What is the best game you have ever watched?

Luis Enrique called it “without a doubt the best game” he had witnessed as a manager. Vincent Kompany joked with his opposite number that he “hated it”. Speaking on CBS, the legendary former Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel said, “I don’t think I have ever seen a better game live in my life.”

There was plenty of praise for the football on show in Paris Saint-Germain’s 5-4 Champions League semi-final first leg win against Bayern Munich on Tuesday, with a second leg still to come next Wednesday in Germany.

But that got us thinking: what is the best game of men’s football you have ever watched? We asked our writers, who have seen a fair few thrilling contests in their time. They did not have to physically be at the match they chose, although some interpreted it that way.

The list below is far from definitive, so please give your suggestions in the comments if you feel we have missed any.

Paris Saint-Germain 5 Bayern 4 — Champions League semi-final first leg, April 2026

Recency bias is a powerful, alluring force. But, even when the dust settles, this game will remain in the pantheon of all-time great matches.

It is hard to remember two teams of this calibre going at it hammer and tongs as they did on Tuesday night, trading attack after attack with complete conviction in their thrilling approaches.

The cast of characters performing at the highest level was, frankly, ludicrous. Watching Khvicha Kvaratskhelia strut his stuff is a treat on its own, never mind a night when he does it alongside Paris Saint-Germain team-mates Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue, and Bayern Munich’s front three of Luis Diaz, Harry Kane, and Michael Olise.

The whirring movement, slick one-touch passes, unerring finishes and dazzling dribbling were just jaw-dropping. It has set an incredibly high bar, and it is hard to think of another match that eclipses it for quality.

Conor O’Neill

Liverpool 3 Milan 3 AET (Liverpool win 3-2 on penalties) — Champions League final, May 2005

Funny story here, but I decided to go to sleep after Hernan Crespo scored his second goal to make it 3-0 to Carlo Ancelotti’s Milan side just before half-time.

When I realised the next morning that Liverpool had won — I saw a picture of goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek holding the Champions League trophy and my brain still couldn’t comprehend it — I rushed to catch up on what I’d missed.

It turned out that Steven Gerrard’s header, Vladimir Smicer’s pile-driver, Xabi Alonso’s goal on the rebound after his missed penalty and Dudek’s saves had helped produce a historic comeback for Rafa Benitez’s side.

Penalties were next. Serginho missed, and Dudek saved from Andrea Pirlo and Andriy Shevchenko. Liverpool were the champions of Europe — if it had been scripted, it still wouldn’t have been this good.

Ahmed Walid

Argentina 3 France 3 AET (Argentina win 4-2 on penalties) — World Cup final, December 2022

This was a match that did feel scripted — peppered with plot twists, heartbreak, and raw, unmistakable joy for one side at the end of it.

Lionel Messi opened the scoring with a penalty. Angel Di Maria’s magical run then demonstrated Argentina’s confidence. But their two-goal lead came crashing down when Kylian Mbappe scored a two-minute double, forcing extra time. Another Messi goal. Another Mbappe equaliser, which would make him the first man since Geoff Hurst in 1966 to score a World Cup final hat-trick (yet the Frenchman still ended up on the losing side).

The champions would be decided on penalties and, a few minutes later, Argentina had their first world title since 1986.

Pure cinema.

¿La final más ESPECTACULAR de todos los tiempos? 🇦🇷🍿🇫🇷@Argentina | #CopaMundialFIFA pic.twitter.com/5y1jJyNM8L

— Copa Mundial FIFA 🏆 (@fifaworldcup_es) May 1, 2024

There is something quintessentially Argentine about this win. As my mother likes to say: we love to suffer. It makes the end worth it. But what was so great about this final is you didn’t need a stake in either team to care — for 120 minutes plus penalties, you were on the edge of your seat.

Melanie Anzidei

Real Madrid 2 Barcelona 3 — La Liga, April 2017

El Clasico is always fiery, but this contest at the Bernabeu stood out for its intensity.

