The 10 Greatest Last-Minute Goals in Soccer History

There’s something about the final seconds of a match that strips away all the tactical analysis and measured takes. When a game reaches its dying moments, everything condenses into pure, distilled emotion. The weight of everything that led to that point, the thousands of individual moments and decisions, all come crashing together in a single instant.

These are the goals that remind us why we watch, why we care. Why we put ourselves through the agony of hope when logic says it’s over.

They’re the moments that live forever, passed down through generations of fans who might not remember the buildup play or the tactical setup, but will never forget where they were when the ball hit the net.

10. Landon Donovan vs. Algeria, 2010 World Cup

The United States had never really been a soccer country. Sure, people watched the World Cup, but it was always something that happened elsewhere, to other people. Four years earlier in Germany, they’d gone home after the group stage. Now, in South Africa, they were staring down the same fate.

Algeria sat deep. The Americans pushed and pushed but found nothing. Clint Dempsey’s shot hit the post. Time kept moving. The draw would send them home.

Then, in the first minute of stoppage time, Tim Howard launched the ball forward. It bounced around, ricocheted, and found Donovan sprinting into the box. He buried it. The celebration was pure chaos, players piling on each other, unable to process what had just happened.

Back home, bars erupted at 10 in the morning. Office workers streamed out of conference rooms. Something shifted in that moment. Soccer in America would never quite feel the same way again.

It wasn’t just about qualifying for the knockout rounds. It was about belief taking root in a place where it had struggled to grow.

SEE ALSO | 10 Most Hated Soccer Players in History

9. Sergio Ramos vs. Atlético Madrid, 2014 Champions League Final

Real Madrid hadn’t won the European Cup since 2002. For a club that defined itself by this competition, twelve years felt like a lifetime. They’d built and rebuilt, spent fortunes, cycled through managers. The wait had become its own burden.

Atlético Madrid, their crosstown rivals, had scored early. They defended with discipline and hunger. Diego Simeone’s team had knocked out Barcelona and Chelsea to get here. They knew how to protect a lead. As the clock hit 90 minutes, they were three minutes from glory.

Luka Modrić swung in a corner. The ball floated toward the far post. Sergio Ramos, the captain, rose above everyone and powered his header into the net.

Everything stopped. The Atlético players collapsed. They knew what was coming.

Real Madrid scored three times in extra time. The floodgates opened once that dam broke. But it was Ramos in the 93rd minute who changed everything. La Décima, the 10th European Cup they’d chased for so long, finally belonged to them.

8. Didier Drogba vs. Bayern Munich, 2012 Champions League Final

Chelsea had never won the Champions League. They’d come close, heartbreakingly close, but something always went wrong. Now they stood in Munich’s Allianz Arena, playing Bayern at their home stadium, and Thomas Müller had given the Germans the lead.

The match felt like it was slipping away. Chelsea had played with John Terry suspended, watching from the stands after his red card in the semifinal. Roberto Di Matteo had taken over as caretaker manager mid-season. They’d somehow made it this far, but surely this was where the story ended.

Juan Mata swung in a corner in the 88th minute. Drogba attacked it with everything he had, his header crashing past Manuel Neuer. The big Ivorian striker wheeled away, roaring. He’d saved them.

Extra time came and went. Then penalties.

Drogba stepped up to take the fifth penalty for Chelsea. Score and they win the Champions League. He sent Neuer the wrong way. After everything, after all the near misses and crushing disappointments, Chelsea were European champions because Drogba refused to let the story end any other way.

SEE ALSO | Top 10 Clubs with the Most Relegations in Premier League History

7. Lucas Moura vs. Ajax, 2019 Champions League Semifinal

Tottenham had lost the first leg in London 1-0. Not terrible, but then Ajax scored early in Amsterdam. And again. And again. At halftime, Spurs were down 3-0 on aggregate, needing three goals against a brilliant young Ajax team that had already knocked out Real Madrid and Juventus.

