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As fans, we love the game of football partly because of its unpredictable nature. Sure, some things in the game are certain - such as Lionel Messi scoring 40 goals a season, or Jurgen Klopp celebrating a goal so hard that he breaks his glasses. However, the beautiful game never ceases to surprise us. It is a game of twists and turns, one which can produce moments that would not have occurred to us even in our dreams.
The 2010s has been an amazing decade for the sport we love. We have had three World Cups, some mind-blowing Champions League and domestic league seasons, and the emergence of a few players whose names will be etched in history. However, in this list, we take a look at five of the most unexpected moments that we have witnessed this decade -- and boy, have there been many!
5) Real Madrid's three-peat
Since the European Cup was rebranded as the Champions League in 1992, not a single team had been able to win the trophy in back to back seasons. The likes of Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Barcelona and others captured Europe's biggest crown on different occasions, but none of them could ever retain the trophy next year. That is until the Zinedine Zidane-led Real Madrid took over the competition.
Having already won a record 10th Champions League in 2014, the club won the trophy back-to-back in 2016, 2017, and 2018. They defeated Atletico Madrid, Juventus, and Liverpool respectively to make the competition their playground. With the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Sergio Ramos putting in monster performances, the Los Blancos did something that no other club had done before; and then they furthered that streak.
This was one of the biggest shocks in footballing history as the Champions League is the competition that makes the biggest clubs in Europe function the way they do -- firing managers, buying players. Madrid established their dominance once and for all, and it is hard to fathom that any other club in the future can go on this kind of a streak.
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4) Neymar's transfer to Paris Saint-Germain
Paul Pogba's transfer to Manchester United for £89 million inflated the transfer market, Neymar's move to Paris Saint-Germain broke the market altogether. While Pogba's move to his former club marked the beginning of a new era concerning player transfers, it was the Brazilian's move to the French capital which is more important.
The Ligue 1 club paid €222 million for the talented winger, and set a new precedent for how transfers were going to be conducted moving forward.
Both the transfer and the precedent it set going forward were equally shocking. Neymar moved to Paris from his dream club Barcelona, where he had won two La Ligas and a treble. The rumoured reason is that the star wanted to get out from the shadow of Lionel Messi, and therefore he made this decision.
At the time of his move, Neymar was the third-best player in the world and his move shocked the entire world. Barcelona are yet to replace the player, whereas PSG is constantly in contention for the Champions League (although they are yet to capitalise on the same).
Due to the enormous amount that PSG paid for him, the transfer market was blown wide open. Virgil van Dijk and Harry Maguire went for upwards of £70 million and teenage sensations Kylian Mbappe and Joao Felix were transferred for a combined fee of over €250 million.
Clubs across Europe are forced to pay an extravagant amount of money nowadays for even a bench option, and this seismic shift in player rates can be traced back to the Neymar transfer saga.
3) The comebacks - Barcelona, Liverpool, and Roma
This decade, the Champions League has seen some of the best football ever, and this includes more comeback games than any other decade in history.
It all started on the 9th of March, 2017, when Barcelona came back from a 4-0 deficit at Paris to win 6-1 at Camp Nou. It can be argued that this was the best two-legged comeback in the history of football, for when Sergio Roberto scored in injury time, the Camp Nou went ballistic.
Unfortunately for Barcelona, they are also in this list for being on the opposite end of a historic comeback. AS Roma came back from a 4-1 deficit away from home to win 3-0 in amazing fashion in Rome, as Lionel Messi and co. were left in shock.
One year down the line, Liverpool completed an even better comeback as they scored four goals at Anfield without reply and managed to reach their second Champions League final in two years. It was Barcelona who suffered a shock defeat again, and Divock Origi's goal in that game will go down as one of the most shocking goals of all time.
Of course, there were several other brilliant comebacks this decade, but these three stand out. These comebacks shook the footballing community and cemented the fact that nothing in football is over till the final whistle of the second leg.
2) Germany 7-1 Brazil
Brazil is known as the home of football. The South American country is world-famous for the passion that it has for the beautiful game, and there is no national team that faces as much pressure.
The Brazil national team is the most successful in the history of national football, winning five World Cups. In 2014, they returned to the country, as they hosted the tournament after ages. The Selecao competed as one of the favourites and a lot was expected from them.
Unfortunately for the home support, their team crashed out in the semi-finals. However, it is not the defeat that is shocking, rather the way they lost. At the end of 90 minutes, the home fans had seen their country absolutely humiliated and torn apart by the Germans, who inflicted a 7-1 defeat to the team.
Not only was this the most shocking moment of the World Cup this decade, but it is also by far the most famous scoreline in the history of the FIFA World Cup.
The Brazilian players were in tears, and the fans could not believe their eyes. The German team was ruthless and efficient, whereas the home team looked lost and way out of their depth. The Germans went on to win the competition, whereas the Brazilians went back to their homes in dismay.
1) Leicester City winning the Premier League
When the Premier League 2015/16 season began, the odds of Leicester City winning the league were 5000 to 1. You would have to be not a gambling man, but a mad man to bet on the Foxes finishing first in the competition that season.
England's bookmakers that season had to pay out £25 million to betters who had put their money on the same, which is the biggest loss in British history on a single sporting market. This is how shocking and unexpected Leicester winning the Premier League was.
England's first division is known for its competitive nature and its twists and turns, but no one anticipated this. The top 6 - Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, and Tottenham Hotspur, had formed a hegemony on the competition. Leicester did not care - Claudio Ranieri's men were a team possessed, and at the end of 38 games, they were lifting the Premier League trophy high above their head.
This incident is unlike any other in English football history, and perhaps it is unmatched by any other season in any of the top domestic leagues. Leicester proved that determination and hard work matter the most.
By believing in themselves, the Foxes conjured up the most improbable, and the most impossible moment of this decade.