Casemiro put Madrid in front, but Messi soon equalised. After the break, Ivan Rakitic fired Barca 2-1 ahead, and the momentum seemed to be with them when Sergio Ramos was sent off for a two-footed lunge at Messi, only for James Rodriguez to appear from nowhere to make it 2-2.

Time was almost up, but then Sergi Roberto surged forward, and then Jordi Alba teed up Messi to steer in a trademark low shot for his 500th Barcelona goal.

The celebration matched the moment, as the Argentinian whipped off his shirt to show his name on the back to the Bernabeu crowd.

Clasicos generally deliver, but this one was really special.

✅ A dramatic late winner.
✅ An iconic celebration. #OnThisDay in 2017, Messi was decisive in #ElClasico at the Santiago Bernabeu! 💙🌟❤️#LaLigaSantander pic.twitter.com/b6UFmC7pGt

— LALIGA English (@LaLigaEN) April 23, 2021

Dermot Corrigan

Watford 3 Leicester City 1 (Watford progress 3-2 on aggregate) — Championship play-off semi-final second leg, May 2013

“HERE’S HOGG… DEENEY!”

Most people will already know which game that iconic line of commentary is from. That may already be enough evidence of how thrilling this match was.

Quality-wise, was it the greatest? No, although Matej Vydra’s volley to open the scoring would have been given more credit in any other circumstances.

But Troy Deeney smashing Watford into the Championship play-off final in the 96th minute, just 19 seconds after Manuel Almunia kept out Anthony Knockaert’s penalty, remains the greatest end to any football match, in my opinion.

It is, therefore, the greatest game I have ever watched.

Even if Crystal Palace went on to beat Watford at Wembley to win promotion to the Premier League, this moment remains etched in many football fans’ memories.

Seth Nobes

Barcelona 3 Manchester United 1 — Champions League final, May 2011

This game was Barcelona at their absolute peak.

It was not just that they were the dominant force in world football at the time, but Pep Guardiola’s side dismantled Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United on the biggest stage of all.

The passing sequences that Barcelona produced were mesmeric, knocking the ball beyond United players like they were children in a playground. The final score was 3-1, but it could have easily been more as Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Messi and friends put on a masterclass at Wembley.

This was a spectacle that signalled a new era of football, played at the very highest level.

Mark Carey

West Germany 3 France 3 AET (West Germany win 5-4 on penalties) — World Cup semi-final, July 1982

So many of my favourite games over the years have been taken already, so I’m going to go way back to the 1982 World Cup, which I watched in a state of wide-eyed wonder at its exotic names, bright colours, and football played with an unfamiliar flair and panache.

The obvious game is Italy’s famous 3-2 victory against Brazil to decide who would advance to the semi-finals, which I vividly recall watching one Monday afternoon after school, stunned that a team containing Zico, Eder, Socrates et al had been beaten.

But I want to mention the semi-final between West Germany and France, a match that has assumed a certain notoriety due to goalkeeper Harald Schumacher’s horrible challenge on Patrick Battiston, but which was nonetheless one of the greatest games I’ve ever seen.

It was a 3-3 draw, with the Germans winning on penalties (almost certainly the first penalty shootout I had ever seen), and it was utterly captivating, with Michel Platini running the show for France and Pierre Littbarski doing likewise for the opposition. I don’t know how many times my brother and I rewatched that game on VHS. A lot, I can tell you.

I suspect if I watched it again 44 years later, it would be nothing like I remember — slow, lots of ugly challenges, lots of back-passes, lots of hit-and-hope (editor’s note: we’ve helped you out by providing a link below, Oli). The reality is that technical and athletic standards are so much higher these days. Paris on Tuesday was a perfect illustration.

Oli Kay

Belgium 3 Japan 2 — World Cup round of 16, July 2018

Like Oli, I’m old enough to remember Brazil playing Italy in the 1982 World Cup, which was an astonishing match that left a deep impression on me as a kid (weirdly, the first thing I always think of is Falcao’s veins in his arms standing out as he celebrated his goal).

