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Football is a squad game and a football team usually depends a lot on the depth of its squad or the bench-strength.
There are some footballers who have the uncanny ability to change the course of the match after coming on as a substitute. They are the ones who make every playing minute count by delivering crucial, match-winning performances.
They might not make it to the starting eleven regularly but often leave the field with a smiling face by virtue of their stellar performances as substitutes.
Winning the Champions League is the ultimate dream for any footballer as it is the biggest prize in club football. Quite understandably, Champions’ League finals are very tense affairs and usually experience a tight contest between two teams.
However, there have been a few occasions when a Champions League final has been decided by the performance of the substitutes.
In this article, we would discuss 3 such super-subs:
#1 Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (UEFA CL final 1998-99)
Solskjaer appeared from the bench quite a lot during in his stint with Manchester United that lasted for more than a decade.
The Norwegian scored 126 goals from 366 matches for the Red Devils in 11 seasons. However, none of them was as important as the one he scored against Bayern Munich in the 1998/99 Champions League final.
Bayern were leading 1-0 into injury time. Mario Basler had scored the game's only goal in the first half and they looked the better team for the majority of the match.
Solskjaer came in as a substitute in the second half and found his team trailing till the 90th minute. However, Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld decided to take Lothar Matthaus off, a few minutes before the stoppage time in order to ensure a standing ovation by the spectators for him.
United made the most of that opportunity as Teddy Sheringham restored parity in the injury time with a typically opportunistic strike. Just as a feeling of relief began to sink in among the United supporters, Solskjaer got the ball inside the Bayern box from a set-piece and flicked home to win the match for his side.
Those two successive strikes rattled Bayern and most of their supporters still rue the opportunity they missed at Camp Nou that day.
#2 Henrik Larsson (UEFA CL final 2005-06)
Larsson was an eminent Swedish striker who had a distinguished playing career for clubs like Barcelona, Manchester United and Celtic.
However, one of most memorable nights of his life came in Paris when Barcelona met Arsenal in the Champions League final in 2006. Barcelona were the favourites and had great attacking players like Ronaldinho, Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto’o in their line-up.
However, it was Arsenal who took the lead in the final through a Sol Campbell header and held on to it till the half-time.
Barcelona made two crucial substitutions in the second half as Larsson and right-back Juliano Belletti came on. Larsson was directly involved in both the goals scored by Barcelona in the second half and it was from his pass that Belletti scored the match-winner.
The Swedish legend had also provided an assist for Samuel Eto’o's equalizer. Thus, his introduction in the second half made a huge difference as Arsenal’s dreams of winning their maiden Champions League title were shattered.
#3 Gareth Bale (UEFA CL final 2017-18)
Bale did not get a place in Real Madrid's starting line-up as they faced Liverpool in the Champions League final in 2018.
However, in a dramatic first half, both the teams lost a player each to injury as both Mohamed Salah and Dani Carvajal left the field. Real took the lead in the second half only for Liverpool to strike back through Sadio Mane a few minutes later.
However, Gareth Bale was introduced in the second half itself and made an immediate impact as he scored with an outrageously good overhead kick. It was undoubtedly one of the best goals scored in the history of the Champions League.
Bale scored another goal through a long-range effort as the Liverpool goalie fumbled and allowed the ball to go in. However, that blunder by the goalkeeper does not take any credit away from Bale, who was stupendous in the match and rightly adjudged the player of the final.
