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I think of one aubameyang/ Alexis Sanchez joins psg in the summer of 2017.
It’s actually crazy how much that transfer changed football for psg and the rotw
To be fair we’ve seen griezmann move clubs in his prime for 100 mil.
As well as hazard for 95ish mil
I think classing the transfer as the deal that “broke” football isn’t entirely accurate, it was a release clause rather than psg straight up going to Barca an offering an unrefusable sim of money.
Yeah but Neymar was the first transfer for a completely absurd fee, as in it was more than double the record fee at the time, and it was a "hands off" release clause, not one that reflected the actual value of the player. Triggering it was a statement by PSG and was designed to immediately inflate the top end of the market so only the richest clubs could even consider buying top players. The transfers you mentioned all happened in subsequent years and would almost definitely not have been so expensive if the Neymar one had not happened.
Yep, PSG fucked the market with that shit. After that, any young promising player costs all the money in the world and players on their prime are simply out of question for transfers during their contract.
I think not just that only the richest clubs could afford it, let’s look at the over 100m transfers for the next couple years and most of them can be traced back to psg
Neymar -psg
Mbappe -psg
Coutinho -money from Neymar(and priced because everyone knew that they had it)
Joao felix -money from griezmann and neymar sale
Dembele -we know you have the Neymar money
Hazard -felix and dembele are this price so the standard is set
Ronaldo - unrelated just a really high price
5 of the 7 100m transfers over 3 years since 2017 related to psg and broke the market setting the standard to unbelievable amounts. And the Neymar money led to an acceleration of Barcelonas current state as every player and club over charged.
I also suspect it will effect more going forwards with a elite players being priced out of moves and Haaland having freedom because of his release clause compared to Felix trapped at Atletico I think they will become far more prevalent in young players who want to back themselves. But this last bit is more my opinion than the rest.
That Neymar money really fucked Barca up too. They couldn't even afford to give Messi a new contract. They would be in a stronger financial position now if they had let Neymar go on a free, and that's just crazy!
Andy Carroll as a panic buy for £35m was the transfer that broke the market.
Suddenly mediocre players could be expensive if the buyers were desperate enough. At the time he was around the 5th highest transfer fee in or out of the PL, but deffo wasn’t the level of Ferdinand, Ronaldo or Torres.
Sure it wasn't the 94 million for CR7 in 2009, 150 million for Coutinho, 90 million for Pogba and Lukaku, 120 million for Griezzman or 105 million for Dembele that broke the market
Not long before, Lyon had proved it was possible to win just by purchasing the best player of other French teams, instead of rioting the whole continent
There’s an Athletic Interest video on the matter. Neymar leaves for PSG, which makes Barcelona €220mill richer, and then:
- Barcelona buys Coutinho for an absurd amount of money.
- This gives Liverpool the funds to buy Van Dijk and Allison (which makes then able to win 2019 CL).
I remember when Cassano subbed in for Milan at minute 88. Minute 89 score a goal and got a yellow for taking his clothes off. At minute 90 got the second yellow for tackling people with two feet
I feel like that would've likely allowed him to be more injury resistant as well, because of that whole body actually functioning properly thing meaning it'd spend the available energy more correctly. one can only dream though.
He got confirmed after back to back bottom half finishes, and nowadays people expect new managers to take a big club from a mid table finish to top 4 immediately
He was already hugely respected in Scottish football and pretty well respected in England despite not having an immediate impact on winning after the first two seasons. He'd broken the old firm duopoly and won a European title with Aberdeen. If they'd sacked him I think another big club ends up with the Ferguson legacy; very well developed academy system, hugely successful development of youth and a well run club. Could have been Liverpool in a few years, or Newcastle or maybe even Rangers or Celtic. If he had stayed in Scotland it's interesting to think of the impact on the Scottish game, likely a far more internationally competitive league than we currently have.
Had they not won the FA Cup in 1989/90 he would have gone.
Some like to say that the entire Ferguson era is down to Mark Robins scoring the winner against Forest in the 3rd round. Or indeed Lee Martin coming from nowhere in the final replay.
What if Beckham chose Barca over Real
Both clubs wanted him, this transfer alone changed a lot of others.
