European Goals Galore

Following on from previous blogs featuring the high-scoring games in the English Premier and Football Leagues, we take a look at another collection of goal-crazy matches, this time in the main ‘super-heavyweight’ European leagues of Germany’s Bundesliga, Spain’s La Liga, and Italy’s Serie A from the early 90’s to the mid 2000s.

Just after Christmas 1989, Sevilla completed an incredible comeback win away to the mighty Barcelona. Things looked good for Barca’ when Robert Fernandez made it 3-1 to the home side half-an-hour into the second half. However, Toni Polster slotted home his second penalty in the 79th minute, before Jose Carvajal equalised for the visitors four minutes later. Ignacio Conte grabbed a dramatic winner with just three minutes remaining.

Early in the 1990/91 season, Kaiserslautern visited Bayer 05 Uerdingen and came out on top in a ten-goal tussle. The Kaisers’ led two-nil after 22 minutes, 3-1 after 32 minutes, 4-2 after 47 minutes, and 5-3 just before the hour mark, before eventually coming out victorious 7-3 in one of the highest scoring games ever seen in the Bundesliga.

Later that season Bayern Munich achieved the same score-line against Hertha Berlin with Olaf Thon netting a hat-trick and Roland Wohlfarth scoring two goals in three minutes. One of the greatest individual performances came from MSV Duisburg player Michael Tonnies, when he struck five times against Karlsruher. Tonnies got his first three goals within the opening quarter of an hour, including a volley, to complete an amazing hat-trick in just five minutes! His fourth goal came from a header with his side leading 5-1 at half-time, before notching his fifth from close-range in the 68th minute in a 6-2 win.

Fernando Hierro got his four goals in the space of just 17 minutes as Real Madrid easily saw-off Espanyol 7-0 after only 65 minutes play. Italian giants AC Milan scored their final seven goals in the space of 40 minutes, as they battered Foggia 8-2 with Marco van Basten and Marco Simone grabbing a brace each. Dutch striker, Marco van Basten was again the hero for Milan when he struck the winner against Pescara in a nine-goal thriller. Milan led two-one after just six minutes, before Pescara took the lead 3-2 inside the first 15 minutes with Franco Baresi conceding two own goals. This was extended to 4-2 after only 23 minutes before van Basten netted two times in two minutes to level the scores at 4-4 at half-time. Marco van Basten then completed his hat-trick in the 72nd minute to give AC Milan a fantastic away win.

Atletico Madrid managed one of their best comeback wins when they overturned a 3-0 deficit to beat their rivals Barcelona in an early season game in 1993. Brazilian legend Romario had just completed his hat-trick for Barca’ before half-time but Roman Kosecki grabbed two goals to level the scores after 74 minutes. Step forward Jose Luis Caminero who struck the winner for Atleti with just a minute to go. The same season saw Romario net a couple more hat-tricks in 8-1 and 5-3 wins for Barca. Pierluigi Casiraghi was a four-goal hero as Lazio beat Fiorentina eight-two and Deportivo La Coruna had the same scoreline against Albacete with Julio Salinas completing a treble.

The 1995/96 season saw one of the most amazing games in La Liga history when Albacete travelled to Racing Santander. The scores were level after eight minutes (1-1), and all-square at half-time (2-2). Albacete then scored twice to lead 4-2 midway through the second half but the home side stormed back into the match when Dmitriy Popov headed in a cross in the 72nd minute, before two left-footers from Alberto in five minutes gave Racing a 5-4 lead with ten minutes to go. However, Paco Luna had the final word with a header to make it five apiece, with three minutes to go! A remarkable ten minute hat-trick from Giuseppe Signori helped Lazio narrowly defeat Bari 4-3, and Fiorentina edged a ten goal thriller against Padova 6-4, having led 3-0 and 4-1. Padova suffered a heavy eight-two loss to Inter Milan, and Albacete were unable to stop Real Sociedad in a run-away eight-one defeat.

There were eleven goals when Real Oviedo entertained Real Valladolid in a 1995/96 end of season clash, with six of the goals scored from the penalty spot! Oviedo were on the wrong end of the 8-3 scoreline with Alen Peternac converting four of his penalty kicks in a personal tally of five goals for Valladolid. Barcelona were again guilty of letting a three goal lead slip when Valencia came back to triumph four-three with the equaliser and winner scored in the final two minutes. UD Salamanca’s Edu Alonso beat the defence in the final minute to slot in the winner in a pulsating 5-4 victory over Atletico Madrid despite Christian Vieri striking four times for Madrid.

Abel Balbo smashed one of the fastest trebles in Serie A history, in 13 minutes, when Parma beat Piacenza 6-3 during a 1998/99 game. Marcelo Salas side-footed in the equaliser for Lazio in an eight goal tussle against AC Milan in a late 1999 match, despite a hat-trick from Ukrainian legend Andriy Shevchenko for Milan.

Into the new millennium and there were no surprises as Bayer Leverkusen thrashed SSV Ulm 9-1 and Barcelona thumped Atletico Bilbao 7-0 after only 67 minutes of play! It was also Barca’s turn to overturn big deficits into two amazing 4-4 draws. Firstly, Patrick Kluivert struck in the third minute of injury time to complete his hat-trick and Villarreal’s chance of glory having led 3-0 after only twenty minutes, and then Rivaldo also netted in the 93rd minute as his side stunned a Real Zaragoza team who had led 3-1 with a quarter of an hour to play.

Fernando Morientes had a memorable game when he scored five times for Real Madrid against Las Palmas. Werder Bremen were aided by two late goals in the dying minutes as they overcame Hansa Rostock 4-3 in a nervy finish. Racing Santander were again involved in a titanic struggle as they came back to draw 4-4 playing Celta Vigo, with Cristian Alvarez converting his second penalty in the 83rd minute and Javi Guerrero bagging his second with four minutes to go.

Written by Hitesh Kumar author of Goal Thrillers