Returning to old ground to haunt your former clubs: Diogo Jota and 4 others who scored against their former club
Follow Us
Not all players stay in one club for their entire career or for the most part of it as football evolved in the modern era. Franceso Totti and Paolo Maldini spent their entire career with one club while Steven Gerrard and Paul Scholes both played for 19 years in the same club. Players of one club have moved on to other clubs and have also scored against their former clubs. Here we list 5 of them that have happened in recent years.
1. Philippe Coutinho scoring a brace against his parent club FC Barcelona in the Champions League
Philippe Coutinho made a big money move to Barcelona from Liverpool in 2018 as he wanted to win trophies. His career hasn’t exactly been good there and has been a colossal waste most of time, while Liverpool went on to sign Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker with that money. Coutinho didn’t have a good 2018/19 season with Barcelona and he saw his former club Liverpool mount an impossible comeback against Barcelona as the English club qualified for the UCL finals.
He was loaned to Bayern Munich for the whole of the 2019/20 season and he seemed to become marginally better there. In a cruel twist of fate, Bayern Munich and Barcelona were drawn together in the quarterfinals. Coutinho had to play against his former club and he couldn’t have had a worse possible time there. Bayern were leading the match 6-2 when he was substituted into the game and went on to score two goals and get an assist against Barcelona.
It really was the final nail in the coffin for Barcelona as a failed player there came out to haunt them.
2. Christian Benteke scoring two goals to win the match for Crystal Palace against Liverpool
Liverpool had splashed a big amount of money to sign Christian Benteke from Aston Villa in the same season that Manchester City signed Kevin de Bruyne. His career at Liverpool cannot be compared to compatriots Luis Suarez and Fernando Torres as he remained inconsistent till the very end. Under Jurgen Klopp, Benteke didn’t get much game time as the German preferred Roberto Firmino over him.
Christian Benteke left to Crystal Palace the very next season and was facing a relegation battle with his new club. Liverpool hosted Palace at Anfield in what would prove to be the last loss there before Liverpool embarked on a 68 game unbeaten streak. However in this match Liverpool lost and it was all because of Benteke.
Philippe Coutinho had given the lead to Liverpool with a free-kick, but Benteke scored twice in the second half to give Palace a win. It eased them away from relegation while Liverpool were stuck in third place.
3. Diogo Jota scoring the solitary goal for Liverpool in an ugly win over Wolves
Wolves lost won a match on 20th February and have been winless for 4 matches consecutively. Those results have left the side languishing in 13th place, behind Leeds United who was the club they last got a win against. Liverpool have also been in terrible form this year as wins have become hard to come by. They were a different beast in the Champions League as they defeated RB Leipzig 2-0 over 2 legs in the Round of 16.
With that being said, Liverpool went into this fixture knowing that Chelsea and Tottenham had dropped points against their opponents. They needed to win this match in order to reduce the points gap with the other teams above them. Enter Diogo Jota, who has so far been as capable of goalscoring as serial goalscorer Mohamed Salah. 6 goals in 7 matches has made him a highly profitable investment for Liverpool and he proved it yet again as he scored the goal against Wolves.
Wolves needed a win in order for them to climb back up the table and break their 3 game losing streak. However a former player of theirs ensured that their losing run continued while still being in the bottom 10 of the league.
4. Zlatan Ibrahimovic trading between both the Milan teams for fun
Zlatan Ibrahimovic traded the Azzuri colours for the Rossoneri colours in the summer of 2010 as he went on loan to them from Barcelona. The big Swede was playing his first Milan derby after a whole season of being away from Italy, but was on the wrong side of the pitch. In AC Milan colours, he won and scored a penalty against Inter Milan, which proved to be a decisive match in regards to the title race.
AC Milan won this derby 1-0 at Inter Milan’s home ground and went on to win the Serie A title that season. Inter finished second and it could be said that Ibrahimovic’s penalty against his former club made a difference.
5. James Milner venting out his letdown by Manchester City after having not been given a contract
James Milner is a workhorse that most managers will kill to have as he has proven to be a highly reliable player. His work ethic, his stamina, his willingness to get dirty, his tackles and his runs all made him the perfect player under Jurgen Klopp. Originally Milner wanted his efforts to be rewarded with a new contract at Manchester City, but it never did come into fruition. Liverpool came around and offered him a contract along with position of vice-captain of the team.
The Englishman agreed to the offer and joined Liverpool on a free transfer and became a valuable member of the squad. When Manchester City came around to Anfield, Liverpool tore them apart 3-0 and Milner was in the thick of things. He scored his new club’s second goal against his former club and celebrated it beautifully.
It was an outlet for his frustration and disappointment of not getting a new contract with the club he had worked so hard for. It was beautifully encapsulated with a cowboy celebration though.
Stay Updated!
Rohan Aditya
(247 Articles Published)