The best things really do come to those who wait
Mo Salah's brilliance and Harry Kane's nervelessness gave us a finale to remember as Liverpool drew 2-2 with Tottenham at Anfield in the Premier League, but the drama isn’t limited to England’s top flight. From the Champions League to the German seventh tier, from the genius of Dennis Bergkamp to own goals scored on purpose and mass brawls to title-winning moments – these examples prove that it ain't over till it's over.
Behold, 14 of the most dramatic conclusions to football matches from around the world resulting in unexpected league titles, lifetime international bans and everything in between.
14. Manchester United vs Bayern Munich (1998/99)
Unlike United, we won’t keep you waiting for this one. Missing the wit of Paul Scholes and the grit of Roy Keane, the Red Devils looked to have blown their biggest chance of their Holy Grail. Alex Ferguson had thrown the dice by bringing on Teddy Sheringham for Andy Cole and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for Jesper Blomqvist, but by the time the board went up to show three minutes’ injury time, they were desperate enough to throw goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel forward for a corner.
The Great Dane couldn’t connect with David Beckham’s corner but Bayern’s half-clearance fell to Ryan Giggs, who shanked a right-footer straight to Sheringham for 1-1. Extra time would have been an achievement but United pressed on to win another corner – which Sheringham nodded down for Solskjaer to finish.
13. Man City vs QPR (2011/12)
Manchester City weren’t always good: in 2011 they’d ended a 41-year wait for a major trophy by winning the FA Cup. With six games of 2011/12 left they’d been eight points behind neighbours United, but five straight wins meant they merely needed a final-day win against drop-dodging QPR to win the league. Being City, they nearly messed it up.
Manchester United did their bit, winning 1-0 at Sunderland, but City went into five minutes’ injury time trailing 2-1 to the 10-man Rs. Edin Dzeko levelled before Mario Balotelli’s first assist of the season set up Sergio Aguero to unleash mayhem.
12. Watford vs Leicester (2012/13)
Leicester have written their own scripts in recent seasons, but this one turned into a slow-motion horror movie. The scene was Watford’s Vicarage Road, the occasion was the Championship play-off semi-final second leg, and the tension was ratcheting up: with the match poised at 2-2 on aggregate and extra time moments away, Anthony Knockaert won a dubious penalty.
The Hornets were only in the play-offs due to ‘keeper calamities: in their 46th league game, Manuel Almunia had pulled up in the warm-up, Jonathan Bond had suffered a serious injury and callow reserve Jack Bonham gifted Leeds a winner. Here, though, Almunia pulled off a sensational double save from Knockaert’s spot-kick. Watford counter-attacked and within 20 seconds, Troy Deeney fired them to Wembley.
11. Atletico Lanus vs Arsenal de Sarandi (2014)
Lanus were aiming to close the gap on Primera Liga leaders River Plate when they welcomed mid-table Arsenal de Sarandi to La Fortaleza. Things weren’t going quite to plan as the match entered five minutes of injury time, with Arsenal leading 2-1. In the final seconds of that fifth minute, Lanus won a corner and equalised through Diego Gonzalez. With next to no time left on the clock, a draw seemed certain.
Yet referee Andres Merlos controversially managed to find four extra minutes of added time, much to the obvious fury of Arsenal staff. Lanus nicked a winner in the ninth minute of stoppage time, unleashing utter pandemonium. A mass brawl ensued involving players and coaches on both sides, sparking a pitch invasion. Referee Merlos was suspended indefinitely by the Argentine FA.
10. SV Burlage vs RSV Emden (2013/14)
Teams you’ve never heard of often throw up the most remarkable stories – like this seventh-tier clash between north German clubs SV Burlage and RSV Emden in April 2014. It was a thriller throughout: hosts Burlage went 2-0 up, Emden led 3-2 and then 4-3, but the home side made it 5-4 in the 79th minute. With just five minutes remaining, Emden once again levelled – not surprising when you learn that the home side had been reduced to eight players. The referee had sent two off and the third – brilliantly – had to leave to make it to work on time.
Into injury time, then, and Emden were denied a winning goal by the referee’s assistant – but before the players had a chance to protest, an ambulance sped across the pitch and stopped in front of the home team’s bench to resuscitate coach Jan Rieken, whose pacemaker couldn’t cope. When doctors gave the all-clear, the referee proceeded with the rest of the injury time, where Matthias Tinnemeyer eventually scored a sixth for the depleted Burlage. This time Rieken couldn't celebrate: he was on his way to the hospital.
9. Huddersfield vs Barnsley (2012/13)
The Championship’s final day in 2012/13 was bonkers. Hull were held by champions Cardiff, but went up with them because Watfored lost to Leeds; Leicester won at Forest to leapfrog them and Bolton into the play-offs; and the final relegation place could have gone to any one of six teams. Two of them were Huddersfield and Barnsley, who played each other. The Tykes had to win, the Terriers had to avoid defeat.
Going into the final 10 minutes of an afternoon full of twists and turns, Barnsley were 2-1 up, and so were drop candidates Peterborough at Crystal Palace: Huddersfield were going down on goal difference. But then the Terriers levelled, Palace scored twice and the news reached Yorkshire that a draw would suit both sides. For the final two minutes, Tykes goalkeeper Luke Steele simply kept the ball unopposed in his area to ensure safety. Posh went down on 54 points – just 14 below the play-offs.
