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Footballers live and thrive on the huge fan following they get during the course of their careers. Sometimes, all it takes to be a hero is one moment of brilliance like Sergio Aguero’s dramatic goal against QPR in 2012 which etched him in the memory of fans for years to come.Sometimes a moment of madness or a minute mistake is all it takes for the same fans to take these players down from their pinnacle and turn them into villains, like El Hadji Diouf who turned his own fans against him after an infamous incident against Celtic while playing for Liverpool.Most players have some moments in their career for which the fans will always remember them for. For some of the well-known footballers, there is no shortage of such moments, while for some of the lesser known ones; there will be one moment in their career which would have thrust them into the limelight and the fans will always remember them for the same.So here are five such footballers who are remembered by fans for their moment in the limelight:
#1 Jonas Gutierrez
In September 2014, Jonás Gutiérrez revealed that he was being treated for testicular cancer after keeping the matter as a secret for a long period of time and the Argentine’s revelation was met with incredible support from fans and players alike.
Gutiérrez needed many months to completely recover from the problem and he finally returned to the football field in March 2015 as a substitute against Manchester United in a league game. However the Newcastle man’s return was at a time when the club was drifting towards relegation with each passing game.
On the final match day of the season, the Toons needed a win over West Ham to stay in the Premier League irrespective of the outcome of Hull City’s match elsewhere.
Cometh the moment, cometh the man! Gutiérrez saved his best performance of the season for the very last game and it couldn’t have been timed better. The Argentine served a cross on the platter for Moussa Sissoko to head in and give Newcastle the lead.
It was destiny that Gutiérrez had to have the final say and with five minutes remaining on the clock, Gutiérrez scored his first goal of the season and his last goal for Newcastle to ensure the club’s safety.
Final score: Gutiérrez 1-0 Cancer.
#2 Pedro Mendes
Portuguese International Pedro Mendes was a player who wore the jersey of multiple British and Portuguese clubs during the course of his career. One of his clubs was Tottenham Hotspur, for whom he played between 2004 and 2006.
In January 2005, in a league game against Manchester United, Mendes took a shot on goal from 55 yards out after noticing that United’s keeper Roy Carroll was off his line. The shot should have been an easy catch for Carroll, but he backtracked in his own penalty box and clearly fumbled the ball over the line.
For the millions of viewers around the world, Mendes had just scored one of the greatest Premier League goals, but that wasn’t the case and instead it turned into one of the most controversial moments in Premier League history. The referee Mark Clattenburg deemed the ball to not have crossed the line and ruled out what could have been the only goal of the game.
Mendes didn’t have a spectacular career with Spurs, but the Tottenham faithful will remember him for nearly gifting them a rare win at Old Trafford.
#3 Asamoah Gyan
Asamoah Gyan has been an integral member of the Ghanaian football team for many years. He scored Ghana’s first goal at a World Cup back in 2006 and it was also the fastest goal of the tournament as he found the back of the net after just 68 seconds. During the 2010 African Cup of Nations, Gyan helped an injury ridden Black Stars team to the finals by scoring three out of the team’s four goals.
A few months later in South Africa during the FIFA World Cup, Gyan came agonisingly close to becoming an immortal figure in the history of African football. The striker scored three goals for Ghana at the FIFA World Cup and helped his country become only the third African nation to reach the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup.
In the quarter-final match against Uruguay, Luis Suarez’s infamous handball in the dying minutes of extra time denied Ghana a certain goal with hardly any time left on the clock. Suarez was sent off, Ghana were awarded a penalty and Gyan, who had already scored twice from the spot in the tournament, was expected to convert this crucial kick.
The Ghanian striker carried the hopes of an entire continent on his shoulders as Ghana were the only remaining African team in the first World Cup held in Africa and no African team had gone past the quarter final stage before.
Gyan’s penalty was the last kick of the ball in extra time and it hit the crossbar. The game went to a penalty shootout and despite his heartbreaking moment in extra time, Gyan stepped up and converted his kick in the shootout, but Uruguay eventually won the game 4-2 on penalties.
#4 Papa Bouba Diop
Senegalese International Papa Bouba Diop has played for English clubs Fulham, Portsmouth, West Ham and Birmingham City, but he is best remembered for a goal he scored during the 2002 FIFA World Cup against France.
The Frenchmen were the defending champions coming into the 2002 FIFA World Cup and their team contained names like Patrick Vieira, Claude Makelele, Marcel Desaily, Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry, Lilian Thuram, David Trezeguet, Fabian Barthez and Mikael Silvestre.
The pre-match predictions and the strength of the French team on paper all pointed towards an easy win for the defending champions, but Bouba Diop and his Senegal team had other ideas.
The game between Senegal and France was the opening game of the tournament and the African nation produced a huge upset by defeating the defending champions by a single goal scored by none other than Bouba Diop.
Diop finished the tournament as the team’s joint top scorer as Senegal reached the quarterfinals. France on the other hand couldn’t recover from their opening day shock and finished at the bottom of their group with just one point.
#5 Marcell Jansen
Playing for your favourite club is everyone’s dream and some footballers actually get to live the dream, while some others develop an everlasting bond with the clubs they play for. Such was the case with Marcell Jansen.
The German rose through the ranks of Borussia Monchengladbach before moving to Bayern Munich in 2007 and to Hamburger SV in 2008. Jansen spent seven years with Hamburg and developed a strong bond with the club and the fans.
In May 2015, he helped Hamburger escape relegation after winning the relegation playoffs. However, the club decided not to renew his contract and he walked away as a free agent.
The 29 year old couldn’t fathom himself in the kit of another club as he believed Hamburg was the only club for him and so he made the decision to retire from football.
He said: "I could not play somewhere for two or three years where I do not stand behind it 100 percent. I can't suddenly kiss another badge now. Recently, football has been my job, but I'm looking forward to getting it back again as a hobby.''
His decision was met with mixed response, but Jansen became famous instantly for his unusual decision.
