Moment of magic — and a little luck — that changed Poborsky’s life
On A sunny afternoon in Birmingham at Euro 96, Karel Poborsky — until then a Czech Republic squad player known as much for his hair as his flair — took possession of the ball around 40 yards out during the quarter- final against Portugal.
What happened next meant Poborsky would be more than an interesting haircut.
The 24-year- old produced a moment of magic, a goal of such imagination — with a little luck — that his life and career changed forever. Poborsky went to the tournament as a Slavia Prague player. After it, he was on his way to Manchester United.
There was more to Poborsky’s £3.6million transfer to Old Trafford than one goal, but it was the showcase.
It came 53 minutes into a hitherto goalless game at Villa Park. Receiving the ball on the left, the right-footed Poborsky was amid four red Portuguese shirts. As Rui Costa slid in to dispossess him, Poborsky stepped forward and eluded him.
now there were three. Poborsky had Paulo Sousa, Fernando Couto and Oceano in front of him. A ricochet off Oceano, though, and suddenly Poborsky was past them all. And he was 20 yards out.
Had panic set in, the splitsecond speed of things would have made that forgivable. But no, despite the pace, Poborsky could see goalkeeper Victor Baia was racing out.
On the 18-yard line, Poborsky had a decision to make. It’s just no one had foreseen this choice, except him.
From somewhere inside, Poborsky lofted the ball over the advancing Baia — a scoop rather than a chip. He watched, along with an open-mouthed audience, the ball rise, then fall just in time to cross the line as Portugal’s defenders scrambled back. It was a finish that was simultaneously ridiculous and sublime.
‘Baia was well out of his goal so I thought the easiest thing to do was to lob him,’ Poborsky said of his act of amazing spatial awareness, ‘which I managed to do really well. The ball went so high that I thought it couldn’t end up in the goal. But then it did.’
It was enough to beat Portugal and take the Czech Republic into the semi-finals. Coming seven years after the Velvet Revolution in Prague, the goal felt historic as well as fantastic.
Portugal had been favourites — they had just beaten Croatia 3-0 — but while they had plenty of possession, an old failing of not taking chances told.
On 82 minutes, a red card for a Czech, Radoslav Latal, gave Portugal renewed impetus, but Jorge Cadete missed the one big opportunity after that.
The Czechs had finished second in their group behind Germany. Victory at Villa Park brought a semi-final against France at Old Trafford and the continuation of a story that saw them win their qualifying group for the Euros ahead of Holland, despite somehow losing to Luxembourg.
Patrik Berger was the star. Poborsky started only one of 10 qualifiers — a 0-0 draw with the Dutch — and made only a couple of substitute appearances.
When Euro 96 began, however, he was in the opening line-up against Germany. With the Germans 2-0 up at half-time, Poborsky was replaced.
But he started the second game against Italy and supplied the cross from which Pavel nedved scored his first international goal. Italy were beaten 2-1. Poborsky caught the eye with a display so lively that even Paolo Maldini looked flustered.
The goal against Portugal was then followed by a penalty in the shootout against France, which brought a final with Germany. Although Berger put the Czechs 1-0 up from the spot after Poborsky had been fouled by Matthias Sammer, Germany won 2-1 in extra time at Wembley.
When the squad returned to Prague, they received a heroes’ welcome and soon the players received offers. United’s was too good for Poborsky to refuse.
He had just won the Czech league with Slavia. His next club game would be for United against Everton. But Poborsky had David Beckham in front of him and he did not enjoy his two seasons at Old Trafford.
‘It was really difficult for me there. I didn’t speak English and I was still young,’ Poborsky said. ‘ Plus, the United team was already full of great players.’
He moved to Portugal — Benfica — on the way to 118 caps. Only Petr Cech has more.
Initially, the fame of the Euro 96 goal irritated Poborsky. But he came to understand what it meant to Czechs. Last year he, nedved and others had their heads carved on to the country’s coins. Poborsky’s was franked at Villa Park in 1996.