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Remember Clive Tyldesley being lost for words when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored the goal that won Manchester United the treble? Or Martin Tyler going ballistic as Sergio Aguero led Manchester City’s great escape in that summer of 2012? Or Sergio Ramos’ leap of faith against heated cross-town rivals, Atletico Madrid, on that starry night in Lisbon? What am I even asking here – any fan of the game would go into that wistful gaze and relive those incredible moments all over again at the very mention of these moments. After all, these are the moments that made these players superheroes. They managed to deliver on the biggest occasion – as the cliche goes, “Cometh the hour, cometh the man!” However, while the world was busy chomping at the bit to create memoirs, documentaries and what not regarding these moments etched in history, there were some other men living in the shadows, whose contributions were as crucial, if not more, in matches of such magnitude. Here are five such players and their crucial, yet sadly forgotten, contributions in the most pivotal of games.
#5 Juliano Belletti vs Arsenal - Champions League final (2006)
Unlike other players in the list whose contributions were overshadowed by others, Juliano Belletti's winning goal in the 2006 UEFA Champions League Final against Arsenal was perhaps the goal that made Barcelona a force again in world football. However, his goal is often overlooked and ignored, simply because he wasn't supposed to score in a match of this magnitude.
Having not scored a domestic goal for the Blaugrana in his three-year stint there, Belletti fell into the category of the low key signing that Barcelona occasionally makes – Maxwell, Gabi Milito et al among others. A typically workmanlike and industrious full back, the Brazilian rarely forayed forward, forget scoring goals.
But, when he did eventually score for the club, it came on the biggest of occasions – in a Champions League final, no less. However, the day is remembered more for Samuel Eto'o's Man of the Match performance, and the poignant image of a crestfallen Thierry Henry more than anything else.
Sadly, Belletti's late winner is rarely given the due it deserves, despite its importance.
#4 Ramires vs Barcelona - Champions League semi-final (2012)
Remember the match that started the whole fad-term of “parking the bus”? It all started on this day as Pep Guardiola’s marauding Barcelona team took on Roberto Di Matteo’s Chelsea team who had huffed and puffed their way into the semi-finals. However, they managed to take a slender 1-0 advantage on their away trip to the Camp Nou.
Before long, however, the usual proceedings had started with the Blaugrana being in cruise control as Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta scored just before the stroke of half time.
Enter Ramires.
Among the most audacious goals scored in the history of the competition, Ramires put the icing on Chelsea’s breakaway move by insouciantly lobbing the onrushing Victor Valdes. The goal had all the oomph, bleh and arrogance that characterize players from his part of the world.
The world, however, forgot Ramires’ goal because of another great counter-attacking goal later in the day. When Fernando Torres rounded the hapless Valdes to sign, seal and deliver an incredible comeback which left an orgasmic Gary Neville crooning over it, history was written.
And needless to say, Ramires wasn’t the principal character of the story anymore.
#3 Ronaldo vs Netherlands - World Cup semi-final (1998)
The 1998 FIFA World Cup final will always be considered as the night Monsieur Zinedine Zidane announced himself as the greatest footballer on earth. However, it is more remembered because another superstar, equal in status if not higher to the iconic Frenchman, went missing the whole game. In the aftermath of the match, the entire world just pounced upon Ronaldo, for his ill-timed off day, the reasons of which have been well documented.
However, the same people loathe to remember that O Fenomeno almost single-handedly dragged the Selecao to the final after an astonishing display of skill and stamina in the semi-finals against the Netherlands. Opening the scoring from a Rivaldo assist, he also converted his penalty in the shootout that ensued.
The 22-year-old Ronaldo had an incredible World Cup by any yardstick, recording three assists in addition to his four goals. However, none of these contributions, including the one where he dragged his team past the much more deserving Oranje, will ever be remembered as much as the convulsive fit that took the world by storm a few days later.
Fittingly, the great man redeemed himself on the same stage four years later in Japan.
#2 Edin Dzeko vs Queens Park Rangers - EPL (2012)
One of those players who suffered a stop-start career at the Etihad, Edin Dzeko will arguably feel that he could have done much better in his stint in the blue half of Manchester. However, he had a habit of racking up crucial goals for the Citizens. And none more so than one of those characteristic headers he scored in the dying minutes of the 2011/12 season.
Right when City was looking like having snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, losing 2-1 to Queens Park Rangers, of all teams, the Bosnian jumped highest to deliver a thunderous header into the back of the net. The implications of this goal seem infinite today.
A rejuvenated City side scored again through Sergio "Aguerooooooooooo!" with practically the last kick of the ball to deliver Manchester City's first domestic league title in the Premier League era.
And the icing on the cake? They beat erstwhile neighbourhood bullies Manchester United to the finish line by the skin of their teeth, in what was arguably the greatest ever climax to a Premier League season.
#1 Teddy Sheringham vs Bayern Munich - Champions League final (1999)
"Football. Bloody Hell!" “And Manchester United has reached the Promised Land!" And most famously, "And Solskjaer has won it!"
The 1999 UEFA Champions League was one of the finest matches the beautiful game has ever seen. And what made it so was an absolutely astonishing turn of events that took place in the stoppage time of the match.
As the baby-faced Norwegian Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored the winning goal for the Red Devils after trailing for almost the entire game against Bayern Munich, history had been made – Manchester United had won the treble.
What a moment! But people often forget that it was the wily English campaigner Teddy Sheringham who initiated the fight back in the first place.
Sheringham's goal is scarcely given the credit and coverage that his teammate's goal received, and this is a shame indeed. For it was his goal that gave Sir Alex Ferguson's men the belief, the strength and the tenacity to fight back just one more time.
And these are words that describe Teddy Sheringham – a true, underrated servant of English football.