Lucas Moura scored early in the second half. Then again. Suddenly, improbably, they needed just one more. But Ajax held firm. Time kept draining away. Into stoppage time they went, Tottenham throwing everything forward, Ajax defending desperately.

The ball came to Moura just inside the box. He took a touch, shifted, and curled it past André Onana. The Ajax players fell to the ground. The Tottenham players sprinted toward Moura in disbelief.

They’d done it. On away goals, against all logic, they were going to Madrid for their first Champions League final.

Mauricio Pochettino, the manager who’d built this team from nothing, fell to his knees and wept. You don’t see that often in professional sports. But this was more than just a goal. It was validation of everything they’d tried to build, everything they’d believed possible.

6. Sergi Roberto vs. PSG, 2017 Champions League Round of 16

Barcelona had lost 4-0 in Paris. The tie was over. Everyone knew it. When has a team ever come back from four goals down in a Champions League knockout tie? It doesn’t happen.

The laws of probability, the weight of history, basic common sense, all said it couldn’t be done.

But Barcelona at Camp Nou kept pushing. Luis Suárez scored. An own goal. A penalty. Suddenly it was 3-0, but they still needed three more goals. Neymar scored a free kick. Then a penalty. 5-1, but still not enough because of away goals.

Stoppage time arrived. Barcelona needed one more in whatever seconds remained. The ball came to Neymar wide on the left. He lifted it toward the far post. Sergi Roberto, a midfielder playing at right back, had sprinted the length of the field. He stabbed it in with his first touch.

The stadium detonated. The players mobbed Roberto.

Somewhere in Paris, PSG players sat in silence, unable to comprehend what had just happened. La Remontada, they called it. The comeback. The one that shouldn’t have been possible.

SEE ALSO | Is This the Greatest Champions League Semi-Final in History?

5. Troy Deeney vs. Leicester City, 2013 Championship Playoff Semifinal

Watford and Leicester were tied 2-2 on aggregate in the playoff semifinal. Whoever won would get another chance at promotion to the Premier League. Whoever lost would spend another year in the Championship, stuck in the purgatory of England’s second tier.

Leicester won a penalty in the 95th minute. Score and they’re through. Anthony Knockaert stepped up. Manuel Almunia saved it. The Watford goalkeeper launched the ball forward immediately. Jonathan Hogg carried it into Leicester’s half, held off challenges, slipped it to Deeney.

The striker still had work to do. He drove past one defender, then another, then crashed his shot past Kasper Schmeichel. The Watford players sprinted after him. Deeney kept running, finally sliding on his knees by the corner flag.

Leicester’s players were broken. From a penalty kick away from the final to being eliminated in the span of about 30 seconds.

Deeney would score the winner in the playoff final too, sending Watford to the Premier League. But it was that moment against Leicester, the counter-attack straight from a saved penalty, that defined everything.

4. Michael Thomas vs. Liverpool, 1989 First Division Title Decider

Liverpool had won the league the year before. And the year before that. They’d built a dynasty at Anfield under Kenny Dalglish. Arsenal needed to beat them by two clear goals on the final night of the season to take the title on goals scored.

It seemed unlikely, bordering on impossible.

Alan Smith scored in the second half. One down, one to go. But Liverpool defended well. They’d been in these situations before. They knew how to see out a result. The clock moved past 90 minutes.

A throw-in deep in Liverpool territory. The ball bounced around, eventually finding its way to Michael Thomas just inside the box. He took one touch to control it, a second to flick it past a defender, then lifted it over Bruce Grosbelaar.

The Arsenal fans behind the goal exploded.

Thomas kept running, couldn’t believe what he’d just done. At Anfield, in front of the Kop, in the final seconds of the final game of the season, Arsenal had won the league.

Liverpool’s players stood stunned. They’d had it. It was theirs. Until suddenly it wasn’t.

