Paul Robinson for Tottenham. Peter Schmeichel for Manchester United and Aston Villa. Jose Luis Chilavert, constantly. We all love it when a ‘keeper scores.
Rogerio Ceni – the best goalscoring ‘keeper of them all
Spennymoor goalkeeper Dan Lowson grabbed the headlines this weekend when he launched a 90-yard free-kick upfield and into the opposition net in his side’s 5-3 FA Cup qualifier victory against Radcliffe Borough.
It is an immutable law of football – when a goalkeeper scores, the footballing world loses the plot.
It’s time to celebrate those goalkeepers who have hit the back of the net.
Rogerio Ceni
The granddaddy of goalkeeping goalscoring himself. Ceni scored a scarcely believable 131 goals during a career spanning over 1200 matches.
In a career lasting a quarter of a century and only ending in 2015, the Brazilian dead-ball specialist consistently found himself on the scoresheet for Sao Paulo – the club he stayed at for his entire career.
Ceni was a more than handy shot-stopper, winning 16 caps for his country (despite scoring no goals), but it is his goalscoring feats for his club that has him etched into the souls of every football fan.
The 43-year-old was this week spotted at Chelsea’s training ground, as reported by the Daily Mail, with his fellow countrymen David Luiz and Oscar, as he embarked on a fact-finding mission in England.
José Luis Chilavert
The Paraguayan maverick was renowned as one of the world’s top free-kick and penalty specialists.
Not only did Chilavert find the net regularly, he frequently scored important goals, particularly for the national side.
In a Paraguay career consisting of 74 caps, he scored eight goals including four during the country’s qualification for the 2002 World Cup.
Chilavert doing what Chilavert does
He also scored a hat-trick for the Argentine club side Velez Sarsfield, all of which were from the penalty spot.
An outspoken and controversial figure throughout his career, Chilavert retired from the game in 2004 after a 22-year career.
Peter Schmeichel
In addition to being one of the world’s greatest goalkeepers, the great Dane popularised the art of heading upfield for a corner in the dying moments of a match.
His fluorescent green jersey can be spotted in the box during Teddy Sheringham’s equaliser for Manchester United in the 1999 Champions League final (he even gets the first touch on the ball from the corner itself), though he thought better of it for the second corner only moments later.
Having already acquired something of a reputation for goalscoring during his spells with Hvidovre and Brøndby, Schmeichel showed English football what he could do when he scored a late goal for United in a 1995 UEFA Cup match against Rotor Volgograd.
He almost repeated the feat in outstanding fashion when he scored with an overhead kick against Wimbledon in a 1997 FA Cup replay, but he was rightly yet sadly called offside.
Schmeichel played a pivotal part in United’s Champions League win, but he let himself down by not scoring
He became the first goalkeeper to score in the Premier League when he volleyed into the net for Aston Villa against Everton in a 3-2 defeat on 20 October 2001, and also scored one goal for his national side during a career spanning 129 caps.
Paul Robinson
Former England no.1 Robinson possessed approximately no talent for scoring goals, but one injury-time charge and a freak accident have thrust him into the annals of hotshot goalkeepers.
In the second round of the 2003 Carling Cup, Leeds United were losing 2-1 to Swindon Town when Robinson surged upfield for a late corner and found the back of the net with a booming header.
Not happy with simply being the saviour at one end, Robinson then made the save that sealed Leeds’ 4-3 win on penalties.
Paul Robinson in his days at Blackburn Rovers
It is, however, Robinson’s actions on 17 March 2007 for Tottenham against Watford for which he is most renowned.
Robinson launched a free-kick towards the opposition goal from a full 95 yards out, when an advancing Ben Foster realised he had misjudged the flight and bounce of the ball.
Foster tried his best to retreat, but the egg was well and truly all over his face – and on Robinson’s too. As a member of the goalkeepers’ union, he knew only too well that the freak accident could have happened to him (and he suffered his share anyhow, see here).
Robinson is currently on the books of Burnley, and if they fall any lower than their current position of 13th, I’m sure they’ll send on Robinson to fire them to safety.
René Higuita
Higuita was probably the most cavalier of the goalkeeping fraternity.
He dribbled his way upfield, he executed scorpion kicks, he scored goals, and sometimes he guarded the goal. He made Manuel Neuer look shy and retiring.
You’ve got gloves, René
Higuita, or “El Loco” (“The Madman”) as he was known, scored 41 goals during his 25-year career, with seven in 68 appearances for Colombia.
Higuita forms part of a rich Colombian tradition of goalscoring ‘keepers. In the past 25 years, Andrés Pelaez, Alejandro Sinisterra, Julián Viáfara, Róbinson Zapata, Luis Enrique Delgado, Nelson Fernando Ramos, Carlos Chávez, Milton Patiño, Diego Gómez, Camilo Vargas, and Luis Fernando Fernández have all scored goals in professional football.
That might be more goalscorers than England has.
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