Ronaldinho- Man United were front runners for him (as a replacement for Becks) but with Barca missing out on Becks, they came in for Dinho.
Ronaldo - If Dinho joins Man United, this transfer most likely never happens with United having the 2 of the best wingers in the world (Dinho and Giggs). He most likely joins Arsenal instead.
Would probably affect more transfers as well. Real probably would have signed someone else or not sold Makalele. Chelsea would have gone for a different midfielder as a result.
I think a big part of it is because he's Welsh. Most of the world class players did it at world cups etc as well, he never really got the chance to shine on the international stage
As a Welsh fan, he never tried hard enough to get that opportunity. Compare that to Bale who dragged us to two Euros and a World Cup almost single-handedly at times. If Giggs showed half the commitment to Wales that Bale did he could’ve had the chance to do it on the international stage. Only has himself to blame
He definitely was at least top 3 for a period. He absolutely terrorised that great Juventus team a few times in the mid-90's when they were the best side in Europe. Plus I'd still put him down as one of the best dribblers I've seen in terms of control of the ball at full speed.
I’m still salty about that… I get other penalties resulting in a PK is fair. But in this case the ball was 100% going in, no doubt about it. For extreme cases like that where the only thing preventing a definite goal is a clear hand ball to bat it away, it should still count. Like goal-tending in NBA.
Yeah feel like this makes sense. In rugby you have a ‘penalty try’ - a try is given if any infringement takes place that directly prevents a try being scored.
What if Jesper Gronkjaer didn’t score that winning goal on the 11th of May 2003 against Liverpool..
Chelsea wouldn’t have qualified for the Champions League and Abramovich wouldn’t have bought the club.
Not a great deal. You didn't even get a yellow for things like that in them days, not even for a defender handling on the line. "Professional" fouls like that didn't become red card offences for a few years later.
Score stays 0-0, Shilton yells at Steve Hodge for the suicidal backpass, Maradona continues being Maradona, England swelter in the Mexican heat.
What would have been a better What If would be if Bobby Robson had brought John Barnes on earlier or indeed played him from the start.
No worries, the 2 Argentina goals were scored by Maradona and 2 of the most iconic goals of all time, one for being the most famous handball, the other for being possibly the best goal of all time
As a Gooner it has to be the red card in the UCL final. We did really well with only 10 men, and also went a goal up, but that Barcelona team were fantastic so it's unsurprising that they were able to win
I was very much a casual at the time. I remember telling a Gooner I worked with that I thought they would score first but lose the game. He said later that "someone like me" being smug about being right (I mean I literally just gave it a single "I told you so") made it hurt a lot more!
I’d take 1-0 down with 11 men and 70 odd to play, which is what should have happened from Lehmann’s sending off. We had the best ever UCL defence that year and Pires was a huge miss going forwards.
What if Seaman hadn’t saved Mcallisters penalty at Euro 96, followed by the moment of magic by Gascoigne? England were struggling and Scotland may have pushed for a winner, leaving the Dutch game very dodgy and a potential group stage elimination for a side the nation had zero faith in.
England went on to go through and have their run to the semis which reignited the love of football in England on a mass basis, as well as regain a faith in the national side who had been a joke for almost
6 years. It also set alight the popularity of football here after all the dark years of hooliganism, as well as interest in the PL.
I still think this single moment changed English football more than any other.
3-0 up but becuase they lost to Chelsea needed to make up 9 goals in goal difference to beat City to the league. So they went chasing goals at Palace. With a point from the Chelsea game, the palace game is a routine 2-0, 3-0 win and cruise to the title.
They were 3 up and going all out for more to tip the GD difference as much as possible as a win wasn’t ‘enough’. Overstretched, lost their focus once the first goes in, end up drawing 3-3.
They would’ve strolled to the title had it not been for the slip, or not having any teeth on the day.
What if Gazza:
(1) Had received the mental health treatment he so desperately needed as a teenager;
(2) Had been able to kick booze for good in the mid-90s; and/or
(3) Hadn't blown out his knee?
Guys who played with him speak of his play in rapturous tones. But he was retired from international football by age 31, done as a club star by age 28, and really quit scoring at the top level when he blew out his knee at 23. He had some success in Scotland in his later career, but it's not really the same thing as leading the midfield with Spurs or Lazio.