SEE ALSO | 10 Goalkeepers with the Most Clean Sheets in Premier League History

3. Andrés Iniesta vs. Chelsea, 2009 Champions League Semifinal

The match at Stamford Bridge had been brutal. Chelsea felt they should have had multiple penalties. The referee waved them away.

Tensions kept building. The aggregate score was 1-1. Barcelona had the away goal but Chelsea kept pushing for the winner that would send them through.

Into stoppage time they went. One more Chelsea attack broke down. Barcelona worked it forward. The ball came to Iniesta about 25 yards out. He took a touch and crashed his shot into the far corner.

Stamford Bridge went silent.

The Barcelona players mobbed Iniesta. Didier Drogba screamed at the television cameras about the referee. Chelsea’s players were devastated. They’d been so close.

Barcelona would beat Manchester United in the final, completing the treble.

But without Iniesta’s strike, none of it would have happens.

That goal in the 93rd minute at Stamford Bridge changed the entire trajectory of that season, that era of Barcelona dominance. Everything flowed from those three seconds when Iniesta decided to shoot.

2. Ole Gunnar Solskjær vs. Bayern Munich, 1999 Champions League Final

Manchester United were losing in the Champions League final. Bayern Munich had scored early and defended brilliantly for 90 minutes. The Germans had hit the post twice. This felt inevitable. Bayern were minutes from their fourth European Cup.

Then Teddy Sheringham equalized in the 90th minute. Camp Nou erupted. The United fans, who’d been silent for most of the night, found their voices. But a draw still meant penalties. Nobody wanted penalties.

David Beckham swung in another corner. Sheringham flicked it on at the near post. Ole Gunnar Solskjær, the baby-faced assassin who’d come off the bench, stuck out his right foot at the far post. The ball flew into the roof of the net.

The United players lost their minds. Alex Ferguson’s arms shot into the air.

The Bayern players fell to the ground in disbelief. They’d had it won. For 90 minutes they’d controlled the match. Then in two minutes, everything collapsed.

United won the treble. They’d won the Premier League, the FA Cup, and now the Champions League.

Three trophies in one season. But it all came down to Solskjær in the 93rd minute, gambling on that flick-on, getting his foot to the ball, sending it past Oliver Kahn.

SEE ALSO | 13 Most Intense Soccer Rivalries in History

1. Sergio Agüero vs. QPR, 2012 Premier League Title Decider

Manchester City hadn’t won the league since 1968. Forty-four years of waiting. Of watching United across town collect trophy after trophy. Of being the other team in Manchester. But now, on the final day of the season, they had their chance.

Win and the title was theirs.

Except they were losing to Queens Park Rangers. QPR needed a result to avoid relegation. The match hit stoppage time with City down 2-1. United were winning their game against Sunderland. The title was going back to Old Trafford.

Then Edin Džeko equalized in the 92nd minute. Still not enough. They needed a winner. The ball came to Agüero just inside the box. He took one touch, shifted onto his left foot, and crashed it past Paddy Kenny.

The Etihad Stadium exploded into pandemonium.

Martin Tyler’s commentary; “AGUERRRRRRROOOOOOO… I swear you’ll never see anything like this ever again!” became iconic.

Agüero whipped off his shirt and swung it around his head. Roberto Mancini sprinted down the touchline. City’s players piled on top of each other in the corner.

Across Manchester, at the Stadium of Light, United’s players had been celebrating their win, thinking they’d done enough. Then the news came through. City had scored. The title was gone. Just like that.

No goal in Premier League history carries more weight than Agüero’s strike. The timing, the stakes, the 44 years of history, the rivalry with United, the fact that it happened in literally the last seconds of the season.

Everything that could make a goal matter more did matter more.

City would win more titles after that. They’d build a dynasty under Pep Guardiola. But none of it happens without Agüero in the 94th minute against QPR. That was the moment Manchester City became champions. That was the moment everything changed.