The 1988 European Championship Final, the Netherlands against the Soviet Union. Marco van Basten hit a volley from an angle that should have ruled out a shot, and it flew into the far corner. It is widely considered the best goal ever scored in a major final.
That volley sums up the player. Technically, he was as close to perfect as strikers get.
Three Ballon d'Ors, then the ankle
Van Basten won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1988, 1989 and 1992, joining Cruyff and Platini in that small club. At AC Milan he won back-to-back European Cups in 1989 and 1990 as the side's main striker, and he scored at an extraordinary rate for Ajax, Milan and the Netherlands.
Then a devastating ankle injury forced him to retire at 30.
By then he already had three Ballon d'Or awards. It is hard not to wonder what a full career would have added, and most people who watched him have done exactly that.
The 1988 volley still stands as the best goal in European Championship history. The career around it was brilliant and far too short, which makes him the most tragically gifted striker on this list.
Tomorrow: number 18.