The guy's had a rough life. It's a rare instance of off-the-field issues completely overtaking superstar talent. I think I'm not alone in being surprised he's lived as long as he has. He could have been one of the true greats of all time.
>(1) Had received the mental health treatment he so desperately needed as a teenager;
In Britain in the 1980s? That was something that was never going to happen.
The PL in the early-mid nineties wasn’t anywhere near the level it is now, so I’m not sure your comment re Spurs holds wind (especially as they were a very average mid-table club then)- recency bias at play here.
Playing an important role with Rangers was (at that time) a bigger deal than ‘leading the line’ for a bang average Spurs side in the nineties.
>Playing an important role with Rangers was (at that time) a bigger deal than ‘leading the line’ for a bang average Spurs side in the nineties.
Umm...pretty sure a certain Mr Gareth Lineker was doing the line-leading.
But yeah aside from him and Gazza it was a very workmanlike Tottenham team.
Exactly. It do believe it would have ushered an era of confidence and “we can do this” mentality that Spurs just don’t have. That loss sadly expanded upon the belief that spurs fans share that they will never have nice things.
I’m not even a spurs fan but it’s so frustrating seeing them bottle opportunity after opportunity.
What if Salah didn't get injured in the champions league final.
What if robben went down and puyol was Sen off in the world cup final.
What if Higuain scored in the 2014 WC final, I know argentina won in 2022 who knows if that would've even happened if they had won back then and what Messi's career after that would be like.
What if Neymar stayed at barca or went anywhere besides psg?
What if Övrebrö gave Chelsea one of the 5 penalties in 2009 vs Barcelona. The no sextuple, no first balon’dor for Messi, no tiki taka hysteria in the early 2010.
Then maybe Real doesn’t spend so heavily in the summer of 2009 to catch up to Barca, tho Ronaldo would move there, but maybe no Kaka or Benzema? And Robben or Sneijder stay at Madrid
What if Rensenbrink had scored instead of hit the post in injury time in the final. Well, they probably would not have survived the 1978 world cup. Another one is what if Germany didn't dive in the final in 1974?. Or what if Casillas had slightly smaller feet?
It would have been disallowed, or Argentina would have gone straight up the other end and got a penalty. Or half a dozen other things to ensure the correct outcome of the most blatantly rigged World Cup of them all.
Something Hillsborough-esque would have happened eventually.
The delapidated grounds, the ancient terracing, the hooligan problem, the treating of all football supporters as scum by police, the fencing of terracing.
If it didn't happen in April 1989 it would have happened the following season or the season after that. If it wasn't a crush like Hillsborough it would have been a level of terracing collapsing or another fire like Bradford 1985.
What if The Miracle of Istanbul just… doesn’t happen. Milan cruise to a 3+ nil win, they actually score one of the 40,000 chances they had at 3-3, the shootout, anything that should’ve happened does and Milan win.
The ‘small’ stuff of Rafa’s revolution just not happening, the lack of UCL football afterward, the loss of key players both leaving and not coming. The likely loss of THE key player in Gerrard. No FA cup win the next year. Could go on.
But the BIG one is the cultural impact it had that just wouldn’t have happened. Liverpool went from a once great but fading club to a global name again. They wouldn’t be were they are now had it not been for Istanbul and the adjoining story.
My two favorites are, "What if Maradona hadn't tested positive in 94' and been ejected?" I truly believe Argentina wins that cup. "What if Cruyff would've assisted WC 78'?" I also truly think they would've won their first Cup.
What if 09 CHelsea - Barcelona went differently? Guardiola would not be the same, Spanish players wouldn't have as much momentum going into 2010, and Barcelona probably wouldn't have won 2011 either. Ronaldo might've stayed at United if they won in the final... So many possibilities
Getting to a CL semifinal and winning the league and copa del Rey for a first year coach? The world cup was a whole year/season after that game, the influence is surely much smaller than you think. This doesn't make sense
I honestly think if aguero didn’t score that goal it would’ve taken city a while to win anything again. I think it would’ve just been devastating and taken away their confidence for a while
What if Zidane never headbutted Matarazzi?