8. Brentford vs Doncaster (2012/13)
Brentford hosted Doncaster at Griffin Park on the final day off the 2012/13 season with the winner guaranteed promotion into the Championship alongside Bournemouth.
Deep into injury time with the score at 0-0, Brentford were awarded a potentially decisive penalty. Fulham loanee Marcello Trotta grappled the ball away from regular penalty taker Kevin O’Connor only to smash it off the crossbar. Moments later Doncaster netted a dramatic winner on the break through James Coppinger.
With Bournemouth having failed to win at Tranmere, Rovers were champions. Brentford, broken and condemned to the play-offs, lost in the semi-finals to Swindon.
7. Borussia Dortmund vs Malaga (2012/13)
Jurgen Klopp's Dortmund team had quite the 2012/13 Champions League campaign. They topped a group containing Real Madrid, Manchester City and Ajax; they beat Real Madrid in the semi-finals; and they were squeezed out in the Wembley final by Bayern Munich. And in the middle of that, they nearly went out to Malaga.
Going into injury time, BVB trailed to Eliseu’s late goal. But Marco Reus levelled in the 91st minute – and just a minute later Felipe Santana nudged the ball home, despite the fact that he and three other Dortmund players were clearly offside.
6. Liverpool vs Arsenal (1988/89)
It was a match made for television, an event of such drama that it later became the centrepiece of a film (Fever Pitch). Liverpool and Arsenal were the top flight’s dominant sides, and their crunch clash – postponed in the Hillsborough aftermath - was rescheduled for a late-May Friday night after Liverpool’s FA Cup final victory.
Arsenal needed to win by two clear goals, but George Graham went safety-first with David O’Leary as sweeper in a back five. Alan Smith gave them a first-half lead but Liverpool were seconds from the Double when Arsenal punted the ball forward for one last attack. Cue Michael Thomas bursting clean through on goal to slot past Bruce Grobbelaar and take the title to Highbury for the first time since 1971.
5. Thailand vs Indonesia (1998)
When Thailand faced Indonesia at the end of the 1998 AFF Championship group stage, both sides had already qualified for the semi-final but the group winner was yet to be determined. Twice Indonesia took the lead and twice Thailand levelled.
But in injury time Indonesia twigged that the group winner would have to face hosts Vietnam, while the runners-up would meet the far weaker Singapore. With an apparently easier course to the final guaranteed for the losing side, Indonesian defender Mursyid Effendi scored an own goal, successfully losing the match for his team.
As it happened, both sides lost their semi-finals, unfancied Singapore won the tournament and Effendi was banned from international football for life.
4. Hamburg vs Bayern Munich, Schalke vs Unterhaching (2000/01)
Bavarian giants Bayern went into the final day of the 2000/01 Bundesliga season three points ahead of Schalke, needing only a point at Hamburg to win the title. Schalke’s superior goal-difference meant that a defeat for the Munich side would’ve delivered a first Bundesliga title since 1958 if they beat lowly Unterhaching. When word got round that Sergej Barbarez had given Hamburg the lead in the final minute, the Gelsenkirchen crowd flooded the pitch as fireworks went off around them.
Those scenes of unbridled joy were short-lived, though. In the fourth minute of injury time, Bayern's Patrik Andersson fired a free-kick into the net, snatching the trophy from Schalke at the death.
3. Barbados vs Grenada (1994)
Any draw in the 1994 Caribbean Cup would be settled by a Golden Goal, which would count double. So when Barbados, who needed to beat Grenada by two to go through, reached their required margin but then conceded an 87th-minute goal, a curious thought occurred: despite being in the lead, they needed extra-time. Only one thing to do…
Realising that it would be easier to stick one past their own goalkeeper than trying to beat the opponents, Barbados duly did so. Except that now Grenada realised that a goal at either end would suit them, bringing about a situation where Barbados were defending both goals for the three minutes of injury time – which they managed to do successfully before going on to score that all-important Golden Goal. Needless to say the new-fangled rules were quickly abolished.
2. Leicester vs Arsenal (1997/98)
Arsenal were 2-0 up at Leicester thanks to a couple of goals from Dennis Bergkamp, but his day was not done; what unfolded was one of the most astonishing finishes to a Premier League game ever.
Emile Heskey’s 84th-minute goal seemed a mere consolation until Matt Elliott’s deflected 93rd-minute effort levelled things up. A minute later, Bergkamp completed his only Arsenal hat-trick with one of the finest goals scored on these shores, bamboozling Elliott before slotting past Kasey Keller. But one final Foxes push brought a corner and following some head tennis in the Arsenal area, skipper Steve Walsh nodded past David Seaman to secure an unlikely point.
1. Barcelona vs PSG (2016/17)
One of the most unlikely comebacks in the history of the game took place at the Camp Nou as Barcelona became the first side to overturn a 4-0 first-leg deficit in the Champions League. The Catalans built a 3-0 lead in the second leg, but the Parisians re-established control of the tie courtesy of Edinson Cavani’s away goal after the break.
With the clock ticking down and the home crowd holding on to the flimsiest of hopes, Neymar curled home a free-kick in the 88th minute. Barça still required two goals to progress as the clock ticked past 90. Cue a controversial penalty earned by Luis Suarez, converted by Neymar a minute into injury time. Then – five minutes into an increasingly frenetic added time – the Brazilian’s cross allowed Sergi Roberto to prod home and send the home supporters delirious. No wonder PSG made Neymar the most expensive footballer ever a few short months later.
