1990

Host nation: Italy Games: 52 Goals: 115 (2.21 per match) Dismissals: 16 Venues: 12 Winners: West Germany Top scorer: Salvatore Schillaci (6 goals)

There was plenty to dislike: Italia 90 saw a record low number of goals per game, a record high 16 red cards, and so many games dominated by defensiveness that it helped prompt the back-pass rule and three points for a win. Yet it was a summer that produced more memorable moments than any other: Cameroon’s enraptured emergence, embodied by the Roger Milla boogie; the wild-eyed Toto Schillaci; a West Germany-netherlands hate match; Diego Maradona knocking Italy out on ‘home’ turf in Naples – and, of course, Nessun Dorma, Paul Gascoigne’s tears and penalty woes that night in Turin, which would truly change the English game.

STAR FACTOR

Lothar Matthaus, Jurgen Klinsmann and Rudi Voller powering West Germany; the holy trinity of Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard for the Netherlands; Roberto Baggio and Schillaci for Italy; Gazza and Gary Lineker for England.

WONDER GOALS

Tons of ‘em: Dragan Stojkovic’s control and finish for Yugoslavia against Spain, thunderous wallops from Milla (below left) and Matthaus, and a lovely move between Maradona and Claudio Cannigia against Brazil. The winner? Baggio’s saunter through the Czech defence, which was almost as good as Maradona’s effort against England in 1986.

AGGRO

West Germany-netherlands grudges boiled over at the San Siro, this time with the Dutch undoubtedly the bad guys: Rijkaard spat at Voller (top) and both men were bizarrely sent off – Germany prevailed 2-1.

THE THRILLERS

The quarters, semis and final were all cagey affairs – apart from the leonine clash between the Three Lions and Indomitable Lions. England went ahead thanks to David Platt’s volley, before Cameroon stormed back in five mad minutes via Emmanuel Kunde and Eugene Ekeke. But two Lineker penalties won it for Bobby Robson’s men, unfathomably underestimating Africa’s finest.

THE FINAL

The one game that truly let the tournament down. It was both boring (the first final in which neither side scored from open play) and dirty (Pedro Monzon and Gustavo Dezotti were both sent off). Not that West Germany, who won with a late Andreas Brehme penalty, really cared.

LEGACY

Two years out from the Premier League’s establishment, Italia 90 was a catalyst for English football’s move from hooligan-ridden source of national shame into a sporting and financial juggernaut. New Order, John Barnes and Gazza helped to make it all right for you – and your mum – to publicly like football again.