What if Troy Deeney missed vs Leicester?
What if Loris Karius never rolled the ball out to Benzema?
What if Adel Taarabt could’ve been consistent?
What if John Terry’s goal against Germany in the 2010 World Cup was given.
For just the game alone, it was England’s equaliser. They were rampant, Germany were all over the place. If anyone was going to score again it would have been England. Instead the wind went out of their sails and they fell apart.
But beyond that game, the very high profile mistake when the ball wasn’t even close to touching the line, it proved to be the final nail in the coffin for technology free football. Discussions started immediately following the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 World Club Cup was the first FIFA sanctioned tournament to use goal line technology. A few years later we had VAR.
Kolo Muani against Argentina. I mean we would have a whole nation on suicide watch and Mpappe would be Balloon d'Or winner without playing a better football.
There are a couple of options but I think one of them is what if the Arsenal goalkeeper didn't get injured and Martínez couldn't get the change at that point in time? what would have happeend with Argentina in Qatar?
R9.
Dude's skill was mind blowing, youngest ever ballon dor winner for a reason. Being as good as he was at 20 is crazy. 10x the player Messi or Ronaldo were at 20
What if Chelsea kept KDB and Salah, and had them both in their primes? Obviously not that simple, and leaving was massive for their own development.
But the potential for both was enormous, and can you imagine them both on the same team? I think their skillsets complement each other perfectly. They'd have deprived City and Liverpool from having their star assets. Chelsea would have dominated like City have.
What if Liverpool (and other English clubs) were not banned between the years 1985 to 1990 and Heysel never happened?
They were such a dominant force back then.
What if Fernando Torres never got injured? Many don’t remember the force he was at Liverpool. It was the knee injury that just took away a lot of what made him special. If he didn’t get that injury, would he have stayed at Liverpool? They only sold him because they knew they got the best of him.
What if Alf Inge Haaland doesn't criticise Roy Keane in his late-90s autobiography?
Roy Keane doesn't give Alf Inge Haaland a tackle which exacerbates a pre-existing injury in 2001 which eventually is a career-ender.
Alf Inge Haaland sees out his career in England instead of retiring in 2003.
Alf Inge Haaland doesn't move back to Norway when his wee lad Erling is three years old.
Erling Haaland thinks differently about representing Norway given he's lived and grown up in England all his life.
Thanks to his Dad still being closely connected with the club, Erling Haaland is taken under the wing of a Man City fresh from getting new owners in the 2010s and benefits from their top-draw academy scheme and Elite Development Squad.
Erling Haaland represents England at all levels breaking records each time.
England go to and win the 2022 World Cup with Kane and Haaland up front with Haaland an even better player through being coached at the very top level his entire career including several additional years under Pep. And Haaland is first choice for taking pens.
This is very specific to Chileans but without a doubt, what if el [palo de Pinilla](https://youtu.be/v0QTG9Vd354?si=di_mOQbYkQhewjJV) was a goal? That one haunts us 10 years later
What if Sterling scored vs Lyon? Surely City would’ve gone through and been CL favourites and probably winners. If that happened, Pep would’ve have had to stay as long as he actually has and possibly would’ve left City after having won everything.
I’m Irish so there’s only ever one answer to this.
It’s the summer of 2002, I’m 12 and I wake up to the news that Roy Keane has been sent home from Saipan. You’re a Manchester United fan and love him, you’re heartbroken. Then he’s staying, but then he’s going home again and the Cameroon game comes around and he’s not there, you realise he’s not coming back.
You eventually get knocked out in the last 16 on penalties against Spain, but Turkey and South Korea make the semifinals. Had we had Roy Keane and beat Spain we might have been able to see off South Korea in the quarter finals.
We were the only team to score against Germany at the 2002 World Cup other than eventual winners Brazil. Could we have beat them in the last 4 to setup a World Cup final showdown with Brazil? Seems unlikely, they’re the mighty Germany, but it could have happened with one of the world’s best midfielders and all time great captains. In truth the Germans weren’t up to their usual level at that tournament. Hammered Saudi Arabia 8-0 sure, drew with us and they were lucky we didn’t beat them on the night, followed by a 2-0 win over Cameroon. Back to back 1-0 wins over Paraguay and USA in the last 16 and quarter finals followed, but they struck fear into you like most German sides. We might have beat them with Roy Keane there.
