Blog

Saving the day

Inspired by the efforts of Real Madrid’s Belgian keeper on Saturday, we’ve accessed the archives to remind ourselves of the best demonstrations of between-the-sticks prowess come crunch time

WORDS Seb Powell
Additional Content

Thibaut Courtois’ heroics at the weekend got us thinking: what are the top five performances from goalkeepers in finals from the past 30 seasons of the Champions League era? We came to the conclusion that the most memorable ones are often those that involve a shoot-out, for obvious reasons, which gives Courtois some extra kudos. That said, some of the below also pulled off some worldies pre spot kicks…

Oliver Kahn, Bayern München v Valencia

2001

Blonde, terrifying and one of the greatest ever: Oliver Kahn is synonymous with shoot-outs and in 2001 he showed us why. The German pulled off three malicious penalty saves to break Valencia hearts, scooping the man of the match award in the process. He also won the UEFA Fair Play Award for consoling his opposite number, Santiago Cañizares, after it was all over.


Dida, AC Milan v Juventus

2003

Before Courtois, Carlo Ancelotti had another seemingly unbeatable shot stopper in the form of Brazilian Dida. While it was Juve No1 Ginaluigi Buffon who made a miraculous save from Filippo Inzaghi in normal time, the Rossoneri’s keeper denied three Juventus players in the shootout.


Jerzy Dudek, Liverpool v AC Milan

2005

In the infamous Istanbul comeback, the Polish goalkeeper denied Serginho, Andrea Pirlo and Andriy Shevchenko in the shootout, with some interpretive dance thrown in as a distraction method (aping the efforts of Bruce Grobbelaar in the 1984 final). But the most iconic moment was an astonishing double save from the aforementioned Ukrainian striker at the end of normal time.


Petr Čech, Chelsea v Bayern München

2012

The Czech was in imperious form when Chelsea beat Bayern in their own backyard ten years ago. Not content with saving former Blue Arjen Robben’s penalty in the dying moments of extra time, he went on to keep out the German side’s final two penalties in the shoot-out, leaving the way clear for Didier Drogba to wrap things up.

Thibaut Courtois’ heroics at the weekend got us thinking: what are the top five performances from goalkeepers in finals from the past 30 seasons of the Champions League era? We came to the conclusion that the most memorable ones are often those that involve a shoot-out, for obvious reasons, which gives Courtois some extra kudos. That said, some of the below also pulled off some worldies pre spot kicks…

Oliver Kahn, Bayern München v Valencia

2001

Blonde, terrifying and one of the greatest ever: Oliver Kahn is synonymous with shoot-outs and in 2001 he showed us why. The German pulled off three malicious penalty saves to break Valencia hearts, scooping the man of the match award in the process. He also won the UEFA Fair Play Award for consoling his opposite number, Santiago Cañizares, after it was all over.


Dida, AC Milan v Juventus

2003

Before Courtois, Carlo Ancelotti had another seemingly unbeatable shot stopper in the form of Brazilian Dida. While it was Juve No1 Ginaluigi Buffon who made a miraculous save from Filippo Inzaghi in normal time, the Rossoneri’s keeper denied three Juventus players in the shootout.


Jerzy Dudek, Liverpool v AC Milan

2005

In the infamous Istanbul comeback, the Polish goalkeeper denied Serginho, Andrea Pirlo and Andriy Shevchenko in the shootout, with some interpretive dance thrown in as a distraction method (aping the efforts of Bruce Grobbelaar in the 1984 final). But the most iconic moment was an astonishing double save from the aforementioned Ukrainian striker at the end of normal time.


Petr Čech, Chelsea v Bayern München

2012

The Czech was in imperious form when Chelsea beat Bayern in their own backyard ten years ago. Not content with saving former Blue Arjen Robben’s penalty in the dying moments of extra time, he went on to keep out the German side’s final two penalties in the shoot-out, leaving the way clear for Didier Drogba to wrap things up.

