Ok so I just need to say this, at the start of 2025, I told myself I would try to do a few top 25 lists (it's 2025 after all, top 25 it shall be) of stuff I like and things I'm into. It'll well past the second half of the year and I still have not done one...until now.
So yeah I just had too much to do that it completely skipped my mind until recently. Hopefully I'll have a few more fun ones lined up soon, be it football, or back to my usual Pokemon stuff, or maybe even F1 stuff, or some game stuff, I'm still trying to think of some fun ones. I wanted to start off with football first since the 2025/26 season is kicking of this weekend and it'll be 30 years on from the first time I can remember following an EPL season. I'm sure I watched games before then but don't recall it that much but around 1995 I knew my stuff even as a kid haha.
Honorable mentions
Two entries just missed out but I wanted to share anyway
Manchester United wins the EFL Cup 2023!
Oh wow Manchester United actually won something for once, 7 years since the last trophy too. But this one got me split since it was against Newcastle United. As you all know, I am a Manchester United fan and this list will be very Manchester United heavy but Newcastle United is the other team I like a lot too and they hadn't won anything for well over 60+ years.
So while I was happy to see Manchester United finally win something again, also a bit sad for Newcastle to have that wait going. Also seeing Manchester United win the FA Cup in 2024 was quite something as the team was plagued with injured and they were up against the best team in England, the noisy neighbors Manchester City and somehow we won!
England beating Denmark 2-1 in Euro 2020 semi-finals, first finals since World Cup 1966!
I've always been an England fan since the 1998 World Cup but I'm used to seeing England dissapoint in the big stage, that's all I've ever known from them. Until this match. Denmark lead initially, then England got one back from an own goal.
And then it was extra time. And the big man Harry Kane got the winning goal which meant England were into the finals of the Euro 2020, which means I finally get to see them in a major finals. We don't talk about what happened in the finals, or the 2024 one for that matter. Or the World Cup semi-final vs Croatia in 2018 as well.
And now onto my top 25 favorite moments in football.
25) Manchester United 1-0 Inter Milan
- Friendly match in Singapore on July 20, 2019
You might be wondering, why is this random match on here? Well, this is the first, and so far only, time I've had the chance to watch my team, Manchester United, live in person! It wasn't the first time I was watching their opponents Inter Milan either, that story is up next.
But it was so cool to see the team I had been following for years finally playing live! I still am hopeful to go to a game at Old Trafford to watch them play a home game live, but that could be in jeopardy with the news of the new stadium.
24) Real Madrid 1-1 Inter Milan
- 2014 International Champions Cup match in Berkely, California on July 26, 2014
What's so good about this match you wonder? Well nothing actually. It was a glorified friendly match in the US, and I just so happened to be there at the same time so my cousins got tickets for us to watch a game.
The thing is, I've never watched a football match live up to this point! I've been following the game for a good 20 years or so but never had a chance to watch a game and now this would be the first. And it was two European giants in Real Madrid and Inter Milan. I just watched as a neutral and the game ended in a penalty shootout, so that's always fun. Gareth Bale's goal was quite something to watch live in person too!
23) Brazil 1-7 Germany
- World Cup 2014 Semi-Finals
So the story is, this match would happen on a Thursday morning for me and I had my Army reservist but my friend and I had a great plan, let's watch the 2nd half together while we're on our way to camp. So I would watch the first half at home and head off.
And I think you all know what happened. Two of the best teams in the World and somehow, Germany were 5-0 up after 30 minutes. There's still 60 minutes to go! I couldn't believe what I was seeing and I was sure everyone else in the world had their jaws dropped. Still one of the craziest games I've ever seen. I'd never in my life think I'd read a 7-1 score in the semi finals of a World Cup game, and Brazil being the one that got beaten too, and at home as well!
22) Manchester United 5-4 Lyon
- Quarter Finals, Leg 2, Europa League 2025
This was quite recent but I had to include it. It's also one of the rare few games I've watched for the last 7-8 years! And I sure picked a good one to watch. The first leg ended 2-2 so United had to win to make it into the Semi Finals and this game was just crazy.
