw. It also saw him become the first Portuguese player in history to score in four consecutive World Cups.
Ali Daei’s 17-year reign as the all-time leading goalscorer in men’s international football ended recently as Cristiano Ronaldo surpassed his 109 goal haul.
Ronaldo did so in style by saving his best for last in a World Cup qualifier against Ireland. He fired in two late headers to seal a dramatic 2-1 comeback win. Not only did it seal Portugal all three points, but it also took his international tally up to 111 goals in 180 appearances.
In a 2015-16 Bundesliga game for Bayern Munich, Lewandowski came on as a second-half substitute and scored five goals in a nine-minute blitz to set a number of records.
In Bundesliga history, the Polish striker has the fastest hat-trick (3 minutes 22 seconds), quadruple (5 minutes 42 seconds), and five-goal haul (8 minutes 59 seconds). He also set a new Bundesliga mark for the most goals scored by a substitute player.
With the score at 0-1 at halftime, Pep Guardiola enlisted the help of the Polish striker, who had an immediate impact on the game. Wolfsburg had no idea what had hit them.
Zlatan is the oldest player (35 years and 125 days) to score 15 Premier League goals in a season.
He is also the only player to have won 11 championships in four leagues.
Zlatan holds the record for most MLS regular season goals in a campaign (30) for LA Galaxy.
He has the record for fastest hat-trick in Ligue 1 for PSG (9 minutes).
The Senegalese winger was on target three times in an incredible 2 minutes and 56 seconds during Southampton’s 6-1 win over Aston Villa in 2015.
Mane notched up his first goal in the 13th minute and had completed his treble by the 16th, over a minute and and a half faster than the 4 minutes and 33 seconds that it took Fowler to score three times against Arsenal for Liverpool in 1994.
The feat marked the ninth time a player has hit three goals in the Premier League in under 10 minutes.
Gosh…This is just crazy football. 
5 goals within 9 minutes!! 
Watching the video was a treat! 
Lewandowski is probably not gaining the limelight that he deserves compared to the other big name players. I think he ranks among the top 3 considered to be the G.O.A.T. in this era.
