Ranking the 10 Best Goals from the Champions League Group Stage

The Champions League group stage is over, meaning we have to wait until February's knockout rounds for our next taste of European football's premier competition.

The group stage provided its normal dose of drama, excitement and, of course, great goals, but which were the best?

Here are our top 10. Feel free to give us yours in the comments section.

10. Nani vs. Maribor

So it turns out a Manchester United player did have an impact on the Champions League this season.

Sporting Lisbon's on-loan winger Nani scored this goal against Maribor on Matchday 5, and while it is possible to say that visiting side's defending is as good as, well, Nani's was during his Old Trafford career, there are still seven yellow-shirted players around the Portuguese when he fires past the goalkeeper.

That's pretty impressive, no?

9. Steven Gerrard vs. Basel

It ultimately counted for nothing, as a dismal Liverpool exited at the group stage, but they were never likely to go away without a moment of inspiration from their skipper, Steven Gerrard.

Say what you want about him—and many do—but you aren't going to see a more technically perfect free-kick than the one which gave the Reds' 10 men hope of making it through the group stage in their final match against Basel.

You don't save those.

8. Arjen Robben vs. Roma

There's something just so clinically brilliant about this goal. You know exactly what is going to happen next, but you have absolutely no chance of stopping it.

That's what Roma left-back Ashley Cole must have been thinking, as Bayern Munich's Arjen Robben takes a return pass from Philipp Lahm and scores the type of Arjen Robben-ish goal we've seen him score time and time again.

Just like Bayern's 7-1 win in Rome on this night, it was brutal.

7. Samir Nasri vs. Roma

It's all well and good scoring a goal in a 7-1 win, but the really important strikes are, of course, the ones that matter the most, and Samir Nasri delivered a brilliant one in Rome on Matchday 6.

With his side needing to score to go through to the knockout stages, Manchester City's Nasri arrowed a fierce effort in off the post to give his side the lead and put them on the way to a crucial 2-0 success, which ensured Champions League football awaited them in the new year for the second successive season.

6. Cristiano Ronaldo vs. Liverpool

This was the moment that Liverpool realised just what the elite of European football was about these days.

After 23 minutes of what had been a fairly close contest at Anfield, Cristiano Ronaldo swapped passes with James Rodriguez before flashing out a boot and toeing the ball away from Martin Skrtel, past Simon Mignolet and into the corner of the net.

It was yet another example of the Portuguese's quicksilver genius.

5. Neymar vs. Paris Saint-Germain

Needing to win their final group match in order to finish above opponents Paris Saint-Germain and top the group, Barcelona looked to be going in at half-time level at 1-1 until Neymar produced this moment of inspiration.

On a star-studded night when Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez were also on the scoresheet, Neymar brilliantly fired home the goal of the evening when he ran at the PSG defence and produced this unerring finish.

4. Vincent Aboubakar vs. Shakhtar Donetsk

Porto's Vincent Aboubakar hit this so hard that it knocked him off his feet.

The Group H winners were going through in top spot regardless of what happened in their final group match at home to Shakhtar Donetsk, but they wouldn't have wanted to end on a home defeat, and this belter from Aboubakar, three minutes from time, ensured that wouldn't be the case.

3. Hector Herrera vs. BATE Borisov

Mexico's Hector Herrera is one of the most popular players in his country, and with goals like this, it is easy to see why.

Against BATE Borisov in Belarus, the midfielder picked up the ball on the corner of the penalty area before unleashing a vicious, swerving effort that flew past goalkeeper Sergey Chernik on the way to finding the net for the opening goal in Porto's 3-0 win.

2. Marco Reus vs. Galatasaray

Marco Reus' goal against Galatasaray is broadly similar to Herrera's, but it earns a higher placing due to the German being a little further out and his shot flashing into the top corner.

Reus was given far too much time by the home defence, but he took that time to pick his spot and blast home the third goal of Dortmund's 4-0 win in Istanbul.

1. Aaron Ramsey vs. Galatasaray

We stay in the same group, the same stadium, the same end and the same top corner for our No. 1, which just had to be this incredible strike from Aaron Ramsey for Arsenal at Galatasaray.

The Welshman brilliant controls his effort as the ball falls to him on his supposedly weaker left foot, with his ferocious strike flying into the top corner for the Gunners' third goal in their 4-1 win.