International Football
Uefa Champions League Fastest Goal Clocks 10
Ten years on … Makaay scores fastest Champions League goal, recalls the official blog of UEFA.
This Tuesday marks ten years when Roy Makaay made UEFA Champions League history with a goal after 10.12 seconds, a record that still stands. We take a snap shot.
Bayern München had not scored inside the first quarter-hour of any of their seven 2006/07 UEFA Champions League outings prior to their round of 16 second leg against Real Madrid.
Then came the moment which etched Roy Makaay’s name into the competition’s history books. Madrid had in fact kicked off, but Roberto Carlos’s control was loose, allowing Hasan Salihamidžić to capitalise. The midfielder squared to Makaay, who swept past Iker Casillas after just 10.12 seconds – still the fastest ever UEFA Champions League goal.
The goal is better seen from the perspective of what happened in the first leg. Real Madrid looked to be in cruise control till two minutes to end the round of 16 match. Then Bayern München’s Mark van Bommel pulled a goal back to throw the second leg wide open.
In the return leg, recalled Makaay: “we agreed we’d apply full pressure for the first ten minutes to see if we could score an early goal.”
From the whistle the ball was played to Roberto Carlos but the Brazilian’s touch was poor, allowing Hasan Salihamidžić to capitalise. The midfielder quickly threaded a square pass through to Makaay who swept the ball past Iker Casillas. It left a Madrid side hit by the late withdrawal of Fabio Cannavaro shell-shocked.
“Normally Real played a 4-2-3-1 system but they took out their No10 and replaced him with an extra defensive midfielder. I think Guti was replaced by Emerson, so we knew Madrid would play more defensively than normal. We agreed we would apply full pressure for the first ten minutes to see if we could score an early goal.
“So they kicked off. The ball went to [Fernando] Gago, he passed it to Roberto Carlos and it bounced off his foot. Salihamidžić took the ball and before we knew it, it was in the net. Their tactical plan was immediately destroyed and we had a start you always dream of, especially in an important game like that.”
How that goal ranks
Jonas came close to breaking Makaay’s record with a strike after 10.96 seconds for Valencia against Leverkusen in 2011 – the only other UEFA Champions League goal that has come inside 20 seconds.
The UEFA Europa League best came this season, with Jan Sýkora on target after 10.69 seconds for Liberec against Qarabağ.
The quickest competitive international goal also came this term, Belgium’s Christian Benteke finding the net after 8.1 seconds against Gibraltar.
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