BONKERS BUT BRILLIANT
WEDNESDAY’S seven-goal thriller at the Etihad had everything before Spurs progressed on away goals. But was it the most dramatic game ever? Our writers relive their craziest days...
MAN UTD 2 BAYERN MUNICH 1 Champions League, May 1999
AS bonkers as Wednesday night was, nothing compares to Barcelona in ’99. Martin Samuel and I were sitting together when Martin called the office in response to Teddy Sheringham’s equaliser. Would we now be holding the first edition for extra time or did they need a rewrite immediately? The answer, of course, came instantly from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who sent the press box into meltdown as well as everyone else in the Nou Camp on that extraordinary night. To this day I will never forget the faces of the Bayern Munich fans as they filed out of the stadium in their thousands. They were like ghosts, stunned into silence. MATT LAWTON
LIVERPOOL 3 AC MILAN 3 Champions League, May 2005 (AET) Liverpool won 3-2 on pens
MOST of the group of national news reporters who’d pitched up at the Sandon Lounge pub on Anfield Road that night were told only to bother filing reports if Liverpool won. Some of our number left at half-time. The interview I did with a fan who’d spent the interval at the Hillsborough Memorial, praying for some divine intervention with the team 3-0 down, seemed entirely pointless.
Appropriately enough, the fan’s name was Tony Hope. As the most improbable and unbelievable comeback in Champions League history took hold, the currency of those quotes rose substantially and they were shared around.
The roof went off the place when Jerzy Dudek saved his second spot-kick. Tony emailed me on the anniversary of the final for many years. That’s what the Miracle of Istanbul meant to people.
Unforgettable, even to those of us 2,000 miles away. IAN HERBERT
NORWICH 4 SOUTHAMPTON 5 Premier League, April 1994
THIS was not long after I had signed a new deal with Norwich which included a £500 goal bonus. The catch was I would only get it if we avoiding losing.
I scored twice but Matt Le Tissier got a hat-trick for the visitors in what turned out to be a crazy game with awful defending at Carrow Road. Then in stoppage time, Ken Monkou makes it 5-4 and we lose. Gutting. CHRIS SUTTON
EVERTON 4 LIVERPOOL 4 FA Cup, February 1991
GOODISON PARK, one of those old- style atmospheric grounds, was rocking for this FA Cup fifth-round replay. We had Graeme Sharp, Tony Cottee and Mike Newell and played with a real directness. It finished 3-3 after 90 minutes then went to extra time, where it finished 4-4 with John Barnes scoring a brilliant individual goal against us. MARTIN KEOWN
MAN CITY 3 QPR 2 Premier League, May 2012
THIS was a game that had everything. A last-minute winner, a sending off and the ultimate prize at the end — the Premier League title.
Had City not scored their two late goals — an equaliser by Edin Dzeko and a winner by Sergio Aguero — to pip neighbours Manchester United to the title by a solitary goal, it may well have taken them years to recover.
Wednesday at the Etihad matched that game for drama and sheer wow factor, and as such it’s a close call between the two. But in 2012 there was to be no second chance. It was glory or total humiliation. At least this week City can dust themselves down and try to be successful in another competition. IAN LADYMAN
READING 5 ARSENAL 7 League Cup, October 2012
I CAN still remember the introduction to my match report: Amazing. Incredible. Breathtaking. Twelve goals and an exhausted football reporter.
Having raced into a four-goal lead, Reading looked home and hosed by half- time only for Theo Walcott to inspire a stirring comeback. Walcott scored a hat trick on that unforgettable night — his second in injury time of the 90 minutes completing Arsenal’s four-goal turnaround.
Arsene Wenger’s men completed the fightback with three more in extra time, as Marouane Chamakh scored twice. SAMI MOKBEL
CRYSTAL PALACE 3 LIVERPOOL 3 Premier League, May 2014
THE obvious one would be Liverpool 4 Borussia Dortmund 3 in April 2016 but I’m going to say this game at Selhurst Park.
The whole shape of the game and the season changed in the space of 10 frantic minutes when Palace came from three down to level.
When you factor in 800 words needed completely rewriting in that time and the WiFi dropped out, it was insane. One you won’t forget in a hurry! DOMINIC KING
MAN CITY 5 MONACO 3 Champions League, Feb 2017
NOT a lot can top Wednesday night at the Etihad but this eight-goal thriller two years ago just about manages it.
Ten bookings, some scandalous refereeing and City twice came from behind. Radamel Falcao scored one of the finest chips ever from 16 yards after missing a penalty when Monaco were 2-1 up.
My player ratings changed a few times that night — although I avoided having them forensically picked apart by someone in football, as was the case yesterday morning. JACK GAUGHAN