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Learn English Through Football Podcast: Stoppage Time Goal
In this week’s football-language podcast we look at the phrase, ‘stoppage time goal’ after some late goals in the Champions League this week. We also look ahead to this week’s football and the Merseyside derby. You can read the transcript for this podcast below, while you can also check out our glossary of footballing phrases here and visit our site to access all our previous posts and podcasts. If you have any suggestions or questions about the phrase or our podcast then you can contact us here
Embed from Getty ImagesHello
DB: You are listening to the Learn English Through Football Podcast.
DB: Hello everyone. My name’s Damon and I am based in Tokyo, which is currently hosting the World Athletics championships. The weather has been incredibly hot the last week, but it finally cooled down last night, which is good news for the athletes competing in the track and field events. How about the weather in London, where Damian is based? Damian, how are you and how are things over there in London?
DF: Hello Damon and hello everyone. I hope you are all doing well. Things here in London are good and the weather today has been quite hot and sunny – a lovely mid-autumn day!
Now, what a week of football we have had from the first set of matches from this season’s [2025-26] Champions League. The favourites and holders PSG easily beat Atalanta 4-0 – they swept them aside, while Barcelona, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Manchester City all had impressive wins. Liverpool also had a win but they scored their winner very late on in their match to get the three points and we are going to focus on some language connected to late goals in today’s show.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (a Vasco da Gama fan)
DB: And, before we start with some football language, remember that we have made some changes to our site. The domain name is now learnengishthroughfootball.com. But you can still find us with the old address of languagecaster.com, so don’t worry.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Cantonese)
DB: Yes, that message was in Cantonese and, as always, we will have some more stingers or messages throughout the show in different languages. How many will you be able to recognise? We’ll let you know the languages at the end of the show.
And please send us a message in your own language – just tell us, ‘You are listening to the Learn English through football podcast’. Or, you can tell us in English your name, where you are from, and the team you support, plus ‘you are listening to the Learn English through football podcast’. It would be great to get as many as possible!
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in French)
DB: OK, Damian over to you and this podcast’s football language section.
Football Language: Stoppage time goal
DF: Right, let’s take a look at some language about late goals after this week’s Champions League had a couple of important goals after the 90th minute, including a winner for Liverpool and an equaliser for Juventus.
In football, each half is 45 minutes long. But the referee often adds a few extra minutes at the end to make up for injuries, substitutions, or other delays. And this is called stoppage time. And this is sometimes also called injury time or added time. A stoppage time goal, therefore, is a goal scored during this additional time; so after the regular 45 or 90 minutes have finished. These goals are often dramatic, because they come when everyone thinks the match is almost finished.
What other nouns can follow ‘stoppage time‘? Well, pretty much anything that can describe something that happens after the regular 45 or 90 minutes. So, a stoppage time equaliser‘; ‘a stoppage time winner‘; ‘a stoppage time consolation‘ and of course ‘stoppage time goal‘.
Similar phrases to describe late goals include, ‘last-minute goal’; ‘last-gasp winner‘; ‘added time equaliser’; ‘injury-time goal’ and of course, ‘stoppage time goal‘ .
Now, in this week’s Champions League matches there were some dramatic stoppage time goals. Liverpool scored their winner against Atletico Madrid in the 92nd minute. But perhaps the most dramatic stoppage time goals came from the Juventus versus Borussia Dortmund game when the home side scored twice in stoppage time (the 94th and 96th minutes) to draw 4-4 with the Germans. Amazing!
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Italian)
DB: Nice one Damian. Remember, we also have a weekly football phrase podcast too that comes out after the weekend. Last week we looked at the phrase ‘sweep aside‘, which described Manchester City’s 3-0 easy win over Manchester United in the Manchester derby.
Predictions: Liverpool v Everton
DF: Talking of derbies, Damon, it’s time to move on to the Merseyside derby between Liverpool, the team you support, who are playing at home at Anfield, and their cross town rivals, Everton. What do you think about this game?
DB: Yes – the Merseyside derby, which has come early in the season this time. To be truthful, I really don’t like the derby because it is so stressful! You just don’t want your team to lose. I’m always really nervous before the game, and this season is no different.
