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It is generally the players in the starting XI who tend to garner the most attention, but the ones starting on the bench are no less important, especially when the going gets tough.
For various reasons, ranging from tactical to keeping players fresh, many key players tend to start from the bench. Some of the best players in the world like Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Gareth Bale have all come off the bench and made a difference,
It is difficult to come off the bench and make an impact, simply because players are not involved in the action from the start. Nevertheless, there have been numerous epic performances from substitutes in the history of the game: be it a defence-splitting pass to break open a cagey game, produce a heroic last-ditch tackle or, better still, score the winner to seal titles.
On that note, here's a look at the five best substitute performances in the history of the game:
#5 Georginio Wijnaldum (Liverpool) - Champions League semi-final (2019)
Down 0-3 from the first leg in their 2019 Champions League semi-final against Barcelona, Liverpool had it all to do in the return leg at Anfield, especially in the absence of key players.
With their prolific scorer Mohamed Salah injured, Divock Origi received a rare start and scored as Liverpool led 1-0 at the break. But the hosts' woes were compounded when their left-back Andrew Robertson got injured and had to be pulled out. Enter Georginio Wijnladum at half-time.
In one of the most memorable performances by a substitute in Champions League history, the Dutch midfielder scored a quickfire double to put his team level on the night. With the game heading to extra time, Origi then intervened 11 minutes from time to complete the most improbable of comebacks as a shellshocked and insipid Barcelona wondered what might have been.
Following a comeback no smaller than their Miracle of Istanbul against AC Milan in 2005, Liverpool would go on to beat Tottenham Hotspur to win their sixth Champions League title.
#4 Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) - Bundesliga (2015)
In what must go down as one of the best substitute performances in the game's history, if not the best ever, Robert Lewandowski scored an astonishing five times in nine minutes in Bayern Munich's Bundesliga game against Wolfsburg in 2015-16.
With Bayern trailing one-nil at the break away at Wolfsburg, Lewandowski came on for Thiago Alcantara and ran riot. Six minutes after coming on, he restored parity for Bayern, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Nine minutes later, the prolific Pole had registered the quickest-ever hat-trick, quadruple and quintuple in Bundesliga history as Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola couldn't believe what he was seeing.
The only reason why Lewandowski's feat features low on this list is because his performance came in a league game that wouldn't have been decisive in the context of the title.
Bayern could have lost that game and still won the Bundesliga title by seven points, but that doesn't take anything away from the Pole's dazzling exploits on the night.
#3 Eder (Portugal) - European Championship final (2016)
Eder etched his name in Portuguese folklore when he made an unlikely appearance in the Euro 2016 final against France and netted the only goal of the game in extra time to stun the hosts.
An hour before the greatest moment of his career, Eder came on after Portugal's captain Cristiano Ronaldo hobbled off the pitch after a clumsy tackle from Dimitri Payet.
But far from getting awed by the occasion, Portugal hung on without their talisman to force extra time, where Eder made his decisive contribution. With the game 11 minutes away from a penalty shootout, the 28-year-old beat Laurent Koscielny and unleashed a venomous strike that beat the French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
With the French unable to muster a response, Portugal celebrated their finest hour in international football. Eder would say after the game:
"The ugly duckling went and scored. Now he's a beautiful swan."
The Euro 2016 winners will be forever indebted to a player who arrived in the country at the age of two, but couldn't grow up with his parents. Eder played only five times after that game, scoring once, but he has done enough to be forever remembered with fondness by the Portugal faithful.
#2 Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) - Champions League final (2018)
Gareth Bale had a point to prove when he was not named by Zinedine Zidane in Real Madrid's starting XI in the 2018 Champions League final in Cardiff.
After Karim Benzema's opener was canceled out by Sadio Mane inside four minutes, it was time for Gareth Bale to enter the fray. The Welshman came on for Isco and made a telling impact.
He had been on the field for barely two minutes when he scored one of the best-ever goals in a Champions League final. Bale's sumptuous bicycle kick bulged the Liverpool net as Madrid restored their lead, which they would not relinquish.
Such was the quality of the finish that Zinedine Zidane, himself the scorer of a memorable strike in a Champions League final, stood transfixed for a while before erupting.
Seven minutes from time, Bale scored his second of the night to seal Real Madrid's unprecedented three-peat. Unsurprisingly, the Welshman was the Man of the Match on a day he produced arguably the most impactful performance of his Real Madrid career.
#1 Ole Gunnar Solskjaer - Champions League final (1999)
In terms of the greatest impact by a substitute in the history of the game, very few would beat Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's effort in the 1999 Champions League final.
Considering his knack of making an impact off the bench, the diminutive Norwegian entered the fray with ten minutes remaining as Manchester United trailed Bayern Munich by a solitary goal.
After another substitute, Teddy Sheringham, bagged an injury-time equalizer, Solskjaer scored a 93rd minute with an opportunistic flick to seal United's most improbable of triumphs. Sir Alex Ferguson's men won the continental treble that season.
Recalling his strike on that memorable night in Barcelona, Solskjaer later said:
“The goal wasn’t practised or prepared for, it was just instinct from many years as a striker. It was about being in the box and knowing how to guide it towards goal. I was lucky to flick it on, and that it went under the crossbar, not over it.”
Two decades later, Solskjaer is now the manager of Manchester United.