- Manchester United lead 2-0 going into half time (Aggregate Score is now 4-2)
- Lyon scores two goals in the second half to put the game into extra time (Aggregate Score is now 4-4)
- Lyon scores a goal late on in the first half of extra time to go 2-3 up (Aggregate Score is now 4-5)
- And they scored again 4 minutes into the second half of extra time, so now Manchester United had to somehow score 3 goals in the next 11 minutes to win this, somehow (Aggregate Score is now 4-6)
- 6 minutes left to go, Bruno Fernandes scores from the penalty spot! (Aggregate Score is now 5-6)
- The final minute and Kobbie Mainoo scores! This now means the game will go to a penalty shootout unless someone scores a goal in the next minutes (Aggregate Score is now 6-6)
- And in the dying seconds of the game, Harry Maguire completed the unthinkable comeback scoring in extra time of the final minute of the game! We're into the semi finals!!! (Aggregate Score is now 7-6)
The match somewhat reminded me of the 1999 Champions League final, stealing the game at the end, just as Manchester United did vs PSG a year ago or so as well. This is also my only Manchester United memory from the post Sir Alex Ferguson era on this list because honestly there's not that much to look back on fondly in this new era. And also, I don't watch football as religiously as I used to. I don't even have the football channel anymore so I don't really watch it anymore these days, I just follow the results on socials.
21) 4 Late Game winners vs Manchester City
Ok I'm cheating a bit here but there's four entries combined into one for this one enrty! Because we got them 4 different times haha! Nothing feels good about beating your rivals than a late winning goal, and United did it five times!
- Michael Owen
- 2009/10 - Manchester United 4-3 Manchester City
- Scored in the 96th minute
- Paul Scholes
- 2009/10 - Manchester City 0-1 Manchester United
- Scored in the 93rd minute
- Robin van Persie
- 2012/13 - Manchester City 2-3 Manchester United
- Scored in the 92nd minute
- Ahmad Diallo
- 2024/25 - Manchester City 1-2 Manchester United
- Scored in the 90th minute
And let's not forget that wonderful goal Wayne Rooney scored back in the 2010/11 season too, not as late as these one but hey it's still a good one! My personal favourite of the lot is the Michael Owen one, always had been a fan of his even during his Liverpool days and it was cool to see him get that late winner in his first Manchester derby.
20) Wayne Rooney hat-trick hero on debut
So the thing with Manchester United is, they don't really have many big signings...ever. That's always been the case. There's really only a few signings I was hyped about, Rio Ferdinand, Robin van Persie, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney.
And oh boy did Rooney make a mark right away. I remember staying up at 3am to watch this game against Fenerbahce and he put the world on notice with a hat-trick right off the bat! He would go on to break the record for the most goals scored for Manchester United, beat Sir Bobby Charlton's old record by 8!
19) Tottenham Hotspur 3-5 Manchester United
- 2001/02 Premier League game, 29 September 2001
One of the best games I can remember watching. Tottentham were 3-0 up at half time and poor old me is thinking, how the heck is United winning this.
Right off half time Andy Cole got one back. Then Laurent Blanc about 10 minutes later. Ok there's a chance! Ruud van Nistelrooy gets the equalisier near the half way mark and shortly after Juan Veron scores the 4th! And to top it all off, David Beckham scores a screamer to make it 5-3! Brilliant! If you ever get the chance to watch this match, do it!
18) Manchester United 8-2 Arsenal
- 2011/12 Premier League game, 28 August 2011
From one big win against a London team to another bigger win against a bigger London club, almost 10 years (-1 month off) from that game. And this will always be one of my favourite memories watching football. Arsenal was a team that tormented me during my younger days because they were just that good, and if Manchester United didn't win, it was because of Arsenal.
And also the legendary rivalry between the two clubs, it was always ugly. The match was looking good for United, 3-1 up after half time.
- The Rooney scored his second goal from a second free kick (Manchester United 4-1 Arsenal)
- Nani then made it 5 just 3 minutes later (Manchester United 5-1 Arsenal)
- And 3 minutes after that, Park scored! (Manchester United 6-1 Arsenal)
- van Persie got one back for the Gunners not long after (Manchester United 6-2 Arsenal)
- Took a while for the next goal to come, but it was Rooney with his hat-trick from the spot (Manchester United 7-2 Arsenal)
- And to top it all off, Young scores another screamer to make it 8-2! (Manchester United 8-2 Arsenal)]
Not seen a game quite like this against another top opponent. Or did I?
17) Manchester United 7-1 Roma
- Quarter Finals, 2nd Leg, Champions League 2007
Well yes there was another one. Roma beat Manchester United 2-1 in the first leg so they had to win to make it into the semi-finals. And boy did they come out guns blazing!
