Last-minute Goal

The term "last-minute goal" is used in sport, primarily association football, to describe a goal scored very late in a game, usually one that affects the outcome of the game. The definition of a "last-minute goal" commonly used is one scored either in the final or penultimate minute of regulation time or extra time, or during stoppage time or injury time.

Last-minute goals are often noteworthy if it allows the scoring team to either take the lead or to equalise.

The "golden goal", briefly used to decide extra time in some tournaments, is not usually considered a last-minute goal, unless they were scored late into extra time. Penalties scored in a shootout are not considered last-minute goals.

Notable last-minute goals

This list of last-minute goals includes notable goals from higher levels of national or international football among major tournaments and qualifying matches.

Continental cup competition

Only matches in the semi-finals and final of European club competitions that changed the outcome of the tie.
* 1995 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final – Zaragoza vs. Arsenal, 10 May 1995: In the final minute of extra time (timed at 119:16), with the match heading to penalties, a 40-yard shot from Zaragoza's Nayim cleared Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman, winning the cup for Zaragoza.
* 1999 UEFA Champions League Final (and The Treble) – Manchester United vs. Bayern Munich, 26 May 1999: United scored two last-minute goals against Bayern to clinch the trophy and the Treble. Bayern led 1–0 going into injury time, but goals from Teddy Sheringham (assisted by Ryan Giggs) and Ole Gunnar Solskjær (assisted by Teddy Sheringham) turned the game on its head and won the match for United. The goals, timed at 90'+0:36 and 90'+2:17, came so late that the trophy already had Bayern ribbons attached to it.
* 2004–05 UEFA Cup semi-final – AZ vs. Sporting CP, 5 May 2005: With both legs of the semi-final having ended 2–1 to the home side, the match went to extra time. AZ went 3–1 ahead and were heading for the final until Miguel Garcia scored a headed goal at 120'+1:13 to make it 3–2 and 4–4 on aggregate, with Sporting progressing to the final on the away goals rule.
* 2005–06 UEFA Cup – Middlesbrough: English club Middlesbrough reached the final phase on the strength of two last-minute goals that overturned 3–0 aggregate deficits. O
6 April
Middlesbrough began its second leg trailing 2–0 on aggregate and a vital goal from Basel made it 3–0 on aggregate. Mark Viduka scored twice and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink once to level the series on aggregate, but Middlesbrough still trailed by virtue of away goals. Massimo Maccarone completed the comeback, sending Middlesbrough to the semi-final. A similar situation unfolded nearly three weeks later on 27 April, when Middlesbrough headed into its second leg trailing 1–0 to Steaua București. Middlesbrough allowed two goal in 24 minutes and trailed 3–0 on aggregate. Maccarone scored in the 33rd minute. As was the case against Basel, Middlesbrough leveled on aggregate with goals from Viduka and Chris Riggott, but still trailed on away goals. Maccarone scored late, this time in the 89th minute, to hand the home fans at Riverside Stadium another memorable comeback.
* 2008–09 UEFA Champions League semi-final – Chelsea vs. Barcelona, 6 May 2009: In one of the most controversial matches in recent memory, Chelsea went into the final minutes of the second leg 1–0 up and on course to reach the final. Barcelona, its own high standards, were poor on the night, failing to register one shot on target. Chelsea had six penalty appeals turned down, and Barcelona had to play almost half an hour with ten men. Then, with the clock timed at 90'+2:10, Andrés Iniesta scored for Barcelona to give them the crucial away goal that sent them to the final, and ultimately victory over holders Manchester United, reaching a Treble.
* 2013 UEFA Europa League Final – Benfica vs. Chelsea, 15 May 2013: With the scoreline level at 1–1 into injury time and faced with the possibility of extra-time, Branislav Ivanović scored the winning goal of the match with a header from a Juan Mata corner kick in the 92nd minute of the game to win the Europa League for Chelsea.
* 2013 UEFA Super Cup – Bayern Munich vs. Chelsea, 30 August 2013: After two goals from Franck Ribéry and Fernando Torres sent the game into extra time, Eden Hazard scored an early goal in extra-time to give Chelsea the lead. As time ticked away, the game seemed to be set as a win for Chelsea until a Dante free-kick for Bayern bounced off of a Chelsea defender and into the path of Javi Martínez, who slotted the ball past Petr Čech. This sent the game to a penalty shoot-out that Bayern won 5–4, handing them their (and Germany's) first UEFA Super Cup.
* 2014 UEFA Champions League Final – Real Madrid vs. Atlético Madrid, 25 May 2014: In the first Champions League final with two clubs from the same city, a 36th-minute Diego Godín goal had given Atlético the lead. Sergio Ramos equalised for Real Madrid in the third minute of added time to send the game to extra time. Goals from Gareth Bale, Marcelo and Cristiano Ronaldo (with a 120th-minute penalty) meant Real Madrid won the game 4–1.
* 2015–16 UEFA Europa League quarter-final – Liverpool vs. Borussia Dortmund, 14 April 2016: With Dortmund set to qualify for the semi-finals on away goals, Dejan Lovren scored in the added time to reverse the tie.
* 2016–17 UEFA Champions League Round of 16 - Barcelona vs. PSG, 8 March 2017: PSG had won the first leg 4-0, and scoring an away goal to make it 3-1 had meant PSG would need to concede three more goals to be knocked out. This score remained as the game entered the final few minutes, when Neymar scored a Barcelona free kick in the 88th-minute followed by a penalty as added-time began. Still needing one more goal to avoid elimination, Barcelona pushed everyone forwards in an attack which culminated in Sergi Roberto prodding home an overhead ball into the net with the clock showing 90'+4:41. This gave Barcelona an unlikely 6-1 victory and sent them through; the comeback became known as ''La Remontada''.
* 2018–19 UEFA Champions League semi-final – Ajax vs. Tottenham Hotspur, 8 May 2019: Ajax were leading 2–0 at half time, 3–0 on aggregate after they won the first leg 1–0. Lucas Moura brought two goals back for Tottenham in the second half just before the hour mark. In the 96th minute, Ajax were seconds away from reaching the final, until Lucas completed his hat-trick (and the comeback) to send Tottenham through on away goals, and to their first Champions League final.
* 2021–22 UEFA Champions League semi-final – Real Madrid vs. Manchester City, 4 May 2022: In the first Champions League after away goals rule was abolished, Manchester City were leading 4–3 on the first leg of semi-final against Real Madrid. In the second leg, a 73th-minute Riyad Mahrez's goal had given Manchester City the lead 1–0 in second leg and 5–3 on aggregate, but Rodrygo scored two goals just less than one minute before going into stoppage time (timed at 89:21) and within one minute after the stoppage time started (timed at 90'+0:50), making the leg 2–1 and thus equalised for Real Madrid with the scoreline level at 5–5 on aggregate to send the game to extra time. At the 4th minute of extra time, a penalty scored by Karim Benzema was enough to send Real Madrid to the final with 3–1 in the second leg and 6–5 on aggregate.