They say ‘form goes out the window‘ in derbies, meaning we shouldn’t look at the recent results, but actually both teams have had good starts. Liverpool’s has been amazing, four wins from four, but Everton have also picked up some good results with three wins and a draw, so undefeated. The addition of [Jack] Grealish to The Blues‘ ranks seems to have excited the Everton faithful, the Everton fans, and they have also moved to a fantastic-looking new stadium on the banks of the River Mersey. The mood is very positive if you are an Everton fan.
But, I’m not an Everton fan, and I’m also very positive about Liverpool. Their new players are beginning to gel, they are picking up points, and they will have the Anfield crowd behind them at kick off on Saturday.
I am also glad that Everton are feeling so positive. That means they may try and play a bit of football instead of trying to kick Liverpool off the pitch. OK, that’s a bit strong, but in recent derbies Everton have relied on a very aggressive and physical approach. This time, I think they may feel they can beat us, so will be a bit more positive, which will allow Liverpool to play their attacking game too.
I reckon it’ll be a 2-0 home win, with the Reds staying top of the pile with five wins out of five. Damian, as a neutral, what do you think?
DF: I agree it’s going to be a fun game with both teams in good form. I feel Everton might sneak a draw here – surely Liverpool can’t keep relying on late stoppage time goals! 1-1 for me.
Let’s have a look at some of the predictions phrases that we both used:
Predictions Language
- I reckon it’ll be a (X-X) win
- I feel Everton might sneak a draw
In the first one, ‘I reckon’ suggests that the speaker is quite confident, while in the second one, ‘I feel …’ suggests less confidence, while the phrase ‘to sneak a draw’ means that they are not expected to draw and probably won’t even deserve the draw but somehow mange to do so!
How about practising your predictions language with us? What do you think will happen in this game or other games that you are watching? Let us know by coming along to our site and leaving a comment below this post or on our forum; it’s a really good way to practise some of your writing. And you can also practise some speaking – maybe leave a predictions voice note as well! And we’ll be happy to give you some feedback on this and maybe include it in our future podcasts.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Irish)
Contact
DF: Right, remember you can contact us if you have any questions about the language of football or if you have some feedback on our podcast. Check out our website – remember, it’s now Learn English through football – and explore our Football Language Forum, you can ask and answer questions about all kinds of football language. And of course, don’t forget, we have a huge glossary of football terms, with hundreds of expressions, phrases, and clichés all about the beautiful game of football.
We also have explanations and examples of some of the football language we have used in today’s show and you can find that by coming along to this post on Learn English Through Football.com.
Stinger: You are listening to languagecaster.com (in Turkish)
Goodbye
DF: Yes, you are listening to the Learn English Through Football podcast and that message was in Turkish. Did you guess the other languages you heard on today’s podcast? First we had Cantonese, then French and Italian. After that we had Irish and then Turkish. And well done if you got any of those correct and remember, you can add a message by sending us a recording for the Learn English Through Football podcast.
Stinger: You are listening to the Learn English Through Football Podcast.
DF: Right, let us know if you hear or see any of the phrases or words that we have talked about on this week’s show including, ‘last-gasp goal‘ and ‘stoppage time goal‘. How would you say these phrases in another language that you know? Can you tell us any examples of famous stoppage-time goals for your team? Can you use today’s phrase ‘stoppage time goal’ in a sentence? If you can, send it on to us here at Learn English through Football.
Enjoy all the football this weekend and we’ll be back early next week with another weekly football expression from the weekend’s football. See you all again soon. Bye bye!
DB: Ta-ra!
More Examples
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- Atletico came from 2-0 down to level, only for Virgil van Dijk to head a stoppage time winner. (BBC.co.uk September 18 2025)
- The match ended in a draw after the away side equalised with a stoppage time goal.
- Mohamed Salah’s stoppage-time penalty ensured Liverpool maintained their winning start to the Premier League season with a 1-0 victory at promoted side Burnley on Sunday. (Reuters September 14 2025)
- Harry Kane missed his first penalty for Bayern Munich in a competitive match but scored a stoppage-time winner as the Bavarians struggled to beat third-tier Wehen Wiesbaden 3-2 in the German Cup
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Related Links
Learn English Through Football Podcast: A show for football fans to improve their English language skills
https://languagecaster.com/football-language-glossary/