But, as I’m applying a rule that I needed to be at the game, I’m saying Belgium vs Japan in the 2018 World Cup. I rewatched the highlights of it before typing this and got goosebumps, which says it all.

It was a round-of-16 tie in Rostov, and Belgium, one of the pre-tournament favourites, were 2-0 down with 21 minutes remaining.

Japan were brilliant. Takashi Inui’s terrific goal doubled their lead and left Roberto Martinez, the Belgium manager, looking to the heavens. But somehow, he and his team turned things around. They pulled a goal back through Jan Vertonghen’s looping header, equalised via Marouane Fellaini, and then, in the last of the four minutes of added time, scored one of the best counter-attacking goals you will ever see.

When you bag an injury-time winner to send your country to the #WorldCup quarter-finals 💥@NChadli 🇧🇪👏

🎥 Highlights 👉 https://t.co/LOdKDX2Cwn
📺 TV listings 👉 https://t.co/xliHcxWvEO pic.twitter.com/tzvoWhVbp7

— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) July 2, 2018

I can still remember walking out of the ground in the early hours with James Ducker and David Coverdale, a couple of English journalists, and the three of us all saying we don’t think we’ve seen a better match. I also kept thinking, ‘Poor Japan.’

Stu James

Manchester City 3 Queens Park Rangers 2 — Premier League, May 2012

Sitting in the press box at the Etihad that day, I had to deliver what we know in the trade as an on-the-whistle report. So, as the drama unfolded, I had already tapped out a holding introduction for the top of my piece. “Manchester City will never forget the day they blew the Premier League title,” it read.

Sounds ridiculous now, doesn’t it? Yet these were also the moments when streams of City fans were filing out of the ground in shock. Some were in tears, others looked grey-faced and dazed. It was the final day of the 2011-12 season and, at that precise moment, it was shaping up to be the worst case of old-school ‘Cityitis’ in history. Roberto Mancini’s team were losing 2-1 at home to a Queens Park Rangers side facing relegation. The title was heading to Manchester United, who were winning away to Sunderland, and Mancini was on the touchline shouting “F**k you” at his own players.

What happened in the dying moments changed the landscape of English football and spawned thousands of ‘93.20’ tattoos among the Blue-minded population of Manchester — the precise moment when Sergio Aguero followed up Edin Dzeko’s equaliser with the title-clinching goal.

And it was bedlam. As a kid, I’d watched Arsenal beat Liverpool to the 1988-89 title with, almost implausibly, the final kick of the season at Anfield. I never thought I would see the modern-day equivalent in the flesh. That day in Manchester proved me wrong. And it ended up being the latest on-the-whistle report I’ve filed in my life.

Danny Taylor

Liverpool 4 Newcastle United 3 — Premier League, April 1996

For those of us who were introduced to football in the mid-1990s, this game will always be the benchmark for a thriller.

Both teams were in the race for the title, with Liverpool third and Kevin Keegan’s much-loved Newcastle side stumbling as they saw their 12-point lead over Manchester United disappear.

It was a humdinger from start to finish, with Robbie Fowler opening the scoring in the second minute, before Stan Collymore won it in the 92nd. Newcastle led twice in between, and had a good chance for a 4-3 win themselves when Les Ferdinand was denied by David James as the clock ticked towards stoppage time.

The stage was set for the grand finale, with Sky Sports commentator Martin Tyler’s famous line “Collymore closing in!” followed by the iconic image of a despairing Keegan slumped over the pitchside advertising hoardings.

There may have been higher-quality games since, there might have been more entertaining ones, but there’s something special about the first time you realise just what this sport is capable of.

Charlie Eccleshare

Everton 3 Liverpool 3 — Premier League, November 2013

Leighton Baines off, Gerard Deulofeu on? Go on then. If ever a substitution encapsulated the madness of a game that had it all, this was it.

Merseyside derbies are often turgid affairs, but the one served up by the sides then managed by Martinez and Brendan Rodgers in November 2013 was as enthralling and exciting for the neutral as it was for everyone in Liverpool.

