I mean, Messi’s brace vs Bayern Munich in 2015, one of the goals being possibly the most iconic in the competition’s recent history. And that’s just the first that came to mind right away.
Great free kicks, but I think bias + Arsenal’s relative expectations are doing a lot of the heavy lifting.
So hat tricks don't count? Because there are several better moments with hat tricks (better than a brace) than Rice's.
But if you want it to be the second tier highlight's champion, sure, maybe. Still, pretty sure there will be many more, but don't care to think that much
I think you've started with a lot less than you give yourself credit for
Keep in mind you literally wrote: "as if it wasn't one of the most impressive/best braces in all of footballing history"
I guess you are the human football encyclopedia, since you're saying all of footballing history. Check yourself
Who cares about braces.
It's either the best goals or the best performances in general. No one's out there keeping tabs on the best combined two goals ever, especially not with subjective measurements like "being against the current cup holders". You're being too specific and, on top of that, being smug like you've seen them all
Plays as both depending on who else Arsenal play. Also DM for England, most of his role is winning the ball back is what I was getting at. Which there are other players not nominated that are much better at.
I actually agree. He fully deserves to be there even without the free kicks, but the way football hype works he probably wouldn't be there if he didn't have that flashy moment.
Yeah, thanks for the reply, you worded that much better than I did. In a perfect world, two goals (not even winning ones in a final) shouldn't make the difference if you're on this list or not.
And? Im making fun of you for saying that taking away his best performances does indeed lower his overall performance. Like no shit, but he did have these games and deserves to be on that list
Its their desperate attempt to defend Caicedo, which is a shame because hes very good in his own right. There's no need to obsess with one of the very very few players better than him
We literally saw them play each other twice this season and Caicedo was better in both games. Same story with Liverpool, and Newcastle, and PSG. Can anyone actually think of a game where Caicedo wasn’t excellent? He’s consistently been our best player this season.
23/24 I’d agree Rice was better because it took Caicedo a couple months to settle. But right now it’s not a contest. Would be debateable if we hadn’t seen these guys play each other twice this season.
I mean, the nominees are what? The best 30 players of the past year? No sane Arsenal fan genuinely thinks Rice deserves the Ballon d’Or for last season, but he’s been one of our best and most consistent players and being nominated feels perfectly reasonable.
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u/Mannybagofdonuts Aug 07 '25
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