Anatoliy Trubin, Benfica's goalkeeper who scored against Madrid: 'It was like I was a striker. It was crazy'

Lisbon — Anatoliy Trubin’s life changed in the 98th minute of a match that refused to end. With every other Champions League group-stage fixture long since finished, Benfica still trailed the ticking clock and a single goal behind Marseille’s tally for the final playoff berth. Inside the Estádio da Luz, however, no one in red knew. José Mourinho had confiscated phones and laptops, insisting his squad focus only on the 3-2 lead over Real Madrid.

Then the stands erupted. Fans waved, shouted, pleaded. President Rui Costa gesticulated wildly. Trubin, the 6ft 6in Ukrainian keeper, was milking seconds on a goal-kick, believing protection of the scoreline was enough. It wasn’t. The message finally filtered down: one more goal.

Mourinho’s solution was theatrical and logical. A 40-yard free-kick, a depleted Madrid down to nine men, and a goalkeeper sent forward for the first time since childhood. Fredrik Aursnes floated the cross; Trubin rose, neck craned, and powered a header past Thibaut Courtois. Bedlam. A knee-slide across the centre circle, teammates piling on, Mourinho embracing a ballboy, and 60,000 believers suddenly aware their season remained alive.

“I didn’t understand why everyone was screaming,” Trubin laughs, reliving the moment with The Athletic. “When Mister pointed for me to go up, I asked a team-mate, ‘We need one more goal?’ He said yes. After that, you don’t think. You run. My movement was like I was a striker. It was crazy.”

The strike has already redefined a campaign that appeared lost. Eliminated from both domestic cups within a week and trailing the league leaders by ten points, Benfica faced the prospect of meaningless fixtures stretching to spring. Instead, they enter February’s two-legged playoff—against the same Madrid side—still chasing silverware on three fronts.

Trubin, signed from Shakhtar Donetsk in 2023, dedicated the goal to a homeland he has not seen since war forced his family from Donetsk a decade ago. A poster of the shuttered Donbas Arena hangs in his Lisbon apartment: “To remember Donetsk was, is and will forever be Ukraine.”

Courtois sought him out after full-time. “He showed huge respect,” Trubin notes. “An example for every young player.” Mourinho offered no words. “You don’t need to say anything for such a special moment.”

Next month Trubin will swap club colours for national duty, targeting World Cup qualification—Ukraine’s first since 2006—with playoff ties against Sweden and then Poland or Albania. “Because of the war, it would mean more to us than anyone else,” he admits.

For now, though, every training ground detour brings selfies and smiles. “A fan stopped me: ‘Good goal,’” he grins. “That’s never happened before.” A goalkeeper transformed, if only for ten seconds, into a striker—and a season, a club and a country carried with one swing of his head.