Ranking the eight greatest substitute benches of all time | OneFootball

Highlights

In football, to be a great team you need a great squad. So often unexpected injuries can curtail seasons for key players and when that happens you need someone waiting in the wings ready to step up. If not, you can kiss goodbye to any hopes of winning major trophies or enjoying any other type of success.

Of course, teams with fewer resources are less able to boast a number of excellent players amongst their ranks but the biggest clubs do their best to have as much quality in depth as possible. And at certain points in the season, when comes time to face up against seemingly lesser opposition, managers may take the opportunity to rest key men and rotate their preferred starting XIs.

Over the course of football history, this has happened on a few occasions where the pure talent sitting on the bench is so ridiculous it just doesn't feel fair at all. Indeed, GIVEMESPORT has decided to rank the greatest substitute benches of all time.

However, we have opted to just discuss club football and not national teams as there are too many examples when starting teams have been rotated ahead of meaningless international clashes. For instance, in Spain's 2013 Confederations Cup match vs Tahiti, Iker Casillas, Gerard Pique, Andres Iniesta, Xavi, and Cesc Fabregas were among the substitutes. More recently, an England bench against Australia included the likes of Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham, Marcus Rashford, Phil Foden, Declan Rice, John Stones, and Kyle Walker.

Bench: Sergio Conceicao, Ronaldo, Clarence Seedorf, Alberto Fontana, Grigoris Georgatos, Adriano, Nicola Ventola.

Glamorous European nights such as these are sadly a distant memory for fans of Ipswich Town who have not played Premier League football since being relegated in 2001/02. But having finished 5th the season before they went down, they found themselves Uefa Cup in the round of 32 against Italian giants Inter Milan on 6th December 2001.

Ipswich actually won the first leg 1-0 at home but Inter manager Héctor Cúper obviously wasn't daunted by this as he rested a number of big names from the off in the return fixture. Notably, Ronaldo, Clarence Seedorf, and Adriano stand out as some legends of the game who sat on the bench that day. It turned out to be a reasonable decision as Christian Vieri scored three times while also setting up another as the Serie A side ran out 4-1 winners at the San Siro. Two-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo did at least get off the bench, but Seedorf and Adriano weren't even called for.

7 Genk 1-1 Chelsea (2011)

Bench: Frank Lampard, Juan Mata, Josh McEachran, Salomon Kalou, Ross Turnbull, Daniel Sturridge, John Terry

During the reign of Roman Abramovich, Chelsea were able to assemble some of the most expensive squads of a generation as the Russian oligarch spent more than £2 billion on player signings over the course of his 19-year spell as club owner at Stamford Bridge. Of course, football is just a game of 11 players, and so some big talents had to sit on the bench at times.

For instance, manager Andre Villas-Boas rotated heavily in the 2011 Champions League group game against Genk, leaving club legends such as Frank Lampard and John Terry on the bench. Other top players like Juan Mata, Salomon Kalou and Daniel Sturridge were also substitutes for the match that ended 1-1. That draw actually came off the back of poor results against QPR and Arsenal – dubbed by Villas-Boas as a "disastrous week" – and the manager was later sacked. Things worked out pretty well for the Blues in the long term, however, as they eventually won the Champions League that season under Roberto Di Matteo.

6 Blackburn Rovers 1-2 Manchester United (2017)

Bench: Eric Bailly, Paul Pogba, Juan Mata, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Luke Shaw, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Dean Henderson.

It's weird to think that Manchester United have been so poor for so long, essentially since Sir Alex Ferguson left in 2013, and yet have still had some top footballers join them over the past decade. However, not all of those players played their best football at Old Trafford.

This is certainly the case for the likes of Bastian Schweinsteiger, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba who all peaked at different clubs across Europe. Those three had to settle for a spot amongst the subs in 2017 when the Red Devils took on and beat Blackburn Rovers 2-1 in the FA Cup. They were joined by other familiar names such as Juan Mata, Luke Shaw, Eric Bailly and Dean Henderson. Incidentally, a young David Raya was on the bench for the opposition. He just had to watch on as Ibrahimovic came off the bench to net the winner in the 75th minute, completing a turnaround after Marcus Rashford cancelled out an opener from Danny Graham.

