John O’Shea’s last gasp equaliser in Gelsenkirchen stunned the world champions but who else has crucially weighed in when least expected?
1. Lilian Thuram only scored twice for France. But his timing was pretty good because he saved them for a World Cup semi-final when the eventual-winners were 1-0 down.
Croatia were almost as stunned as Thuram’s teammates. The then-Parma full back won the Bronze ball as World Cup 1998’s third most valuable player. Ronaldo took the gold but France took the trophy.
2. Juliano Belletti joined the action on the Stade de France pitch for the 2006 Champions League Final with his Barcelona side trailing 10-man Arsenal 1-0.
Samuel Eto’o levelled it with 15 to play before Belletti broke in behind and fizzed a strike towards Manuel Almunia.
It was too-hot-to-handle for the sub who replaced red-carded Jens Lehman. The Spaniard palmed what was the winner into his own net. It was the Brazilian full-back’s only goal for Barcelona.
3. Fabio Grosso did ‘a Thuram’ in the same year as ‘Belletti’s belter’.
His Italy side were locked in a goalless World Cup semi-final with Germany, in their own back yard.
But the full-back had other ideas. Grosso’s 119th minute curling strike past Jens Lehman (it wasn’t his year) was one of the goals of the tournament and five days later, he was at it again.
Showing Baggio how it’s done, he whipped the decisive penalty into the top corner to bag his country their fourth World Cup.
4. Ben Watson‘s Wigan Athletic were not meant to reach the 2013 FA Cup Final. Let alone keep out star-studded Manchester City for 90 minutes.
But they did and in stoppage time, at Wembley, it was deep-lying midfielder Watson who was on hand to head home the stadium-shocking winner. Three days later, Wigan were relegated from the top-flight but they didn’t really care because Watson had won them the cup.
5. Sergio Ramos rarely makes it to stoppage time without seeing red.
But with Real Madrid staring down the barrel of a Champions League defeat at the hands of their city-rivals, it was Ramos who saw the light.
His injury time header sent the match to extra time before Bale, Marcelo and Ronaldo put Atleti to the sword to fulfil the Décima dream.