Ten great EURO moments: Poborský's lob
Sunday, June 5, 2016
Article summary
Five days to go: Karel Poborský's unconventional goal against Portugal at EURO '96 gave Czech Republic some momentum on their way to the Wembley final.
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The game: Czech Republic 1-0 Portugal, 1996 quarter-finals
The date: 23 June 1996
The location: Villa Park, Birmingham
The protagonist: Karel Poborský
What made it special?
Twenty years on from countryman Antonín Panenka's famous final-winning penalty, Poborský came up with another abracadabra moment. The Czech's run had an element of luck when the ball ricocheted to him off a Portugal defender's legs, but what followed was pure class. Vítor Baía was off his line, and Poborský scooped the ball unusually high over the goalkeeper and into the net.
What did it mean?
It was the only goal of the game and took the Czech Republic through to the semi-finals, where they knocked out France. It may also have had a marked effect on Poborský's career trajectory – he would join Manchester United later that summer.
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How Poborský remembers it …
"Jiří Němec passed to me and I ran towards two or three players. I lost the ball and was lucky it bounced back. Then I was behind the defenders and running towards the goalkeeper. Baía was out of his goal and it made sense to lob him. The ball bounced a bit and I managed to get my whole foot under it. I thought it was too high but it dropped in. It was a spectacular goal – and so important for us."
Radek Bejbl, team-mate
"We were not the better side. We survived two or three Portugal chances in the second half. Then Karel Poborský decided the game with a fantastic lob. What a way to score a winner."
Pavel Kuka, team-mate
"All I remember is the ball flying high and falling into the net."
What the papers said
"Maybe it was commonplace for the scorer but for the rest of us it was genius. It had everything; art, invention, mathematical precision. It was marvellous." iDNES.cz
"The goal could only have been better had Baía stood motionless, resigned to its fate as it floated over him. But he gave temporary chase, by which time it had dropped over his goal line like a stone." The Guardian