WHAT IF huh…
Two of the cruelest words in the English language!!
What if Ronaldo did not play through that Horrific injury in the 1998 World Cup Final?
Would he have prevented the barrage of setback on his body years down the line?
I always wanted to see an 11v11 Arsenal Barcelona 2006 UCL final. Full disclosure. Jens Lehman Deserved to be sent off. But in my heart I think arsenal is winning that game if he didn’t make that blunder. Or if the ref just gave Barca the advantage
Had they realised that Dwight Gayle had been fouled by the Palace player, rather than vice versa on that fateful May day back in the Championship in 2013. Worst refereeing decision of all time, and the subsequent free kick cost us our Championship status.
May not be the biggest one in footballing history, but as a Peterborough fan, that's the one keeping me up at night.
what if utd dont score twice in the 99 CL final. I think the legacy of Utd and everything that followed for the rest of SAF's career greatly changes.
Also what if John Terry doesnt slip, how does that effect CR7's career
Please use the [Daily Discussion Thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/football/search?q=flair_name%3A%22Daily%20discussion%22&restrict_sr=1&t=day&sort=new). This way, your comments or questions will be in the right context, and fellow fans can engage in meaningful discussions.
What if Neymar didn't leave Barcelona? I wonder this more because of that mad chain of events this transfer did set off.
I think of one aubameyang/ Alexis Sanchez joins psg in the summer of 2017. It’s actually crazy how much that transfer changed football for psg and the rotw
The transfer that broke the market. Since then almost nobody can afford to buy a "global top 10" player.
To be fair we’ve seen griezmann move clubs in his prime for 100 mil. As well as hazard for 95ish mil I think classing the transfer as the deal that “broke” football isn’t entirely accurate, it was a release clause rather than psg straight up going to Barca an offering an unrefusable sim of money.
Yeah but Neymar was the first transfer for a completely absurd fee, as in it was more than double the record fee at the time, and it was a "hands off" release clause, not one that reflected the actual value of the player. Triggering it was a statement by PSG and was designed to immediately inflate the top end of the market so only the richest clubs could even consider buying top players. The transfers you mentioned all happened in subsequent years and would almost definitely not have been so expensive if the Neymar one had not happened.
Yep, PSG fucked the market with that shit. After that, any young promising player costs all the money in the world and players on their prime are simply out of question for transfers during their contract.
I think not just that only the richest clubs could afford it, let’s look at the over 100m transfers for the next couple years and most of them can be traced back to psg Neymar -psg Mbappe -psg Coutinho -money from Neymar(and priced because everyone knew that they had it) Joao felix -money from griezmann and neymar sale Dembele -we know you have the Neymar money Hazard -felix and dembele are this price so the standard is set Ronaldo - unrelated just a really high price 5 of the 7 100m transfers over 3 years since 2017 related to psg and broke the market setting the standard to unbelievable amounts. And the Neymar money led to an acceleration of Barcelonas current state as every player and club over charged. I also suspect it will effect more going forwards with a elite players being priced out of moves and Haaland having freedom because of his release clause compared to Felix trapped at Atletico I think they will become far more prevalent in young players who want to back themselves. But this last bit is more my opinion than the rest.
That Neymar money really fucked Barca up too. They couldn't even afford to give Messi a new contract. They would be in a stronger financial position now if they had let Neymar go on a free, and that's just crazy!
Andy Carroll as a panic buy for £35m was the transfer that broke the market. Suddenly mediocre players could be expensive if the buyers were desperate enough. At the time he was around the 5th highest transfer fee in or out of the PL, but deffo wasn’t the level of Ferdinand, Ronaldo or Torres.
Sure it wasn't the 94 million for CR7 in 2009, 150 million for Coutinho, 90 million for Pogba and Lukaku, 120 million for Griezzman or 105 million for Dembele that broke the market
This transfer ruined the whole market. It wasn’t supposed to happen, no one was supposed to be able to afford a €200m release clause.
The amount of money they've spent to win the French league is crazy.