The pendulum swung both ways as Liverpool took the lead twice before Everton fought their way in front — Romelu Lukaku’s fine header in front of the Gwladys Street end would have gone down as one of the great goals in the club’s recent history, had it not been for Daniel Sturridge’s late equaliser and questionable celebratory dancing.

🔵 A Merseyside derby for the ages, #OnThisDay in 2013 🔴 pic.twitter.com/Ckj5S5LG5y

— Premier League (@premierleague) November 23, 2018

Goals. Tackles. Chances. Misses. Defending. One of football’s most renowned villains in Luis Suarez, who celebrated his free kick in front of Everton supporters before being chopped down by Kevin Mirallas, with the Belgian somehow avoiding a red card for a challenge that VAR would probably still be umming and ahhing about now.

The match can now be watched in full on the Premier League’s website — and there’s a bank holiday coming up in the UK…

Rhodri Cannon

Barcelona 6 Paris Saint-Germain 1 (Barcelona progress 6-5 on aggregate) — Champions League round of 16 second leg, March 2017

It was over. PSG had beaten Barcelona 4-0 at the Parc des Princes. All they needed was a normal match in the return leg, something within the broad bounds of acceptability, a non-horror show.

Barcelona scored after three minutes at the Camp Nou, then again just before half-time. When Messi slotted home a penalty at the start of the second half, the unthinkable began to feel inevitable. Then the Parisians conjured an away goal from nothing. It meant Barcelona needed to score three more to progress. Even PSG — still, at this point in history, complete disaster-hogs in the Champions League — would have to go some to mess this up again.

Fair play, they managed it. Neymar cranked up his personal star-power dial to 13 and PSG just… melted. It was both a car crash and an escape act for the ages. It was impossible to look away.

Jack Lang

Everton 3 Wimbledon 2 — Premier League, May 1994

In a parallel universe, Everton lost on May 7, 1994, and became another Sheffield Wednesday: a fallen giant trapped in the lower divisions, unable to find their feet and lost to the big stage of English football for who knows how long.

Instead, I watched them go 2-0 down that afternoon, their fate seeming sealed, only to win 3-2 and avoid relegation on the final day of the season. It was an exhilarating, dizzying game I will never forget.

Seared into the brains of a generation of Evertonians: a manager few liked in the dugout, a stand being rebuilt and fans perched in the trees of nearby Stanley Park to watch, a vital penalty taken by Graham Stuart (only the second of his career). Then, to top it all, Barry Horne scored one of the three goals he managed in his entire career on Merseyside with an unstoppable rocket that beggared belief. They still sing about it today.

Stuart’s second put Everton into the late lead; they held on and survived, then went on to win the FA Cup the following year — the club’s most recent major piece of silverware.

🎾 | Did somebody mention #Wimbledon? #GoalOfTheDay 😬😓 pic.twitter.com/CrcRZuYq9k

— Everton (@Everton) July 10, 2017

Greg O’Keeffe

Netherlands 2 Argentina 2 AET (Argentina win 4-3 on penalties) — World Cup quarter-final, December 2022

Most people pick out the final as the best game from the Qatar World Cup, and I don’t blame them. But, for me, the Netherlands’ fiery encounter with Argentina in the last eight delivered even more drama.

Argentina were leading 2-0 courtesy of one of the best assists you will ever see from Messi and coasting into the semi-finals, until Dutch substitute Wout Weghorst scored two late goals.

Netherlands v Argentina had it all.

A #FIFAWorldCup knockout match for the ages, #OTD in 2022! 🇳🇱🍿🇦🇷

— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) December 9, 2023

Tempers flared throughout the game, and at one stage, Leandro Paredes booted the ball at the Netherlands’ bench. Virgil van Dijk responded by charging across the pitch and knocking him over. There were 16 yellow cards shown in total, and Denzel Dumfries was sent off.

Argentina eventually won on penalties, but the drama did not end there. Messi argued with Netherlands head coach Louis van Gaal at full time, and then called Weghorst a “dummy”.

Let’s hope for a rematch at this summer’s tournament in North America.

Jay Harris