3 goals in the first 19 minutes put United 3-0 up, 4-2 on aggregate. Cristiano Ronaldo added a 4th just before half time to make it 4-0. He didn't stop there, he made it 5 just 4 minutes after the second half started. Carrick made it 6 with yet another screamer before Danielle de Rossi got one back for the visitors. Evra got a rare goal to make it 7-1. In the Champions League. In the Quarter Finals match. Absolutely domination. And I stayed up quite late to watch this one!
16) Leicester City wins the English Premier League 2015/16!
Well it's not all about Manchester United! This is not just one of my favourite football stories of all time, but maybe of all sporting stories. Leicester City were supposed to be favourites....to get relegated back into the Championships. They were given no hope to staying up, let alone win the whole thing. They had just survived relegation the previous year. Their odds of winning the EPL? 5000-1.
And what happens next is just something else. New manager Claudio Ranieri got them winning games. And they won some more. They were up to 3rd and took a heavy loss to Arsenal in September. Their next loss was to Liverpool...3 months later! By that point they were somehow the league leaders! Their only other loss was to Arsenal again but they took some big wins that season and with two games to go, took their first League win, the biggest underdog story ever told in football perhaps! Hats off to them and I hope we can see more for this in the future.
15) Newcastle United finally wins a trophy! Wins the EFL Cup 2025
As mentioned before, Newcastle are my 2nd favourite team and I've always kept up with their games and whatever they are doing. I don't know why I kept following them but something about them from when I first started following football just kept intriguing me so I never stopped following.
Before the EFL Cup final vs Liverpool, Newcastle had gone 56 years without winning a trophy and it goes to 70 years for a domestic trophy. That's a long time ago. I did stay up to watch this game, just in case there was some magic in the air against the league leaders Liverpool who were in contention of winning at least 4 trophies. And there was magic, Newcastle won 2-1! Even a late goal from Liverpool was not enough to deny the Magpies their first trophy in 56 years. Well played to them.
14) David Beckham's goal vs Wimbledon
- 1996/97 Premier League game, 17 August 1996
You've all seen this goal. It's been replayed a million times before. But seeing it for the first time blew my 6 year old mind. How can that happen? Is that even possible?
David Beckham scores from the half-way line! It's rare to see shots going in from that far back, and sure we've seen a number of them over the years but seeing this one was a first for me. This was also the start of my David Beckham fandom, I already knew about it as one of the young players but he made an impression on me that day and I've been a Beckham fan ever since.
13) Cristiano Ronaldo's goal vs Portsmouth
- 2007/08 Premier League game, 30 January 2008
What a special talent this guy was. From his debut, we just all knew it, didn't we. The spagetti-haired kid from Portugal was special. Ronaldo wowed us on his debut and he just kept getting better and better. He won me over after just a few games, I knew this guy was something special. A worthy person to wear the United number 7 jersey.
This might be one of his best goals. The free kick aren't usually always special but this one sure was. It was quite a ways off, and never looked like it would trouble David James. But he struck it so well that even a top goalkeeper like him was just left stranded. I hadn't see a free kick struck quite like that and it was perfect. Beckham has his bendy free kicks which were special, Ronaldo's rocket free kicks were completely something else.
12) Ryan Giggs's goal vs Arsenal
- 1999 FA Cup Semi Finals
This was during the epic 1999 season but this goal almost never happened. Arsenal had a chance to seal the game in the dying minutes with a penalty but luckily for United, Dennis Bergkamp missed from the spot and the game went to extra time.
Then it happens. An errand ball gets played and Giggs picks it up from the half way line, runs past one defender, runs past another defender, beats two defenders at the same time, evades a fourth and slots the ball past David Seaman to win the match for Manchester United. One of the best goals I've ever seen and it sets up the Treble win!
11) Eric Cantona's goal vs Sunderland
- 1996/97 Premier League game, 21 December 1996
This goal pretty much sums up Eric Cantona. Perfect. He scored many goals for United but this might be his finest one yet. That or the one against Liverpool in the FA Cup final that I might be mentioning about soon.
He runs around a few defenders, makes a fool out of them, gets around two, moves past after, does a 1-2 with McClair, goes past another and chips the ball way past the goalkeeper. And he just stands there while the crowd erupts. King Eric just turns around looking at the crowd, arms in the air. Poetry in motion. A perfect goal, a perfect celebration for the perfect player.
10) David Beckham's goal vs Colombia
- 1998 World Cup - Group Stage
There's nothing really special about this goal to be honest. It's a David Beckham special free kick goal. But it was a David Beckham goal....in the World Cup! I got to see my new favourite player score a goal in the World Cup!
