Former Manchester United striker and manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says the substitute appearance against Bayern Munich in the Champions League final in 1999 “changed my life”.
Solskjaer was brought on in the 81st minute when Sir Alex Ferguson’s side were 1-0 down and chasing a historic Treble.
The Norwegian went on to score the winning goal in the 93rd minute that completed the feat never achieved before by an English team.
“I was 80 minutes on the bench, really unhappy with the manager – ‘why don’t you put me on? We’re losing the game’. Football’s so emotional and it’s like you are so low and you want to get on the pitch,” Solskjaer told BBC Sport.
“So 80 minutes of real agony but then I managed to play 15 minutes and those 15 minutes I’d really love to play again. It changed history of course, changed my life.
“It didn’t make me a better footballer but of course that changed my life – we made history and I was the one that was fortunate enough to score that goal.”
Solskjaer garnered a reputation as a “super-sub” during his 11-year spell with the Manchester club.
“I had discussions with Sir Alex, I signed a long long-term contract, so what I did was I put my career in his hands really, and I more or less said to myself ‘just do your best’,” the 52-year-old explained.
“I’ve seen so many strikers sulking when they’re on the bench and and I felt ‘OK, they’ve played 70-80 minutes, the [opposition] defenders they’re tired, I come on, I can make a difference. I’m fresh’. As long as my head is fresh and my mentality is good.
“If we were winning 1-0, I was never going to come on. So I never hoped that we were on 0-0. I was like, ‘don’t score, don’t score until he puts me on’. 1-0 down, yeah, definitely I’m coming on. 2-0 up, yeah, he’ll always give me the 15, 20 minutes just to make me feel part of it.
“So he was very good at giving me enough minutes, but I knew at 1-0, ‘just sit down, Ole, you’re not going to come on’. So 1-0 down against Bayern, I was like ‘come on then’. It’s 81 minutes I came on, it’s one of the best 13-15 minutes of my football career.”
Listen to the full interview on BBC Sounds and watch on BBC iPlayer
