He saved from Andrea Pirlo and Shevchenko in the ensuing penalty shootout, in an eventual 3 – 2 win: during the shootout, he attempted to distract the Milan players with the " spaghetti legs " tactic that was used by former Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar in the 1984 European Cup Final.

This was not the first time a goalkeeper had scored an own goal at Wembley however, Bruce Grobbelaar had scored one in the 1984 Charity Shield for Everton against his team Liverpool.

In his teenage years, Grobbelaar was a talented cricketer and was offered a baseball scholarship in the United States, but a career in football was his main ambition.

In 1979 Grobbelaar was signed up by the Vancouver Whitecaps of the NASL after he had attended their scouting camp in South Africa.

Atkinson was keen to sign Grobbelaar but owing to difficulties over gaining a work permit, the deal fell through.

In an early League appearance for the Railwaymen in Division 4, the unknown Grobbelaar was named on the Team Sheet in the York City Match Day Programme as " Bill Grobbelaar ".

Although there were occasional challenges to his position as Liverpool's number 1, Grobbelaar was a virtual ever-present from Clemence's departure to the start of the 1990s, when the club itself also started to slide, culminating in Kenny Dalglish's resignation in February 1991.

It was the signing of David James from Watford in mid-1992 that spelt the beginning of the end for Grobbelaar.

The Southern Daily Echo reported that Grobbelaar was " swept along on a tidal wave of emotion, to emerge triumphant from the toughest match of his life ".

On 10 November 1994, Grobbelaar was accused by the British tabloid newspaper The Sun of match fixing during his time at Liverpool to benefit a betting syndicate, after being caught on videotape discussing match-fixing.

Grobbelaar pleaded not guilty, claiming he was only gathering evidence with the intent of taking it to the police.

Grobbelaar later sued The Sun for libel and was awarded £ 85, 000.

Grobbelaar was unable to pay the costs and was declared bankrupt.

Grobbelaar, also known as " Brucie ", is still a firm favourite amongst the Anfield faithful, and was voted as No. 17 in a poll 100 Players Who Shook The Kop conducted in mid-2006 by the official Liverpool Football Club website.

Winterbourne at that time were managed by Nicky Tanner, who was a team mate of Grobbelaar at Liverpool.

* Grobbelaar made a guest appearance as himself in an episode of Brookside, the Liverpool based TV soap opera on Channel 4, which was aired on 14 January 1994.

After conceding twenty goals in eleven matches in the first half of the 1993 – 94, he was dropped in favour of veteran Bruce Grobbelaar, but was recalled to the starting lineup and kept his first clean sheet of the season in a 1 – 0 away win over Arsenal on 31 January 1993, which included a penalty save.

To the west on Connaught Street are the shops of ' Connaught Village ' which include Markus Coffee, one of the first specialist coffee roasters in London founded by Hungarian refugees in 1956, which supplies many of the best London hotels with freshly roasted coffee, roasted on the premises, and the Chinese restaurant which was the location of dealings during the Grobbelaar football bungs scandal.

He was most notable for his spell with Liverpool, where he mainly operated as an understudy to Bruce Grobbelaar.

Grobbelaar returned to England in 2006 to play in a replay of the 1986 FA cup final against Everton for the Marina Dalglish Appeal, a charity for Cancer research set up by former team-mate and manager Kenny Dalglish and his wife, Marina, a cancer survivor.

However, in injury time, in Arsenal's last attack, Thomas surged forward from midfield, running onto a Smith flick-on, evaded a challenge by Steve Nicol, and chipped the advancing goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar to score Arsenal's second, and win the title, Arsenal's first in eighteen years.

The emergence of the South African-born Bruce Grobbelaar put Clemence under threat for his place for the first time in eleven years ( during which period he played in more than 650 matches and missed a mere six ) and he decided to leave Liverpool by joining Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of £ 300, 000.

He was at Anfield for eight years, during which time the club won six major trophies, but his first team opportunities were limited by the presence of Bruce Grobbelaar, his only real opportunities of first team football coming in 1988 – 89 when Grobbelaar missed 17 league games through injury, but when Grobbelaar resumed his fitness Hooper was back in the reserves.

