Most Dramatic Football Finishes - Can This Get Any More Dramatic?

The football season is going to and end and May is always the most heated month of the year in regards to decisions. In the past weeks we saw some league titles being secured, very sad relegations taken place and dramatic penalty shoot outs like the Europa League Final one. One League has still another matchday left: The Premier League. We are seeing a very close finish between Liverpool and Manchester City. Both teams are playing an almost perfect league season and only one point separating these two giants. The scene is set for the perfect drama as Liverpool is playing at home against Wolves and Manchester City has to beat Aston Villa which is currently coached by the Liverpool legend himself: Steven Gerrard. With this being said, I want to take a look at some past dramatic league finishes. As I am most interested in the Premier League and the Bundesliga, I will keep my attention on those two leagues, but there are probably many dramatic finishes more!

Manchester City vs Manchester United 2012

„AGUEEROOOOO!!!“ This must ring a bell in every English football fan that watched the Premier League for the last decade. It was the clash for the title between the two Manchester clubs: City versus United; Blue vs Red. Moving into the last leg the tone was as follows. City and United had both 86 points but City had the better goal difference with 63 compared to 55 of United’s. That meant that if City wins their game, United would need a miracle and a lot of goals to get the trophy.

Well, United was able to win their away game against Sunderland by one goal. This meant that City “only” had to win their game to make themselves champion. Unfortunately, for the Citizens they had to play against the Queen Park Rangers which were fighting against relegations which meant that they would fight for each little bit of inch! The game went according to plan as Pablo Zabaleta put ManCity 1:0 in front. With beginning of the second half the plan corrupted as QPR was able to take the lead with goals from Cisse and Mackie. With only 25 minutes to play City had to score at least two goals in order to win the title.

The 90th minute started and the score was still 2:1 as Edin Dzeko was able to equalize the score. This meant that for the remaining few minutes the stadium would be a real circus! And the dreams of city come true as Balotelli made his probably only assist in his career. He passed it towards Aguero who put the ball in the back of the net and made the score 3:2. Everybody involved in this game could not believe it and everybody on United’s site was devastated at the end.

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Eintracht Frankfurt vs Nürnberg 1999

The deciding moments in football are not always about the titles. A lot of times the most drama happens in the lower part of the table where the teams are fighting for survival. One of the most intense dramas that I know of happened in the German Bundesliga in the year of 1999. Before the last leg the situation was very tense: 5 teams were at risk to get relegated. From 12th place which was Nürnberg all the way down to the 16th place which was occupied by Frankfurt. In the last leg Nürnberg had to fight against the direct competitor Freiburg which is already a very tense game on its own. But Stuttgart had to play against Bremen, Rostock played against Bochum and Frankfurt played against fourth place Kaiserslautern. It was clear that Frankfurt had the worst cards going into the last leg.

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But as we know football the last leg unfolded itsself completely different than expected. While Stuttgart and Rostock were able to win their games it was a battle between Freiburg, Nürnberg and Frankfurt. Freiburg were able to defeat Nürnberg in their game which secure them another season in the Budnesliga. This meant that Frankfurt had to win with a difference of four goals to secure their plac ein this league. Fortunately for Nürnberg the first half ended 0-0, meaning that Frankfurt had to score 4 goals in 45 minutes. This is very difficult but it got more difficult for Frankfurt after 68 minutes. This is when Kaiserslautern was able to equilze the score after frankfurt was able to take the lead. The last 20 minutes of the game frankfurt had still to score 4 goals to secure their spot!

This is when the football likes to write its stories. With an amazing run, Frankfurt was able to score these 4 goals in the 20 minutes with the last and deciding goal being scored in the 89th minute of the game! The resulting table saw Nürnberg in the 16th place which meant that they had to go one league down while Frankfurt was able to stay in the league and celebrate.

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Arsenal vs Liverpool 1989

Moving on to another title race! This time again in the Premier League but this time in the year of 1989! It was Arsenal against Liverpool. The interesting fact about this rivalry was that it was down to the last game which these opponent splayed against each other. The more obscure thing about this match was that it was played after the season was over, which basically gave this match up a true final atmosphere!

The initial situation was as follows: Liverpool was three points ahead. Furthermore, Arsenal had to win with two goals difference as back then the direct match ups were counted. The reason of this late game was unfortunately a very sad one: the Hillsborough tragedy took place and this should be enough said about this topic. Back to the amazing story about football. Arsenal went very quickly 1-0 in front. But it took them until the 90th minute to score the championship and title deciding 2-0. It was one of the most insane finishes of football history as after the final whistle no fan left the stadium. Every fan, whether it was Arsenal or Liverpool, just applauded in respect to the victims of the previously mentioned tragedy and for football itself.

The crazy last minute of the game can be seen in this video: