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Here is everything you need to know about the top 10 greatest big game players.
Football's biggest moments carry a special kind of magic - the roar of the crowd, the electrifying tension, and the feeling that history is unfolding before your eyes.
In the midst of the pressure and chaos, though, a select few players rise to the occasion, their composure and brilliance elevating the game to something almost poetic as everything around them renders unbridled mayhem.
Here is everything you need to know about the top 10 greatest big game players as bought to you be Pulse Sports Kenya according to GiveMeSport.
10. Gerd Muller - Germany
Gerd Muller can be considered an underrated player nowadays. But to those who knew about him during his pomp, he remains the sport's greatest-ever poacher and 'the builder of Bayern'. Nobody hit the back of the net like him.
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With 68 goals in 62 international games, including 14 goals in 11 World Cup finals matches, the German talisman scored from everywhere on the field, with every part of his body.
With the rate at which he plundered goals, Muller left no stone unturned during his playing days, which meant his attacking instinct never let up, no matter the opposition. Big teams, little teams, nobody was ever too far away from conceding to the talisman.
9. Franco Baresi - Italy
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Playing for the Rossoneri's esteemed Invinicibili group, Franco Baresi - otherwise known as "Kaiser Franz" by football purists for his parallelism with Germany's Franz Beckenbauer - is one of the most successful sweepers the sport has ever watched.
He won six Serie A titles, three European Cups, and a World Cup across 20 years, where he exemplified the Italian belief that defending is an acquired art form. Baresi led AC Milan to clean sheets in every European Cup final that he won; played every second of Italy's 517-minute run without conceding at the 1990 World Cup and once kept a clean sheet against Inter Milan with a broken arm.
Even the one flaw in his big game record, which saw him miss a penalty in the 1994 World Cup final, isn't without brilliance, as the Italian legend kept Romario and Bebeto quiet for two hours (it was not pivotal either, not in the Baggio sense, at least).
8. Zinedine Zidane - France
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Zinedine Zidane had an incredible legacy, winning both the World Cup and the European Championship, and being named as the best player in both competitions, while the former - which came in 1998 - also saw him claim the Ballon d'Or in the same year.
'Zizou' delivered so many exceptional performances on the biggest stages that he might as well have been a postman by the time he hung up his boots.Not only did he score a brace in France's World Cup triumph, but his comet-like volley against Bayer Leverkusen in the 2002 Champions League final will forever be carved into history.
Considered one of the greatest goals in football, the strike was a hip-displacing, hyperextended effort that some say was as close to ballet as you'll see on a pitch. Real Madrid replayed the goal from every angle and set it to the music of “Nessun Dorma” from Puccini's Turandot, which says everything you need to know about its beauty. It's just a shame that his football bloodline couldn't keep producing players like him.
7. Alfredo Di Stefano - Italy
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South America football journalist Tim Vickery once rated Alfredo Di Stefano above Pele and Diego Maradona as the most influential footballer of all time. And given the fact he's the only player to have a Super Ballon d'Or, after having scored 418 goals in just 510 appearances for Real Madrid, it's not an awful shout.
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Di Stefano, who also scored 49 goals in 58 European Cup appearances, was part of the team that achieved the unrepeatable feat of winning five consecutive European Cups with Los Blancos between 1956 and 1960. But what brings his big-game status into sharp focus is the fact he scored in each final.
6. Didier Drogba - Ivory
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With vital strikes in two League Cup finals and four FA Cup climaxes, Didier Drogba holds the unbelievable record of having scored nine goals in the 10 curtain-closers that he played in for Chelsea.
The most famous of which came in the 2012 Champions League final victory over Bayern Munich. Arguably the crowning moment of Drogba’s career, he scored an 88th-minute equaliser with a towering header to level the match at 1-1.
In the penalty shootout, Drogba then coolly converted the decisive spot-kick to secure Chelsea’s first-ever Champions League title, cementing his status as a club legend and one of the greatest African footballers of all time.
5. Sergio Ramos - Spain
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For Sergio Ramos, time is never an issue. While other managers reach the 85th-minute and start nervously watching every second slip away as their team struggles to find the back of the net, the defender takes it upon himself to rewrite history, even when it's not on his job description.
The four-time Champions League winner has produced stoppage-time equalisers in the final of both the Champions League and UEFA Super Cup, while also marshalling clean sheets in three major finals for Spain. Alongside his continental success with Real Madrid, Ramos has two European Championship titles and a World Cup to his name.
But without him in either of those setups, it's hard to imagine it would have been possible.
4. Andres Iniesta - Spain
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Andres Iniesta is the only player in history to collect the Man of the Match award in the Champions League final, European Championship final and World Cup final. All that, and he scored the winner in the latter.
The mercurial, almost folkloric, playmaker typified what it means to be a Spanish midfielder in an era where Spain and Catalonia held dominion over the world. But it - mindboggingly - gets even better, because Iniesta helped to turn the tide for Barcelona in the 2006 Champions League with his half-time introduction and scored that iconic last-minute equaliser at Stamford Bridge.
When La Blaugranas needed a hero, then a sure-fire bet was that they could always rely on Iniesta's majesty.
3. Steven Gerrard - England
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As far as big-game players go, this one's an obvious one, as Steven Gerrard holds the extraordinary record of being the only player in history to score in the finals of the FA Cup, League Cup, Champions League, and UEFA Cup. However, this statistic alone does not fully capture his impact.
The 2006 FA Cup final, often referred to as "The Gerrard Final," is remembered for his two spectacular goals, while the 2005 Champions League final, which played host to one of the greatest comebacks in football history, further solidified his impertuable legacy as a one-man wrecking machine.
As mythical as 'that night in Istanbul' was, then let it be known just how incredible it was that the Englishman was also able to drag teams that featured the likes of Djibril Cisse and Momo Sissoko to such dizzying heights and then be considered greater than Frank Lampard and Paul Scholes, too.
2. Cristiano Ronaldo - Portugal
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You know, when the chips are down and the team needs an inspirational moment more than ever, you can always rely on a certain breed of footballer to really rise to the occasion. And, for a long time, nobody quite fitted this phenomenon better than Cristiano Ronaldo.
After all, you can't be called 'Mr Champions League' without being a big-game player. And so, with 35 trophies to his name, including seven league titles, five Champions Leagues, the European Championship and the Nations League, the Portuguese icon had a knack for delivering on the big occasion.
In the Champions League, he scored 30 goals in 20 quarter-finals, 13 goals in 21 semi-finals, and four goals in six finals.
1. Leonel Messi - Argentina
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As the greatest player of all time, Lionel Messi's also the greatest big-game player in football history, too. The Argentine wizard has long used his footballing IQ to propel his teams to glory.
After years of near-misses, he cemented his legacy with Argentina by winning the 2021 Copa America and 2022 World Cup. In the Copa America final against Brazil, his leadership and creativity were instrumental in securing Argentina’s first major international trophy in 28 years.
Then, at the 2022 World Cup, Messi delivered in nearly every game, scoring seven goals, including two in the final against France, and converting a crucial penalty in the shootout to win the title.
To a great extent, his tournament depicted a man who would do anything to drag his team over the line to furnish his ridiculous trophy cabinet with the final piece.
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