101 Great Goals - Trevor Brooking

Brian Moore: Look at the ball, caught up in the corner there.

How Trevor Brooking's top-corner strike was transformed from the merely terrific into the unforgettable.

UEFA Champions League Final Special - Wankdorf Stadium

In 1961 Benfica broke Real Madrid's monopoly on the Big Cup, beating Barcelona 3-2 at the Wankdorf Stadium in Berne, Switzerland.




Again, the method deployed to suspend the goal nets makes the Wankdorf instantly recognisable. But what to make of those ground supports? The picture below, from the 1954 World Cup final, shows the ground supports are solid and fixed to the posts and that the stanchions are effectively screwed in.

Off the stanchions at Wembley - Nandor Hidegkuti

In 'The Ball is Round' author David Goldblatt asks, "How long does it take for an empire to die?"

Perplexed by the Mighty Magyars lightweight boots, Ferenc Puskas' beer belly and Nandor Hidegkuti wearing #5 but not playing centre-half - did he play what today is called a false 9? - England were behind within a minute and their record of 52 years unbeaten at home - and their WM formation - on its way to the history books.

Budapest Honved FC

To stand out from the crowd, some clubs go for brightly coloured nets.



While other clubs choose fancy-schmancy stanchions.



But nobody - NOBODY - ever painted the crossbar and goal posts.

Except Budapest Honved.

Classic Continental D's

Continental D's were so-named because the 'triangle' was deemed to form a D with the posts and bar, and because in the 1970's countries in mid and eastern Europe - the Continent - made an art form out of this design of goal.

Yugoslavia 1976

The Euro 1976 tournament was so influential in goalnet design, that Subbuteo named their sleek new goals Tournament Goals. And while Panenka's penalty has ensured the immortality of these goals in Belgrade -

the goals in Zagreb are less known (though they're similar to those at Sheffield Wednesday)

Austria 1979



Hungary 1981 (same game as Trevor Brooking's goal)



By the 1980's there were a couple of notable examples in the UK;

Aston Villa 1981

Villa Park was one of those grounds that was instantly recognisable from its goalnets.



Wrexham 1982

Great goal, great nets