Great goals should always be celebrated in football, but sometimes special strikes count only as consolation.
Jordan Clark scored perhaps the best goal of his career for Luton against Manchester City this week, though few of the headlines will surround the midfielder after the Hatters were thrashed 6-2 at Kenilworth Road.
Clark’s thumping goal got us thinking about some of the best consolation goals of all time and we’ve found five of the very best.
Five of football’s best consolation goals:
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored a boatload of goals during a distinguished career in Europe’s top leagues, with the former Schalke striker producing some of the best football of his career during a seven-season spell with the German side.
Huntelaar’s hit against Real Madrid is as good a strike as you will see anywhere, though came in the closing stages of a one-sided Champions League clash in favour of the Spanish side.
Real Madrid had raced into a 6-0 lead in the first leg lof their last-16 tie in Gelsenkirchen, before Huntelaar at least gave the stunned Schalke support something to celebrate.
???? Klaas-Jan Huntelaar golazo for Schalke! #UCL | @s04_en pic.twitter.com/vmo7QTzBBB
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) January 19, 2021
Noughties Nines: Klaas-Jan Huntelaar – The Hunter
Nicky Maynard
Nicky Maynard won the Football League Goal of the Year award for this strike against QPR, as the Bristol City forward scored a stunning effort without the ball touching the floor.
Two touches of control and a volley later, Maynard lashed the ball past Radek Černý. The goal failed to earn Bristol City, two goals down at the time, a point, but at least saw the striker take individual acclaim.
On this day in 2009… ????
Nicky Maynard scored THAT goal for Bristol City ????????#BristolCity pic.twitter.com/smHlqq63tc
— Second Tier podcast (@secondtierpod) December 26, 2021
Matt Phillips
Often great consolation goals come from players taking a chance with nothing to lose.
Matt Phillips would probably not have lined up this effort had the game been goalless, but the winger decided to try his luck from distance with QPR 3-0 down at Crystal Palace.
The result was spectacular.
He has no right to score from there!#GoalOfTheDay is THAT Matt Phillips worldie ???? pic.twitter.com/RCXkACJrDv
— Premier League (@premierleague) March 15, 2019
Christian Benteke
The battle of the big-money centre-forwards was won by Anthony Martial in this clash, as the Manchester United forward scored a spectacular solo goal on debut against arch-rivals Liverpool.
Martial’s mesmerising run and finish sealed three points for Manchester United and condemned Christian Benteke’s goal to a mere footnote.
Still, this was brilliant from the big Belgian, an acrobatic effort to stun Old Trafford.
An incredible bicycle kick ????
See how Christian Benteke stunned Old Trafford into silence from every angle pic.twitter.com/I9j01GT20K
— Premier League (@premierleague) October 14, 2021
Jordan Clark
Clarke’s golazo earns its place on this list after the midfielder postage-stamped his strike into the top corner against Manchester City.
Erling Haaland hogged the headlines at Kenilworth Road after scoring FIVE times for Pep Guardiola’s side, who ran riot to book their place in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
Clark, however, had his moment, launching this unstoppable strike past Stefan Ortega to reduce, admittedly briefly, the deficit.
Jordan Clark, that is outrageous.
The @LutonTown man with an unstoppable strike ????️#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/UeG7Il1m2c
— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) February 27, 2024
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