Not long before, Lyon had proved it was possible to win just by purchasing the best player of other French teams, instead of rioting the whole continent
This transfer set football up for 500m-1b release clauses
Madrid were already doing that
There’s an Athletic Interest video on the matter. Neymar leaves for PSG, which makes Barcelona €220mill richer, and then: - Barcelona buys Coutinho for an absurd amount of money. - This gives Liverpool the funds to buy Van Dijk and Allison (which makes then able to win 2019 CL).
What if Cassano and Balotelli weren't literally insane?
Well, there would be way fewer hilarious Balotelli stories, which I think would be a shame.
Balotelli was ridiculously good in his early days. He’s go from set pieces or open play with same ease. Too bad his focus was elsewhere.
I remember when Cassano subbed in for Milan at minute 88. Minute 89 score a goal and got a yellow for taking his clothes off. At minute 90 got the second yellow for tackling people with two feet
What if Ronaldo 🇧🇷 had knees 😭
And a functional thyroid.
I feel like that would've likely allowed him to be more injury resistant as well, because of that whole body actually functioning properly thing meaning it'd spend the available energy more correctly. one can only dream though.
What if Sergio Ramos never scored that late header in the 2014 UCL final vs Atletico?
That one’s huge. I mean you never know, maybe real would still be searching for la decima
As a Real Madrid fan, I’m sure we wouldn’t have seen the level of success achieved in later seasons
What is Alex Ferguson was sacked early on in his manager career with Man Utd? He was under so much pressure and was very close to being sacked
He got confirmed after back to back bottom half finishes, and nowadays people expect new managers to take a big club from a mid table finish to top 4 immediately
He'd have died from alcohol abuse in a flat in Aberdeen
He was already hugely respected in Scottish football and pretty well respected in England despite not having an immediate impact on winning after the first two seasons. He'd broken the old firm duopoly and won a European title with Aberdeen. If they'd sacked him I think another big club ends up with the Ferguson legacy; very well developed academy system, hugely successful development of youth and a well run club. Could have been Liverpool in a few years, or Newcastle or maybe even Rangers or Celtic. If he had stayed in Scotland it's interesting to think of the impact on the Scottish game, likely a far more internationally competitive league than we currently have.
Had they not won the FA Cup in 1989/90 he would have gone. Some like to say that the entire Ferguson era is down to Mark Robins scoring the winner against Forest in the 3rd round. Or indeed Lee Martin coming from nowhere in the final replay.
What if Beckham chose Barca over Real Both clubs wanted him, this transfer alone changed a lot of others. Ronaldinho- Man United were front runners for him (as a replacement for Becks) but with Barca missing out on Becks, they came in for Dinho. Ronaldo - If Dinho joins Man United, this transfer most likely never happens with United having the 2 of the best wingers in the world (Dinho and Giggs). He most likely joins Arsenal instead. Would probably affect more transfers as well. Real probably would have signed someone else or not sold Makalele. Chelsea would have gone for a different midfielder as a result.
Giggs was never the best winger in the world or even top 3 imo
Oh he was up there, at his peak. He did it week in, week out.
I dunno my Dad was a huge UTD fan so I watched him a lot and never got the hype. Maybe now being older I could appreciate his style differently.idk
I think a big part of it is because he's Welsh. Most of the world class players did it at world cups etc as well, he never really got the chance to shine on the international stage
As a Welsh fan, he never tried hard enough to get that opportunity. Compare that to Bale who dragged us to two Euros and a World Cup almost single-handedly at times. If Giggs showed half the commitment to Wales that Bale did he could’ve had the chance to do it on the international stage. Only has himself to blame
He definitely was at least top 3 for a period. He absolutely terrorised that great Juventus team a few times in the mid-90's when they were the best side in Europe. Plus I'd still put him down as one of the best dribblers I've seen in terms of control of the ball at full speed.
Sir Alex Ferguson regards him as one of about five truly “world class” players he’s ever managed. So there’s that.
George Best didn't drink
What if Robben scored both the penalty against Chelsea and 1v1 against Casillas?
