There are very few things in football that garners the universal acclaim of a goalkeeper wheeling away in celebration having scored in the opposite box.
Such feats are rare, but they're almost always special. While there have been a few freakish set-piece masters over the years who dabble in the art of goalkeeping, the special and rare sequences we're alluding to always arrive at critical conjunctures, thus enhancing their magnificence.
Goalkeepers don't foray into the final third for no reason. These are moments when salvation is necessary and desperation has crept in.
The act of the 'keeper coming up' is pretty uncommon in itself, let alone the gloveman actually doing anything while he's in foreign territory. There have been occasions, however, when the goalkeeper has struck, with this solar eclipse-like phenomenon occurring a couple of times in the Champions League.
Every goalkeeper to score a Champions League goal
1. Hans-Jorg Butt
The German goalkeeper is the only keeper to score multiple Champions League goals, with his strikes being scored for three different clubs.
Butt was a proficient penalty-taker who ended his career with 34 goals, all of which came from 12 yards.
His three Champions League strikes were all remarkably scored against Juventus, with Butt outwitting Edwin van der Sar and Gianluigi Buffon (twice) from the penalty spot.
The German netted for Hamburg, Bayer Leverkusen, and Bayern Munich throughout his novel career, with Butt's second successful penalty against Juve setting the tone for Leverkusen's stellar 2001/02 campaign.
2. Sinan Bolat
Bolat made history in the dying embers of a group stage contest in 2009 by becoming the first goalkeeper to score a Champions League goal from open play.
Trailing 1-0 at home to AZ Alkmaar in gameweek six, Standard Liege were on the brink of finishing bottom of Group H.
The Belgian side then received a free-kick in the fifth minute of stoppage time which Bolat optimistically went up for, but it was he who proved the hero as his thumping header rescued a point which ensured Standard finished third in the group and dropped into the Europa League.
Bolat's side would go on to reach the quarter-finals before losing to Hamburg over two legs.
3. Vincent Enyeama
Okay, back to the boring stuff now.
There was no open play heroics from Nigerian international Enyeama as he scored the final goal of his career in a Champions League defeat to Lyon while starting between the sticks for Hapoel Tel-Aviv.
Enyeama's 13 strikes all came for the Israeli club and he'd previously scored in a Champions League qualifier against RB Salzburg which helped Hapoel qualify for the group stages.
Enyeama's penalty against Lyon halved his side's deficit, but his effort came in vain as he conceded another at the other end in an eventual 3-1 win for the Ligue 1 side.
4. Ivan Provedel
Now this was brilliant.
On gameweek one of the 2023/24 campaign, Lazio's shot-stopper treated us to one of the moments of the season when he headed beyond none other than Jan Oblak to rescue a point for Maurizio Sarri's side at the Olimpico.
On a night where Ciro Immobile was particularly wasteful, it looked as if Atletico Madrid would consign the Biancocelesti to a 1-0 defeat. That was until Provedel got involved.
A woeful Daniele Cataldi delivery rendered the keeper's influence anonymous from the initial corner, but Luis Alberto's fierce cross during the second phase was perfect. The pace on the ball meant Provedel was the only man who had time to attack it, and all the keeper had to do was make contact to ensure Oblak was beaten given the impressive timing of the Italian's run.
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This article was originally published on 90min as Every goalkeeper to score a Champions League goal.