This was also the first World Cup I got to watch so there's loads of memories for me of France 1998. My cousin would stay with us to watch the whole event and all 3 of us would also start collecting stickers, something I've tried to do for every World Cup ever since as a tradition. It's also this World Cup that got me into games, FIFA World Cup 98 was the first football game I ever played and it'll always be one of my favourites. Happy memories, especially seeing Beckham score with a red jersey and the number 7, feels just right.
9) Newcastle United 4-4 Arsenal
- 2010/11 Premier League game, 5 February 2011
One of the best games I've ever watched and hey not a Manchester United one this time! One of the most amazing comebacks ever. Within 10 minutes, Arsenal were 3-0 up, I was watching this game and I thought, oh well another big Arsenal win I guess. van Persie made it 4 after 26 minutes and I was starting to wonder how many will they score.
The first response from Newcastle came in the 68th minute, but it's still 1-4. 75 minutes and Best scores, now it's 2-4. 7 minutes to go, another penalty scored by Joey Barton! Hang on is there a chance of a comeback? Yes because on the 87th minute, Cheick Tioté scored a screamer, one of the best goals I've seen to cap a remarkable comeback. 0-4 to 4-4! Give this a watch if you can!
8) Manchester United wins the 2012-2013 English Premier League
This was a meaningful one, call it version 5 or 6 of Sir Alex Ferguson's era in Manchester United, we can call it the final version. This was his last season in charge and he sure went out with a bang, taking the record breaking 20th English league win.
It was still a really good team. David de Gea was the best goalkeeper in between the sticks since van der Sar. We still had the rock solid defensive pairing of Ferdinand and Vidic. Midfield did look a bit different, with Scholes, Giggs, Carrick, Valencia and Kagawa. Up front were van Persie and Rooney, a decent squad to end the Ferguson era. The final match was quite entertaining, a 5-5 draw at West Brom.
Still, this was the 20th league win, something I didn't think I would see happen and Manchester United did it. It's also the last league win and honestly, I don't see the 21st league win happening anytime soon. In fact, Liverpool has a better shot of retaking the record at this rate. Sad times but life goes on.
7) Manchester United ends Arsenal's 49-game unbeaten run
- 2004/05 Premier League game, 24 October 2004
This was one of my happiest moments in the game. Manchester United hosted Arsenal, who were on quite the run. 49 games unbeaten in the league, which is unheard of. They were the league leaders too and we on a superb run. But if anyone can derail them, it had to be Manchester United.
But this match was also quite heated. The last time these two played, Ruud van Nistelrooy missed a late second penalty to win the game and got mocked by the Arsenal players, a scene I'll never forget because it was ugly. I wanted United so badly to beat them, just because of that. And guess what happens? We get a penalty and van Nistelrooy scores! Sweet revenge. And to top it off, Rooney, on his 19th birthday too, scored late on to seal the deal. The unbeatables were beaten!
And then pizzagate happened but we don't need to talk about that.
6) Manchester United wins the 2008 Champions League
This one isn't quite high on my list but it's all good. I had already seen United win the champions league once so it was cool to see it again, just wasn't as special as the 1999 one. But it was with the newer generation squad with the likes of Ronaldo, Rooney, Carrick, Hargreaves to name a few.
And it was against Chelsea, so for the first time in the Champions League final, it was two English teams so that was cool to see as a fan of English football. But obviously I still wanted United win, and because it was Chelsea too, I wasn't a fan of them at this point. Ronaldo scored then Lampard equalized. The game came down to penalties with Ronaldo the only one to miss when it came to the last kick John Terry.
I do not like John Terry. So I was hoping for a miracle that somehow he'd miss. And it happened, he slipped! United were given a lifeline and van der Sar would save Anelka's shot to give United their 3rd Champions League win, the 2nd time I've seen it!
5) Manchester United wins the 1996 FA Cup
Why the 1996 FA Cup you ask? Well it was against Liverpool. And I think this was the first time that I watched Manchester United play Liverpool in any finals, so it was going to be a war at home (my dad and uncle were both Liverpool fans). Even my cousins were split, one on the right side, one on the wrong side.
So of course I was elated to see us win that, it was the first time I had seen Manchester United win any sort of finals! It was a tight game, with just one goal in it. And it came in the 85th minute thanks to a wonder strike from my favourite player of all time, Eric Cantona. So that win was even sweeter seeing him score that to give us the FA Cup!