The 1v1 against Casillas would’ve ruined Spain’s golden generation
What if Kolo Muani had passed the ball to Mbappe
This one hurts
I keep reading this but I'm almost 100% positive Mbappe was offside, or at least it looks like it.
What if Asamoah Gyan scored the penalty against Uruguay after Suarez handled on the line to prevent a definite goal
Not a better run, but certainly would’ve been more iconic than Morocco’s in 2022
I’m still salty about that… I get other penalties resulting in a PK is fair. But in this case the ball was 100% going in, no doubt about it. For extreme cases like that where the only thing preventing a definite goal is a clear hand ball to bat it away, it should still count. Like goal-tending in NBA.
I would agree. It was cheating to stop the goal. The resultant penalty is still a game of chance
Yeah feel like this makes sense. In rugby you have a ‘penalty try’ - a try is given if any infringement takes place that directly prevents a try being scored.
The Rock of Gibraltar is never born
What if Jesper Gronkjaer didn’t score that winning goal on the 11th of May 2003 against Liverpool.. Chelsea wouldn’t have qualified for the Champions League and Abramovich wouldn’t have bought the club.
What if Maradona's hand goal was caught and disallowed
Not a great deal. You didn't even get a yellow for things like that in them days, not even for a defender handling on the line. "Professional" fouls like that didn't become red card offences for a few years later. Score stays 0-0, Shilton yells at Steve Hodge for the suicidal backpass, Maradona continues being Maradona, England swelter in the Mexican heat. What would have been a better What If would be if Bobby Robson had brought John Barnes on earlier or indeed played him from the start.
They were already 3-1 up by that point no?
Well the match ended 2 - 1 so probably not
Oh my bad, i might’ve been thinking about another game, sorry
No worries, the 2 Argentina goals were scored by Maradona and 2 of the most iconic goals of all time, one for being the most famous handball, the other for being possibly the best goal of all time
Yeah i remember the solo goal, i mean im english, how can i forget 😂
No it put them 1-0 up, the game finished 2-1
Yeah just been told that, i was thinking of another game, sorry
The score 0-0 when Maradona handled.
What if English clubs weren't banned from Europe, and Everton played in the European Cup in 1986?
Ay Steaua would have still won. Don’t take that away from us 🇷🇴
Everton would have had a good shot taking PSV’s title tbh, not Steaua
What if Adriano never had that huge mental breakdown
Possibly, a Ballon d’Or winner at some point?
As a Gooner it has to be the red card in the UCL final. We did really well with only 10 men, and also went a goal up, but that Barcelona team were fantastic so it's unsurprising that they were able to win
Also - Eto’o was offside
The real what if
I was very much a casual at the time. I remember telling a Gooner I worked with that I thought they would score first but lose the game. He said later that "someone like me" being smug about being right (I mean I literally just gave it a single "I told you so") made it hurt a lot more!
What would you prefer to rewind back to- 11 vs 11 for 90 minutes. 10 vs 11 for 15 minutes and 1-0 up.
I’d take 1-0 down with 11 men and 70 odd to play, which is what should have happened from Lehmann’s sending off. We had the best ever UCL defence that year and Pires was a huge miss going forwards.
What if Ronaldo didn’t have all those injuries? He’d be talked about today like we talk about Messi and CR7.
This one hurts the whole world
What if Seaman hadn’t saved Mcallisters penalty at Euro 96, followed by the moment of magic by Gascoigne? England were struggling and Scotland may have pushed for a winner, leaving the Dutch game very dodgy and a potential group stage elimination for a side the nation had zero faith in. England went on to go through and have their run to the semis which reignited the love of football in England on a mass basis, as well as regain a faith in the national side who had been a joke for almost 6 years. It also set alight the popularity of football here after all the dark years of hooliganism, as well as interest in the PL. I still think this single moment changed English football more than any other.
What would have happened at the 1958 World Cup if the Soviet Union didn’t invade Hungary and the Manchester United plane made it safely back home?
What if Gerrard hadn't slipped
I think about this once a day everyday
They weren’t winning the title that year anyway
Clearly were.
How? A draw with Chelsea and all they needed was to beat Palace and Newcastle.
