general

Parlour? Villa? Gerrard? Ranking best FA Cup final goals

BBC Sport

There's something magical about those seconds before the FA Cup final kicks off. Trumpets and tin-foil trophies, players as tense as the travelling fans, gaffers pacing the dugout in full club suits. The anticipation of a new hero emerging.

Everyone has an era in which they can reel off the details of every final - those childhood-turned-teenage years when the kits, colours, goalscorers and captains traipsing Wembley's steep steps are etched in the memory. Don't ask me what happened a couple of years ago... but Paul Rideout in '95?

Eric Cantona against Liverpool? All there in vivid detail. Some goals, though, are written in FA Cup folklore, rolled out for every cup final montage - they're the belters, the moments of individual magic, the strikes that sealed shock wins.

I've attempted to rank the top 10 below. The real Leicester City miracle was winning a 5,000-1 shot Premier League title five years earlier, but clinching a first FA Cup in 2021 was almost as special. And it was sealed with an absolute rasper.

Youri Tielemans received a pass inside the Chelsea half, took two touches to shift it out of his feet before angling a bullet-like drive into Kepa Arrizabalaga's top corner. Pick that out. Covid restrictions meant only 20,000 were at Wembley to witness it but, as they head into League One five years on, Foxes fans will hold on to those fond cup-winning memories.