4) Manchester United wins the 2006-2007 English Premier League
Version 4 of Manchester United took a while to get going but it sure felt good to finally see them topple the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool to take the league win, which took a while as the last one happened 4 years ago.
The team looked a lot different to what it was after the last win, but dare I say perhaps even better? One of the best Manchester United sides I got the privilege to watch. The back 4 of Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic and Gary Neville might be the best back 4 we ever had? Not to forget Edwin van der Sar in between the sticks! Then there's the likes of Carrick, Giggs and Scholes bossing the midfield and the attacking threats of Cristiano Ronaldo, Rooney, Saha and Solskjær!
The team were perfect, just a joy to watch. Wished they won more stuff though but they getting the premier league after 4 years was a start. The team would end up winning 3 EPLs in a row!
3) Manchester United wins the 1999-2000 English Premier League
We're still on Version 3 of Manchester United as I like to call it but how do you better the Treble winning season? By utter domination of course! This was one of the most one-sided league wins I had seen, no-one could really challenge them.
The team ended with more than 90 points which was a record at that point, and the earliest EPL win, winning it in mid-April! The team didn't change much from the previous year, obviously Schmeichel was the biggest loss but still it was pretty much the same team as before. Cole and Yorke were still killing it up front and we had Giggs and Beckham on the wings and Keane as the boss in the midfield.
Maybe my favourite Manchester United team? Hey I bought the ProStar figures of this team when I was a kid so do I need to say how much I liked this version of Manchester United? And yes I still have it with me.
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| I had this one! I think I still have most of them at home actually. |
2) Manchester United wins the 1995-1996 English Premier League
This one was special to me because this is the first one I remember seeing United win the league. And this was with the Version 2 squad, aka the youngsters! The class of '92 made a mark on the first team. Sure United lost some big players but why not replace them with emerging young players like Scholes, Giggs, Beckham, Gary Neville, Phillip Neville and Nicky Butt.
And of course United still had the star man in Eric Cantona and Bryan McClair up front and now joined by the new arrival of Andy Cole. You also had top guys like Roy Keane, Lee Sharpe, and Paul Parker in midfield and the solid defensive line up with Schmeichel in goal and Brue and Pallister in the center, Irwin down the left side, Neville down the right side. A solid team with a great blend of youth and experience.
They did lose the first game vs Aston Villa where some dumb analysist made the stupid remark "You can't win anything with kids". Cantona and co made him eat their words and not only did United win the Premier League with the youthful side, but also the FA Cup, aka doing the double! But how do you better that?
1) Manchester United wins the 1998-1999 English Premier League, the 1999 FA Cup and 1999 Champions League all within the space of 10 days!
By doing the treble of couse. I mean it has to be this one! Version 3 of the squad was in full swing. United now had the scary powerful striking duo of Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke and if that wasn't enough to scare people, the backups were Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjær! These two would be starters in any other team.
Defensively United looked solid. Legendary goalkeeper Schmeichel was in his last year, Gary Neville and Dennis Irwin on the side and the center back pairing of Ronny Johnsen and new signing Jaap Stam. Ryan Giggs on the left wing and David Beckham on the right wing meant United always had attacks waiting to happen. Roy Keane was the boss in midfield and he worked well with whoever was with him, be it Paul Scholes or Nicky Butt.
And this perfect team was on a mission, do what has never been done before. And within 10 days, United won the Premier League after Arsenal slipped up near the end, beat Newcastle in the FA Cup and the came the Champions League, which might be my favourite moment ever. Initially this post was just going to be about this but I had to include all 3!
United were in trouble, Roy Keane and Paul Scholes were both unavailable and they were up against the German giants Bayern Munich. They scored within 6 minutes and as the game dragged on, I didn't feel good about our chances. Mind you, this was the first time I had stayed up super late to watch a football game (or more like I got up early for this one). And we hit 90 minutes, one goal would bring it to extra time.
David Beckham with the cross, mayhem ensure, Giggs takes a shot, it reaches Teddy Sheringham and he puts it past Kahn to equalize so late on, the 91st minute! There's still a chance! The very next minute, another corner. Beckham swings it, Sheringham heads it, Solskjær taps it and it goes in! "And Solskjær has won it", I'll never forget that call.
Manchester United with the most unbelievable comeback, two late goal in additional time of the game. Hollywood couldn't write a script quite like this. Best memory in football for me easily, and I don't think anything will ever top it in my life.
There'll be a few more of these kind of lists coming soon, I've got a few ideas floating around. Thanks for reading!
