Giovane Elber was a proper goalgetter during his playing days, as demonstrated by his impressive haul of 139 goals in 266 games for Bayern. It meant the Brazilian always knew where the goal was – quite literally, even when he found himself in an unaccustomed area of the pitch. When Hansa Rostock goalkeeper Martin Pieckenhagen tried to shepherd the ball out of play near the corner flag in the Bundesliga encounter on 27 February 1999, Elber decided he’d nip in to pinch the ball and go for goal.
Goal of the Year winner
“It was a lucky shot,” Elber recalls in the second part of our Prost to the Past series. His finish from by the corner was later named Goal of the Year in Germany. The current FC Bayern ambassador is particularly proud of the fact that he scored it with his supposedly weaker left foot. “You always try to hit the target with your weaker foot in training,” the former striker added. “But in a game? I think it was the first time – and it worked out.”
Check out the other parts of Prost to the Past here:
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