Read the full story
Sign up now to get access to this and every premium feature on Champions Journal. You will also get access to member-only competitions and offers. And you get all of that completely free!

Thibaut Courtois’ heroics at the weekend got us thinking: what are the top five performances from goalkeepers in finals from the past 30 seasons of the Champions League era? We came to the conclusion that the most memorable ones are often those that involve a shoot-out, for obvious reasons, which gives Courtois some extra kudos. That said, some of the below also pulled off some worldies pre spot kicks…

Oliver Kahn, Bayern München v Valencia

2001

Blonde, terrifying and one of the greatest ever: Oliver Kahn is synonymous with shoot-outs and in 2001 he showed us why. The German pulled off three malicious penalty saves to break Valencia hearts, scooping the man of the match award in the process. He also won the UEFA Fair Play Award for consoling his opposite number, Santiago Cañizares, after it was all over.


Dida, AC Milan v Juventus

2003

Before Courtois, Carlo Ancelotti had another seemingly unbeatable shot stopper in the form of Brazilian Dida. While it was Juve No1 Ginaluigi Buffon who made a miraculous save from Filippo Inzaghi in normal time, the Rossoneri’s keeper denied three Juventus players in the shootout.


Jerzy Dudek, Liverpool v AC Milan

2005

In the infamous Istanbul comeback, the Polish goalkeeper denied Serginho, Andrea Pirlo and Andriy Shevchenko in the shootout, with some interpretive dance thrown in as a distraction method (aping the efforts of Bruce Grobbelaar in the 1984 final). But the most iconic moment was an astonishing double save from the aforementioned Ukrainian striker at the end of normal time.


Petr Čech, Chelsea v Bayern München

2012

The Czech was in imperious form when Chelsea beat Bayern in their own backyard ten years ago. Not content with saving former Blue Arjen Robben’s penalty in the dying moments of extra time, he went on to keep out the German side’s final two penalties in the shoot-out, leaving the way clear for Didier Drogba to wrap things up.

Blog

Saving the day

Inspired by the efforts of Real Madrid’s Belgian keeper on Saturday, we’ve accessed the archives to remind ourselves of the best demonstrations of between-the-sticks prowess come crunch time

WORDS Seb Powell

Text Link

Thibaut Courtois’ heroics at the weekend got us thinking: what are the top five performances from goalkeepers in finals from the past 30 seasons of the Champions League era? We came to the conclusion that the most memorable ones are often those that involve a shoot-out, for obvious reasons, which gives Courtois some extra kudos. That said, some of the below also pulled off some worldies pre spot kicks…

Oliver Kahn, Bayern München v Valencia

2001

Blonde, terrifying and one of the greatest ever: Oliver Kahn is synonymous with shoot-outs and in 2001 he showed us why. The German pulled off three malicious penalty saves to break Valencia hearts, scooping the man of the match award in the process. He also won the UEFA Fair Play Award for consoling his opposite number, Santiago Cañizares, after it was all over.


Dida, AC Milan v Juventus

2003

Before Courtois, Carlo Ancelotti had another seemingly unbeatable shot stopper in the form of Brazilian Dida. While it was Juve No1 Ginaluigi Buffon who made a miraculous save from Filippo Inzaghi in normal time, the Rossoneri’s keeper denied three Juventus players in the shootout.


Jerzy Dudek, Liverpool v AC Milan

2005

In the infamous Istanbul comeback, the Polish goalkeeper denied Serginho, Andrea Pirlo and Andriy Shevchenko in the shootout, with some interpretive dance thrown in as a distraction method (aping the efforts of Bruce Grobbelaar in the 1984 final). But the most iconic moment was an astonishing double save from the aforementioned Ukrainian striker at the end of normal time.


Petr Čech, Chelsea v Bayern München

2012

The Czech was in imperious form when Chelsea beat Bayern in their own backyard ten years ago. Not content with saving former Blue Arjen Robben’s penalty in the dying moments of extra time, he went on to keep out the German side’s final two penalties in the shoot-out, leaving the way clear for Didier Drogba to wrap things up.

