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SAVES TO SAVOUR
Best-ever tournament saves including Euro 2024 star Gulok, Banks and the most controversial stop in World Cup history
Scroll down to see which other saves make our list
IT was a stop that prompted sheer disbelief.
With just seconds remaining, Christoph Baumgartner’s header was bound for the back of the Turkey net to force extra time in Leipzig.
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Yet Turkey keeper Mert Gunok somehow twisted and angled his right arm to turn the bouncing ball behind for a corner and the stop was instantly hailed as the best in Euros history.
Sun Sport’s MARTIN LIPTON ranks his all-time top tournament goals - and adds one who will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
1) Gordon Banks v Pele
ENGLAND v Brazil (Guadalajara, 1970 World Cup)
Surely the one save that will never be topped - certainly as far as England fans are concerned.
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For about the only time in the game, Jairzinho got past Terry Cooper and crossed to the back post.
Pele rose, hanging like a high jumper, before thundering the ball down and surely into the net.
But Banks, wearing that purple top that looked even bolder in front of the first generation of colour TV cameras, reached back and down to flip the ball over the top of the bar.
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Pele admitted he never witnessed anything like it. Nor had anybody else.
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2 Mert Gunok v Christoph Baumgartner
TURKEY v Austria (Leipzig, Euro 2024)
Shocking moment ex-Man Utd ace Sabitzer falls to ground after he is struck in face by object in Austria's loss to Turkey
Given that this was almost the final act of a pulsating last 16 tie, with Turkey hanging on for absolutely grim death, it was perhaps the greatest DECISIVE save of all time.
Baumgartner could have done no more, making flush contact and zipping the ball off the sodden turf as he headed down and back across goal.
It made Gunok’s sensational reactions all the more remarkable, perfect timing of his right arm flick to read the bounce and turn behind.
Devastated Austria boss Ralf Rangnick drew parallels with events of 54 years ago as he ruefully reflected: “It’s difficult if you have Gordon Banks in the goal.”
3 Dino Zoff v Oscar
ITALY v Brazil (Barcelona, 1982 World Cup)
This match is always remembered for the Paolo Rossi hat-trick that sent Brazil, Socrates, Zico and all, spinning out of the tournament.
But in many ways it was Zoff’s match.
The Azzurri veteran was four months past his 40th birthday but played with the agility of a teenager as he made a series of superb stops.
He saved the best until last, with just a minute to go, when Eder curled a free-kick in from the left.
Oscar outjumped the wall of blue shirts and headed towards the corner but Zoff reached out to parry and then grab the ball as it threatened to dribble over the line.
4 Emiliano Martinez v Randal Kolo Muani
ARGENTINA v France (Lusail, 2022 World Cup)
Argentina looked in control until the Kylian Mbappe show but without this 123rd minute save by the Aston Villa keeper there would not have been any shoot-out heroics.
Ibrahima Konate pumped a looping ball over the top and Kolo Muani was in on goal with only Martinez in his way.
He could have passed to the unmarked Mbappe inside him - and that would have been FOUR for the France ace - but the ball bounced for a clear volley, which Kolo Muani smashed goalwards.
But Martinez stretched out every limb in a last desperate act, with the ball blocked by the big toe of his left boot,
Kolo Munai admitted: “This will be in my throat for the rest of my life.”
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5 Gianluigi Buffon v Zinedine Zidane
ITALY v France (Berlin, 2006 World Cup final)
Zidane’s later clash with Marco Materazzi, which was - albeit unofficially and wrongly - effectively the first VAR red card means the French genius’ final match is recalled more for his shame-faced dismissal.
But if Buffon had not made the save of the tournament just before the mid-way point of extra-time.
Willy Sagnol, who coached the impressive Georgians in Euro 2024, crossed from the right and Zidane steamed in to add power and direction with a fantastic header.
But Buffon extended those Dr Octopus arms up and to his right to guide the ball behind and set up the drama to follow.
6 Peter Schmeichel v Jurgen Klinsmann
DENMARK v West Germany (Gothenburg, Euro 1992 Final)
Schmeichel’s thrilling save from Klinsmann’s late back post header is the one that appears on the YouTube highlights reels.
But the great Dane insists his first half stop to deny “Klinsi” was the REAL save of his international career.
Steffen Effenberg drive from half way before teasing into the path of Klinsmann, just outside the box.
His shot was instant, hard and low, arrowing towards the far bottom corner, with Schmeichel, who saw it late, flying full-length to tip behind.
Current SunSport columnist Klinsmann could not believe his ill-luck.
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And, erm, Luis Suarez v Dominic Adiyiah
URUGUAY v Ghana (Johannesburg, 2010 World Cup)
Suarez was to bite off more than he could chew in Brazil four years later and in between became a Liverpool cult idol.
But his illegal save in Soccer City was unforgettable too.
Suarez stopped Stephen Appiah - legally - on the line but Appiah headed the rebound past keeper Fernando Muslera and Diego Lugano.
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But not past Suarez, who batted away with both hands to see red.
Asamoah Gyan smashed the spot kick against the bar, Suarez celebrated wildly, Uruguay won the shoot-out. The striker said: “It was the save of the tournament.”
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