Perfect 10s: The Rare Club of Players Given L’Equipe’s Ultimate Honour

When it comes to player ratings, nobody dishes out harsher scores than French sports daily L’Equipe. A seven often means you’ve been excellent, while an eight usually requires something extraordinary. So, when the paper hands out a perfect 10/10, the football world takes notice.

Over the decades, only a select few have reached that rarefied air. From World Cup heroes to Champions League legends, and from Lionel Messi’s magic to Erling Haaland’s ruthlessness, the “perfect 10s” are as much about football history as they are about individual brilliance.

Joao Neves Joins the Perfect 10s

The most recent addition to the list is Joao Neves, PSG’s teenage midfield sensation. His 2025 has already been the stuff of dreams: helping the club finally lift their first Champions League, starring in Portugal’s Nations League triumph, and now delivering a performance so good against Toulouse that even L’Equipe couldn’t hold back.

Neves scored a hat-trick, including two outrageous overhead kicks within minutes of each other, in a 6-3 thriller. By half-time PSG were cruising, and by the end, Neves had etched his name into the record books as the latest member of the “perfect 10” club.

The First Perfect 10s: Sauzee and Martini

Back in 1988, long before Messi or Mbappé were dazzling audiences, it was two French Under-21 players who first earned the ultimate score. Franck Sauzee scored twice and Bruno Martini kept Greece at bay as France’s youngsters secured the European Championship.

It was a moment that set the tone for how rare these ratings would be: both men went on to have fine careers, but that night in Besancon gave them a kind of immortality few players ever touch.

Oleg Salenko’s World Cup Explosion

Fast forward to USA 1994. Oleg Salenko, a striker for Russia, produced one of the most extraordinary World Cup performances of all time. Against Cameroon, he scored five goals in a single game—the only man to ever achieve such a feat on the world stage.

Even L’Equipe’s famously stingy critics had no choice but to hand him a 10/10. Russia may have gone home early, but Salenko’s performance remains iconic, a wild and fleeting burst of brilliance.

Lars Windfeld: The Forgotten Hero

Sometimes, a perfect 10 isn’t about goals but about stopping them. In 1997, Danish goalkeeper Lars Windfeld earned his spot on the list with a heroic display against Nantes in the UEFA Cup. Aarhus were massive underdogs, yet Windfeld pulled off save after save to secure an improbable victory.

Sadly, Windfeld never won a Denmark cap—Peter Schmeichel was in the way—but that night against Nantes remains his footballing legacy.

Messi the Master of Perfect 10s

When you think of Perfect 10s, you think of Lionel Messi. He has more than any other player, and each of them tells its own story.

In 2010, he destroyed Arsenal in the Champions League with four goals, carrying Barcelona through. Two years later, he humiliated Bayer Leverkusen with five goals in a single game—the first player ever to do so in Europe’s elite competition.

Messi didn’t just play well; he bent games entirely to his will. For L’Equipe, who often seemed reluctant to give 10s, Messi forced their hand.

Lewandowski and the Dortmund Revolution

Robert Lewandowski’s 10/10 came in 2013, during Borussia Dortmund’s demolition of Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final. Four goals against Los Blancos in one of the most electric nights Signal Iduna Park has ever seen cemented Lewandowski’s reputation as one of the greats.

That performance wasn’t just about him—it marked a power shift in European football, with German clubs briefly seizing control from Spain. But it was Lewandowski who embodied that revolution.

Neymar, Tadic, and Lucas Moura’s Magic Nights

The 2010s brought more rare jewels. Neymar smashed four goals in PSG’s 8-0 destruction of Dijon in 2018, looking every inch the superstar the club thought they had signed.

Then came Dusan Tadic in 2019, leading Ajax’s remarkable 4-1 win at the Bernabeu, scoring and creating goals in what was perhaps the best match of his career.

And who could forget Lucas Moura’s hat-trick in Amsterdam the same year? Dragging Tottenham from the brink against Ajax to reach the Champions League final, Moura produced a moment of pure, spine-tingling drama. His last-minute strike remains one of football’s greatest “where were you when” moments.

Gnabry, Mbappe, and Lafont’s Heroics

Dusan Tadic Ajax Real Madrid 2019 Perfect 10s

Later in 2019, Serge Gnabry humiliated Tottenham in Bayern Munich’s 7-2 win, scoring freely and announcing himself as a world-class forward.

Kylian Mbappé joined the club in 2021, netting four times against Kazakhstan to become the first Frenchman to do so in a competitive international. Not the biggest stage, perhaps, but a sign of just how unstoppable he can be.

Meanwhile, Alban Lafont proved that goalkeepers could also shine. His 2022 masterclass against PSG saw him repel everything Messi, Neymar, and Mbappé could throw his way, conceding just once despite PSG’s near four expected goals.

Haaland: The New Scoring Machine

Lucas Moura Ajax Tottenham UCL 05082019

If Messi defined the 2010s, then Erling Haaland might do the same for the 2020s. He already has multiple perfect 10s.

His first came in the Manchester Derby of 2022, where he scored yet another hat-trick—his third in a row at the Etihad. Then came his five-goal blitz against RB Leipzig in 2023, a performance so dominant that Pep Guardiola substituted him early, denying him the chance at a double hat-trick.

With Haaland’s scoring rate, nobody would be surprised if he collects a few more 10/10s before long.

Livakovic, Lookman, Doue – New Heroes of the 2020s

The World Cup in Qatar gave us another unlikely hero: Dominik Livakovic, Croatia’s goalkeeper, who stopped 11 Brazilian shots and then shone in the penalty shoot-out. It was the kind of display that wins nations’ hearts—and earns a rare 10/10.

Then came Ademola Lookman in the 2024 Europa League final. Against unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen, Lookman ran riot, scoring a hat-trick to deliver Atalanta their first European trophy. It was a night that elevated him from promising forward to football folklore.

And in 2025, PSG’s Desire Doue stole the show in the Champions League final against Inter. At just 19, he scored twice, assisted another, and danced around defenders as if it were a training match. It was a star-making night, and the perfect 10 felt inevitable.

Perfect 10s: Football’s Rarest Seal of Approval

From Sauzee to Neves, these performances span generations, competitions, and positions. What unites them is their sheer undeniability: nights when a player could do no wrong, when even the toughest critics had to admit perfection.

L’Equipe may be notorious for its low ratings, but that’s what makes the perfect 10s so special. They are reminders that football is not just about results, but about moments of pure, unrepeatable brilliance.

And with Messi, Haaland, and Mbappé still active—alongside the next generation of Neves and Doue—you can bet this rare club is not done growing.