Thibaut Courtois’ heroics at the weekend got us thinking: what are the top five performances from goalkeepers in finals from the past 30 seasons of the Champions League era? We came to the conclusion that the most memorable ones are often those that involve a shoot-out, for obvious reasons, which gives Courtois some extra kudos. That said, some of the below also pulled off some worldies pre spot kicks…

Oliver Kahn, Bayern München v Valencia

2001

Blonde, terrifying and one of the greatest ever: Oliver Kahn is synonymous with shoot-outs and in 2001 he showed us why. The German pulled off three malicious penalty saves to break Valencia hearts, scooping the man of the match award in the process. He also won the UEFA Fair Play Award for consoling his opposite number, Santiago Cañizares, after it was all over.


Dida, AC Milan v Juventus

2003

Before Courtois, Carlo Ancelotti had another seemingly unbeatable shot stopper in the form of Brazilian Dida. While it was Juve No1 Ginaluigi Buffon who made a miraculous save from Filippo Inzaghi in normal time, the Rossoneri’s keeper denied three Juventus players in the shootout.


Jerzy Dudek, Liverpool v AC Milan

2005

In the infamous Istanbul comeback, the Polish goalkeeper denied Serginho, Andrea Pirlo and Andriy Shevchenko in the shootout, with some interpretive dance thrown in as a distraction method (aping the efforts of Bruce Grobbelaar in the 1984 final). But the most iconic moment was an astonishing double save from the aforementioned Ukrainian striker at the end of normal time.


Petr Čech, Chelsea v Bayern München

2012

The Czech was in imperious form when Chelsea beat Bayern in their own backyard ten years ago. Not content with saving former Blue Arjen Robben’s penalty in the dying moments of extra time, he went on to keep out the German side’s final two penalties in the shoot-out, leaving the way clear for Didier Drogba to wrap things up.

Read the full story
Sign up now to get access to this and every premium feature on Champions Journal. You will also get access to member-only competitions and offers. And you get all of that completely free!

Thibaut Courtois’ heroics at the weekend got us thinking: what are the top five performances from goalkeepers in finals from the past 30 seasons of the Champions League era? We came to the conclusion that the most memorable ones are often those that involve a shoot-out, for obvious reasons, which gives Courtois some extra kudos. That said, some of the below also pulled off some worldies pre spot kicks…

Oliver Kahn, Bayern München v Valencia

2001

Blonde, terrifying and one of the greatest ever: Oliver Kahn is synonymous with shoot-outs and in 2001 he showed us why. The German pulled off three malicious penalty saves to break Valencia hearts, scooping the man of the match award in the process. He also won the UEFA Fair Play Award for consoling his opposite number, Santiago Cañizares, after it was all over.


Dida, AC Milan v Juventus

2003

Before Courtois, Carlo Ancelotti had another seemingly unbeatable shot stopper in the form of Brazilian Dida. While it was Juve No1 Ginaluigi Buffon who made a miraculous save from Filippo Inzaghi in normal time, the Rossoneri’s keeper denied three Juventus players in the shootout.


Jerzy Dudek, Liverpool v AC Milan

2005

In the infamous Istanbul comeback, the Polish goalkeeper denied Serginho, Andrea Pirlo and Andriy Shevchenko in the shootout, with some interpretive dance thrown in as a distraction method (aping the efforts of Bruce Grobbelaar in the 1984 final). But the most iconic moment was an astonishing double save from the aforementioned Ukrainian striker at the end of normal time.


Petr Čech, Chelsea v Bayern München

2012

The Czech was in imperious form when Chelsea beat Bayern in their own backyard ten years ago. Not content with saving former Blue Arjen Robben’s penalty in the dying moments of extra time, he went on to keep out the German side’s final two penalties in the shoot-out, leaving the way clear for Didier Drogba to wrap things up.

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