“After Messi missed his penalty against Chelsea, I shouted, ‘Barcelona, you couldn’t even finish a cathedral,' which even got a laugh from the Barça fans” Johnny Vaughan recalls the match that contained the best goal he’s seen live

Lionel Messi was the subject of a creative chant from Johnny Vaughan

What is the best goal you’ve ever seen live?

It’s a classic staple of any pub conversation about the beautiful game. Some fans will be lucky enough to have seen one of the greats produce a sublime moment of skill, while others will offer up a goal of personal significance, a last-minute promotion winner or a derby day equaliser.

Radio presenter and Chelsea supporter Johnny Vaughan has been a Stamford Bridge regular for decades and his favourite-ever live goal came in a star-packed match - but not from the most obvious player.

Johnny Vaughan’s favourite live goal

Johnny Vaughan hosts his first Capital FM Breakfast Radio Show at Capital FM Studios in London, Great Britain. — Johnny Vaughan in the Captial FM Studio (Image credit: Jon Furniss/WireImage)

The 2012 Champions League semi-final between Chelsea and Barcelona was a modern-day European classic.

The Blues were searching for their first-ever Champions League victory, having come up short in the 2008 final, but were up against Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering Catalans, who had breezed past Manchester United in the previous season’s final.

Barcelona celebrate with the Champions League trophy, 2011 — Barcelona had been crowned champions of Europe a year earlier (Image credit: Alamy)

A Didier Drogba goal in first-half stoppage time at Stamford Bridge had given the Blues a narrow 1-0 lead to take to Camp Nou, but Sergio Busquets wiped that advantage out after 35 minutes of the second leg.

Roberto Di Matteo’s side then found themselves behind in the tie when Andres Iniesta put them 2-1 ahead on aggregate two minutes before the half-time interval, but there was one more twist before half-time.

“Ramires’ lob in the 2012 Champions League semi-final at Barcelona,” Vaughan tells FourFourTwo when asked for the best live goal he has ever seen.

“I was in the third row and I could shout at Lionel Messi as he walked past. I got tickets from Frank Lampard as he’s a friend of mine, and after Messi had missed a penalty I shouted at him, 'Barcelona, you couldn’t even finish a cathedral,' which even got a laugh from the Barça fans.

Ramires in action for Chelsea — Ramires joined Chelsea in 2010

“We’d been to the city’s unfinished Sagrada Familia and all I wanted was for them to fail to finish something so I could shout it. And he missed the pen.”

Ramires - who appeared in FourFourTwo’s list of the best Brazilians to play in the Premier League - had got Chelsea back level and this goal set the stage for Fernando Torres’ stoppage time goal, which famously left Gary Neville breathless in the commentary box and gave Chelsea the platform to win their first ever Champions League crown the following month.

Johnny’s podcast, ‘Bloomin’ Legends’, is available to listen to on Global Player and all major podcast platforms now

TOPICS

For more than a decade, Joe Mewis has worked in football journalism as a reporter and editor. Mewis has had stints at Mirror Football and LeedsLive among others and worked at FourFourTwo throughout Euro 2024, reporting on the tournament. In addition to his journalist work, Mewis is also the author of four football history books that include times on Leeds United and the England national team. Now working as a digital marketing coordinator at Harrogate Town, too, Mewis counts some of his best career moments as being in the iconic Spygate press conference under Marcelo Bielsa and seeing his beloved Leeds lift the Championship trophy during lockdown.

With contributions from

James AndrewEditor

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