One of football’s most sweet pleasures is watching an outfielder play goalkeeper, and Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, and Leeds United players have all taken the hit for our amusement. Professional footballers usually resemble modern-day superheroes with superhuman athleticism, at least until one of them is assigned to play between the posts. Here are some remarkable examples of outfield players played as a goalkeeper.
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1. Kyle Walker
Pep Guardiola needed an emergency goalkeeper as Manchester City faced Atalanta away from home in the 2019/20 Champions League group round. The English defender had 10 minutes plus stoppage time between the posts after Ederson was brought out at halftime and Claudio Bravo was sent off, meaning the English defender had to save a freekick and keep a clean sheet in a 1-1 tie.
2. John O’Shea
We’re not sure which is weirder: the fact that O’Shea once scored a chip against Arsenal at Highbury or the fact that he once played in goal at White Hart Lane, where he flapped at crosses, continued to make tackles, wore a shirt three times his size, and smiled about it all?
3. Vinnie Jones (1995)
How did a player who had three goals conceded get so high on the list? Please bear with us. Wimbledon’s 6-1 loss might have been much worse if Jones hadn’t made a fantastic save low to his left, somehow tipped a rebound onto the post, and almost produced a world-class save against Les Ferdinand.
4. Niall Quinn
The Irish forward stepped in when Tony Coton was sent off in 1991, after he had scored in the game. Quinn stopped a penalty with his Gaelic football experience, which many feel was his genuine strength.
5. Jan Koller -Borussia Dortmund vs. Bayern Munich, 2002.
In football, people have a tendency to overcomplicate things. Keep things as simple as possible. For instance, who do you choose when you need an outfield player to play goal? Obviously, the 6-foot-7-inch guy. When Jens Lehmann was sent off (for disagreeing with the referee) with 24 minutes left in the game against Bayern, Dortmund’s gigantic striker, who had previously worked as a goalkeeper, stepped up. He couldn’t stop his team from losing 2-1, but he made several excellent saves and didn’t let any more goals in. Koller had also scored Dortmund’s lone goal prior to his stay in goal, and “kicker” magazine dubbed him the keeper of the day.
6. Harry Kane
One of the most memorable events in the Tottenham forward’s career occurred in the Europa League, when he scored a late goal against Asteras. The Englishman surrendered in a fairly amusing manner, demonstrating how adept goalkeepers are at the “basic things.”
7. Robbie Savage – Derby (2010)
In 2010, Derby County faced Reading in a Championship match. With the score at 2-1, first-choice goalkeeper Stephen Bywater was taken off with an injury, and substitute Saul Deeney was sent off just before half-time. It was then up to former midfielder Robbie Savage to save the day for his team. Maybe we’re being a little hard on Savage. He made a few good stops in the game, but he also allowed in two more goals as Derby lost 4-1 away to the Royals, providing little assistance to his Rams, who went on to struggle but narrowly avoid relegation to League One that season.
8. Phil Jagielka
Neil Warnock is not a fan of having a back-up goalkeeper on his bench, which led to Jagielka filling in on a number of occasions during his time at Sheffield United, most notably in a 1-0 win over Arsenal.
9. Cosmin Moti
In Ludogorets’ Champions League qualifier against Steaua Bucharest in 2014, Moti scored in the final minute of extra time. The game went to penalties, and you can guess what happened next.
10. John Terry – Chelsea vs. Reading, 2006.
It’s bad enough to lose one goalkeeper to injury, but losing two in the same game is a disaster. That’s exactly what occurred to Chelsea against Reading in 2006, when Petr Cech collided with Stephen Hunt (fracturing his skull, which is why he now wears head gear) and was replaced by Carlo Cudicini, who was knocked out after colliding with Ibrahima Sonko. Terry was the man who took the gloves from the replacement for the admittedly brief time remained in the game.