5 Newcastle 1-3 Liverpool (2020)

Bench: Adrian, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho, Curtis Jones, Sadio Mane, Harvey Elliott, Mohamed Salah, Xherdan Shaqiri, Roberto Firmino

Under Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool were able to build one of the greatest teams in modern English history as they won the Premier League, the Champions League, the FA Cup and the League Cup between 2018/19 and 2021/22. The German's ability to take good talent and turn it into undoubted world-class quality has been absolutely vital to that.

In July 2020 (with the season elongated due to the pandemic), the Reds already had the 2019/20 league title wrapped up when they travelled away to Newcastle United. This meant a number of players who were absolutely key to the club's recent success were afforded a rest. Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Fabinho could all potentially have a claim at being in the club's greatest-ever Premier League XI, but they weren't needed from the start against the Magpies as Liverpool picked up all three points in a 3-1 victory – although Mane did come off the bench to net the third.

4 Fulham 0-3 Manchester City (2021)

Subs: Kyle Walker, Ilkay Gundogan, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Zack Steffen, Kevin De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Riyad Mahrez, Phil Foden and Eric Garcia

The only reason that Liverpool team wasn't more successful is because they unfortunately had to go toe-to-toe with Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City team in the same period. To put things in perspective regarding their squad depth, just take a look at that bench they played away at Fulham in 2021.

Some of their greatest-ever players were left out, with Kyle Walker, Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Riyad Mahrez, and Phil Foden all starting on the bench. It wasn't an issue for City either as they cruised to a 3-0 victory.

3 AC Milan 2-3 Roma (2009)

Bench: Zeljko Kalac, Philippe Senderos, Gianluca Zambrotta, Gennaro Gattuso, Clarence Seedorf, Ronaldinho, Andriy Shevchenko.

Carlo Ancelotti has always been renowned for his ability to handle squads full of great quality and consequently big egos. In 2009, he certainly had to exercise that talent of his as he dropped a number of big players in a home match against Roma for AC Milan in Serie A.

While you can see a number of world-beaters were left out of the starting XI on the day, it's easier to understand why when looking at the team which started. Legends such as

Dida, Paolo Maldini, David Beckham, Andrea Pirlo, Kaka, and Filippo Inzaghi all played. Ronaldinho, Clarence Seedorf, and Gianluca Zambrotta came off the bench but to no avail, as Francesco Totti netted a late winner as Milan lost 3-2 at the San Siro. This is a shame as it was actually Maldini's final-ever appearance at Milan's home stadium.

2 Real Madrid 5-1 Levante (2013)

Bench: Iker Casillas, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mesut Ozil, Michael Essien, Raul Albiol, Angel Di Maria, Nacho.

With a Champions League quarter-final against Galatasaray on the horizon, Jose Mourinho left a number of key players out of his starting lineup. This meant modern icons such as Iker Casillas, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mesut Ozil, Michael Essien, Raul Albiol, Angel Di Maria, and Nachogot to put their feet up for Real Madrid.

Levante did actually take the lead in this game but Gonzalo Higuain and Kaka scored to turn things in Los Blancos' favour. Substitutes Cristiano Ronaldo and Mesut Ozil were called upon and delivered as they both got on the score sheet (Ozil twice) to wrap things up a 5-1. The result didn't mean much in the end, though, as Madrid finished 15 points behind Barcelona in the race for the La Liga title that season. Even so, for many, this may well be the best bench on the list and it's only by the finest of margins that these substitutes against Levante rank second for us.

Bench: Andres Iniesta, Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi, Rafinha, Jordi Alba, Samuel Umtiti, Jordi Masip.

In 2016, Luis Enrique named arguably the most outrageous bench of all time and it actually cost him all three points. Indeed, Barcelona suffered a shock 2-1 home defeat against newly promoted Deportivo Alaves in La Liga. Perhaps it wasn't wisest to leave eight-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi on the bench. Or, at least, if you give him a rest maybe don't leave fellow La Masia hero Andres Iniesta on the bench alongside club icons Luis Suarez and Jordi Alba.

Even some of the less renowned names on the bench still achieved plenty with Barca. For instance, Rafinha won La Liga three times with the club during his 90-game spell with the club; Samuel Umtiti is a World Cup winner with France; and Jordi Masip won five trophies in three years with the Catalan giants. But really it's the otherworldly talent of Messi, Iniesta and Suarez which just about sees this Barca team finish at the very top of our rankings.