Oliver Kahn lifted the Champions League trophy with Bayern Munich (Image: Getty)
There’s not much German shot-stopper Oliver Kahn didn’t achieve during his time as a professional.
An eight-time champion, a winner and captain of his national team, the goalkeeper is an icon of the game, both in his native Germany and on the continent too.
But he boasts one bungle that not many players can lay claim to… being sent off for scoring a goal.
Midway through the 2000/01 season, title challengers were up against strugglers Hansa Rostock when the clock ticked beyond the 90th minute with the Bavarian giants trailing 3-2.
Midway through the 2000/01 season, title challengers Bayern Munich were up against strugglers Hansa Rostock when the clock ticked beyond the 90th minute with the Bavarian giants trailing 3-2.
One of the shocks of the season was just moments away from being confirmed when Bayern earned a corner deep into added time.
Kahn, sensing the opportunity to rescue the day, sprinted down the opposite end of the pitch and remarkably managed to direct the ball into the net to level things up at 3-3.
The only issue was, instead of kicking or heading into the net, Kahn had actually punched the ball with referee Marcus Merk in the perfect position to watch the entire incident unfold right in front of his eyes.
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Even though this was well before the days of VAR, Kahn didn’t even bother contesting the decision with the man in the middle, instead opting to sprint directly towards the dugout and disappear down the tunnel.
He had already been booked earlier in the match meaning his attempts to fool the referee resulted in a second yellow for deliberate handball and a subsequent sending off.
When quizzed on his antics after the match, he blamed the moment of madness on a goalkeeper’s instincts to punch the ball in the box.
The Bayern man said: “It was merely a reflex which is there in all goalkeepers.”
Thankfully for Bayern, Kahn’s absence didn’t impact them too much, as they bounced back from the Hansa Rostock loss to beat Energie Cottbus 2-0 at home the following weekend.
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In fact, they only lost twice more for the remainder of the campaign, eventually finishing top of the pile in the Bundesliga, just one point ahead of second-placed Schalke 04.
The success kept coming for Kahn and Bayern that season though, as a couple of weeks after they got their hands on the Meisterschale, they went on to beat Valencia in the Champions League final.
The final would go down as one of Kahn’s greatest-ever matches, as he won Man of the Match for a string of stunning saves against the La Liga outfit, including his heroics in the penalty shoot-out.
It proved Kahn’s first and only European Cup triumph, with the Karlsruher-born ace having been part of the Bayern team that finished as runners-up to during the 1998/99 final in Barcelona.
Kahn retired with close to 800 senior appearances to his name across a 31-year professional career.