Anatoliy Trubin headed his way into the Champions League history books on Wednesday evening! The Benfica Lisbon goalkeeper scored the much-celebrated 4-2 final score against Real Madrid, which helped the Portuguese make it into the playoffs. The Ukrainian is only the fifth goalkeeper to score in the premier class.
Hans-Jörg Butt scored the first goalkeeper goal in the history of the premier class. On September 13, 2000, he scored a penalty for Hamburger SV against Juventus Turin. But this wasn’t his only CL goal, as he also scored against Juventus from the penalty spot wearing both Bayer Leverkusen (2002) and FC Bayern (2009) jerseys.
With a header or a penalty: goalkeepers score in the Champions League
Curious: One day after Butt’s third goal, Sinan Bolat was the second keeper ever to celebrate his own goal. He scored a celebrated equalizer with Standard Liège against AZ Alkmaar on December 9, 2009 with his header.
After that, it only took ten months for the next goalkeeper to score. On September 9, 2010, in Hapoel Tel Aviv’s 3-1 defeat against Olympique Lyon, the keeper scored his team’s only goal from the penalty spot.
This was followed by a long dry spell before Ivan Provedel became the celebrated hero of Lazio against Atlético Madrid. The goalkeeper nodded in to make it 1-1 on September 19, 2023.
Press celebrates Benfica heroes
Trubin followed on Wednesday evening. He was then duly celebrated in the press. So wrote The Game about an “unexpected hero” and a “miracle”. For Record On the other hand, it was “Just like in the movies! Benfica qualified for the Champions League playoffs in an epic, heroic and unforgettable way”. To Ball headlined again: “Absolutely epic!”
Benfica needed Trubin’s goal, otherwise they would have missed out on a place in the playoffs. In addition to the six goals, there were also two sending-offs for Real. Due to the bankruptcy, the Royals missed out on a direct place in the round of 16 and now have to play in the playoffs.
The historic moment almost didn’t happen at all. Trubin explained after the game that his teammates suddenly showed “an A”: “But I didn’t understand it. Everyone told me to hurry up.”
He wrote on Instagram that night: “Sometimes football brings us more than we could ever expect. Even scoring a goal.”