Domestic cup

Only finals of primary national domestic cups are included in this section.
* 1979 FA Cup Final – Arsenal vs. Manchester United, 12 May 1979: In this match, known as "the five-minute final", Arsenal were beating United 2–0 with five minutes remaining, but United then drew level by scoring two goals in two minutes. However, their celebrations were short-lived when Alan Sunderland scored Arsenal's winning goal just a minute later.
* 1993 FA Cup Final replay – Arsenal vs. Sheffield Wednesday, 20 May 1993: With the first leg of the 1993 FA Cup final between Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday ending in a 1–1 draw, the same scoreline stood in extra time during the replay. However, the 119th minute saw Arsenal defender Andy Linighan outjump Wednesday's Mark Bright to head in the winning goal. Linighan played most of the match with a broken nose, having been deliberately struck in the face earlier in the match by Bright, and his winner made Arsenal the first English side to win the domestic cup double.
* 2002 Scottish Cup Final – Celtic vs. Rangers, 4 May 2002: With Old Firm rivals Celtic and Rangers drawing 2–2 in second-half stoppage time, Neil McCann sent in a far post cross for Peter Løvenkrands to nod the ball into the ground and over Celtic goalkeeper Rab Douglas from close range to win the cup for Rangers. The goal came with less than eleven seconds left to play, barely giving Celtic enough time to take the resulting kick-off from the centre circle.
* 2004 Russian Cup Final – Terek Grozny vs. Krylia Sovetov Samara, 29 May 2004: One of the biggest upsets in Russian Cup history unfolded in Moscow's Lokomotiv Stadium as one team triumphed amidst tragedy. In 2004, Terek Grozny was playing in Russia's First Division but without a home stadium, as due to war in Chechnya, Terek Grozny often played its home matches in Pyatigorsk. One of Terek Grozny's key players that season was Andrei Fedkov — his winning goal against Shinnik Yaroslavl on 5 May 2004 sent Terek Grozny to the Russian Cup final. But on 9 May 2004, Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov was assassinated during a Victory Day parade in Grozny. The Russian Cup final was scoreless for over 90 minutes until Fedkov scored two minutes into stoppage time to give Terek Grozny its first Russian Cup triumph.
* 2006 FA Cup Final – Liverpool vs. West Ham United, 13 May 2006: West Ham were leading 3–2 going into injury time, but Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard scored what proved to be the Goal of the Season with a tremendous 30-yard strike, timed at 90'+0:08. Liverpool went on to win the match on penalties.
* 2009 Russian Cup Final – CSKA Moscow vs. Rubin Kazan, 31 May 2009: CSKA played most of the cup final with ten men following a red card issued to Pavel Mamayev against reigning league champions Rubin Kazan. CSKA won its fifth cup final with Evgeni Aldonin