Mauro Bressan's name may not mean much to many of you and that's a crying shame, because the former Fiorentina man deserves a place in every football hall of fame going for one magical moment 17 years ago, today.
The Florence club's appearances in the Champions League have been few and far between, but they at least made their presence felt in 1999/00 when, with the likes of Gabriel Batistuta, Rui Costa, Enrico Chiesa, Angelo Di Livio and Francesco Toldo, 'La Viola' reached the now defunct second group stage, only finishing behind then reigning European champions Manchester United and that year's eventual finalists, Valencia.
Along the way, Fiorentina dispatched of Arsenal at Wembley and inflicted defeats upon United and Valencia at the Stadio Artemio Franchi. Batistuta of course stole the headlines with bombastic efforts against the Gunners and United, but it was Bressan who left the longest lasting impression during a memorable 3-3 draw with Barcelona, in Florence.
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An unconvincing clearance from the Barca defence landed roughly 30 yards from Ruud Hesp's goal and, after a few scrappy seconds of players on both sides failing to bring it under control, Bressan decided he'd had enough and promptly leathered the ball from whence it came, via a big, triumphant bicycle kick that thundered off the bar on its way into Hesp's goal:
The effort was ranked as the 2nd best Champions League goal of all time by an ITV show in 2008 and was later ranked as the eighth best by a Sky One programme listing the competition's 50 best goals of all time. The Italian midfielder would also provide a luxurious back heeled assist for Abel Balbo to score later in the game. Not a bad shift.
Bressan would be sold to Venezia a year later and, in 2011 was arrested as part of an investigation into a match fixing scandal. But ignore all that and just keep watching this goal on a loop.
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Football, Barcelona, Champions League, Fiorentina