At the start of the 1994 – 95 season, he was replaced by Bruce Grobbelaar but was restored as first-choice keeper for the last month of the season.

In March 2007, Liverpool's official website announced that Grobbelaar would come out of retirement for a one-off game and play for non-league Wakefield side Glasshoughton Welfare to help them in their fight for survival.

With only seconds to go, a Smith flick-on found Michael Thomas surging through the Liverpool defence ; the young midfielder calmly lifted the ball over Bruce Grobbelaar and into the net, and Arsenal were League Champions.

Grobbelaar added the championship medal to the Milk Cup winners medal he had gained at Wembley on 13 March ; the Reds beat Spurs 3 – 1, who had Ray Clemence in goal.

Although James struggled to impress at first, Grobbelaar's insistence on playing for Zimbabwe gave James chances ; Grobbelaar only played 6 times for Liverpool during 1992 – 93, and even spent a period on loan at Stoke City.

By the time Liverpool FC had completed their research on Grobbelaar, he had returned to Vancouver with his loan spell now over.

Grobbelaar spent the 1996 – 1997 season with Plymouth, after which he spent short spells at Oxford United, Sheffield Wednesday, Oldham Athletic, Chesham United, Bury, Lincoln City and Northwich Victoria over the next 2 years before returning to his native country.

One of Whelan's more forgettable moments came in 1990 when, in a match at Old Trafford, an unmarked Whelan chipped a backpass from 30 yards over goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar and into the net.

At the end of the loan period, Grobbelaar returned to Vancouver for the 1980 NASL-season.

During the period 1981 – 1994, Grobbelaar played 627 first team games for Liverpool, becoming known for his eccentric and flamboyant style.

* Oldest player in a league game: Bruce Grobbelaar – 40 years and 337 days

The Liverpool sides of the late 1970s to late 1980s were famously notable for numbers of moustachioed players, including Mark Lawrenson, Graeme Souness, Bruce Grobbelaar, Terry McDermott, Ian Rush and David Mc Gurrin.

The Blues opened the scoring when Gary Lineker outpaced Alan Hansen to shoot past Grobbelaar at the second attempt and held this lead until half-time as Liverpool struggled to find their usual rhythm.

The match is best known for the antics of Liverpool keeper Bruce Grobbelaar.

As Roma's Bruno Conti prepared to take his kick, Grobbelaar walked towards the goal smiling confidently at the cameras lined-up behind, then proceeded to bite the back of the net, in imitation of eating spaghetti.

Grobbelaar then produced a similar performance before Francesco Graziani took his kick, famously wobbling his legs in mock terror.

In the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final between A. C. Milan and Liverpool F. C., Liverpool keeper Jerzy Dudek used tactics similar to Bruce Grobbelaar in 1984 ( known as the " Dudek dance " in 2005 ) to distract the Milan shootout takers which resulted in victory for his team.

Bruce David Grobbelaar ( born 6 October 1957 in Durban, South Africa ) is a former football goalkeeper and manager.

At the Vancouver Whitecaps, Grobbelaar played under the management of former England and Blackpool goalkeeper, Tony Waiters, making his debut on 4 August 1979 against the Los Angeles Aztecs away.

Grobbelaar spent the rest of the season as second choice to former Wolves keeper Phil Parkes.

In stepped Crewe Alexandra, signing Grobbelaar on loan on 18 December 1979.

During his time at Crewe, Grobbelaar played 24 League games and scored his only professional goal, a penalty, in his last game.

Although the Whitecaps had signed former Scotland international David Harvey from Leeds United, Grobbelaar emerged as first choice and became a cult figure for the Whitecaps faithful.

Liverpool approached Tony Waiters with the idea of taking Grobbelaar to Anfield, and Waiters, who had a working relationship with Liverpool in the 1970s, paved the way for the move.

Grobbelaar signed for Liverpool for £ 250, 000 on 17 March 1981 as their reserve goalkeeper, but in mid-1981, regular goalkeeper Ray Clemence's surprise departure to Tottenham Hotspur gave Grobbelaar his opportunity.