Nothing can top the excitement of a goal in football. The crispest of finishes from a flowing team move, a lightning bolt from 40 yards or when the ball trickles over the line in agonising fashion, it’s why we love the game so much.
It makes our celebration of a goal even bigger when it is the unlikeliest of sources that finds the back of the net; a defender or defensive-midfielder that rarely scores causes disbelief enough, but there is one player that everyone wants to see wheeling away in celebration following a goal, and that’s the goalkeeper.
When the man that is paid the serious money to stop them decides to try his hand at scoring there is nothing more gratifying for a fan. With this in mind, we have gathered the secret strikers from the Premier League in one place to bask in their collective goalscoring glory:
Peter Schmeichel (Aston Villa, 2001)
Not content with an incredible career with Manchester United, Kasper's dad wandered into the Everton box late on and struck a volley into the bottom corner from a tight angle. Image Source: Twitter
Brad Friedel (Blackburn Rovers, 2004)
A legend of the Premier League and not just Blackburn Rovers. The bald one showed a superb piece of improvisation as he latched onto a wayward shot to poke home to level the scores at 2-2 against Charlton. Cue absolute scenes. Image Source: Twitter
Paul Robinson (Tottenham Hotspur, 2007)
We would love to say that Paul Robinson is best known for launching the ball from his own half to score against Watford but he isn't. That moment in Croatia has been immortalised instead hey Paul! Image Source: Twitter
Tim Howard (Everton, 2012)
Another in the BGKU (bald goalkeeper's union) and another scorer. Howard left Bolton's Adam Bogdan looking as ridiculous as his kit with a lofty strike from his own half. He definitely meant it too. Image Source: Twitter
Asmir Begovic (Stoke City, 2013)
Begovic made Artur Boruc look like a fool with this one as his huge clearance was left by the Southampton defenders only to find the goalkeeper day dreaming about his half-time orange. Image Source: Twitter
There you have it, it does not get much better than that. Forget Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo these are the real greatest players of our time. Funnily enough a lot of these goalkeepers struggle to keep the ball out as it is, so maybe they should try their hand up top in future.
Special mention must go to West Ham’s Adrian though. While his goal was not in open play or in the Premier League, he put on the ultimate show as he cast his gloves aside, literally throwing down the gauntlet before scoring the winning penalty. Imagine if he had missed it though…
The fact that very few managers think to assign a player to mark a goalkeeper in the chaos of the box in the 90th-minute always helps the would-be-attacker to find space but it takes some stones to attack a ball like a striker. These are the real footballing heroes then.
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