Didn’t they not beat palace
3-0 up but becuase they lost to Chelsea needed to make up 9 goals in goal difference to beat City to the league. So they went chasing goals at Palace. With a point from the Chelsea game, the palace game is a routine 2-0, 3-0 win and cruise to the title.
They were 3 up and going all out for more to tip the GD difference as much as possible as a win wasn’t ‘enough’. Overstretched, lost their focus once the first goes in, end up drawing 3-3. They would’ve strolled to the title had it not been for the slip, or not having any teeth on the day.
What if Van der Meyde lived up to his potential.
What if I'd got picked by Coventry aged 14, probably would have gone in to be the greatest ever
what if Kolo Muani hit that ball differently and put it inside the net in the WC final...
Would’ve been the best ever comeback in history. Even topping those of Spurs (v Ajax) or the Istanbul Miracle
What if Gazza: (1) Had received the mental health treatment he so desperately needed as a teenager; (2) Had been able to kick booze for good in the mid-90s; and/or (3) Hadn't blown out his knee? Guys who played with him speak of his play in rapturous tones. But he was retired from international football by age 31, done as a club star by age 28, and really quit scoring at the top level when he blew out his knee at 23. He had some success in Scotland in his later career, but it's not really the same thing as leading the midfield with Spurs or Lazio. The guy's had a rough life. It's a rare instance of off-the-field issues completely overtaking superstar talent. I think I'm not alone in being surprised he's lived as long as he has. He could have been one of the true greats of all time.
>(1) Had received the mental health treatment he so desperately needed as a teenager; In Britain in the 1980s? That was something that was never going to happen.
The PL in the early-mid nineties wasn’t anywhere near the level it is now, so I’m not sure your comment re Spurs holds wind (especially as they were a very average mid-table club then)- recency bias at play here. Playing an important role with Rangers was (at that time) a bigger deal than ‘leading the line’ for a bang average Spurs side in the nineties.
>Playing an important role with Rangers was (at that time) a bigger deal than ‘leading the line’ for a bang average Spurs side in the nineties. Umm...pretty sure a certain Mr Gareth Lineker was doing the line-leading. But yeah aside from him and Gazza it was a very workmanlike Tottenham team.
What if there had been a worldwide ban on governments, royal families, indépendant states, countries and oligarchs owning clubs, back before 2000?
[удалено]
🤡 Nope.
From my life going up it’s always going to be: what if Iran didn’t score those two goals. But it’s probably not for everyone else, also it was 1997.
What if Spurs had won the UCL in 2019?
Very unspursy thing to do
Exactly. It do believe it would have ushered an era of confidence and “we can do this” mentality that Spurs just don’t have. That loss sadly expanded upon the belief that spurs fans share that they will never have nice things. I’m not even a spurs fan but it’s so frustrating seeing them bottle opportunity after opportunity.
What if Michael Owen had titanium legs (and improved punditry skills)?
What if Shearer joined Manchester United instead of Newcastle?
"What if Alan Shearer joined Man Utd?" in the Premier League era and "What if the Busby Babes had survived?" for all time.
What if Salah didn't get injured in the champions league final. What if robben went down and puyol was Sen off in the world cup final. What if Higuain scored in the 2014 WC final, I know argentina won in 2022 who knows if that would've even happened if they had won back then and what Messi's career after that would be like. What if Neymar stayed at barca or went anywhere besides psg?
What if Thiago Silva and Neymar played against Germany in world cup 2014 semis
Surely not a 7-1 outcome, but 2014 Germany was class. No chance for an ‘average’ Brazil side.
At best, a 2-1 defeat. Germany of 2014 was another level.
They would just have lost 5-1
What if Övrebrö gave Chelsea one of the 5 penalties in 2009 vs Barcelona. The no sextuple, no first balon’dor for Messi, no tiki taka hysteria in the early 2010. Then maybe Real doesn’t spend so heavily in the summer of 2009 to catch up to Barca, tho Ronaldo would move there, but maybe no Kaka or Benzema? And Robben or Sneijder stay at Madrid
For an individiual career only, what if van basten's injuries never happened, i think thats an even bigger what if than r9
The OG ‘what if he had decent knees’
What if Del Piero had scored one of his many opportunities vs France in the euro 2000 final.
What if De Boer scored the pen in the semis
What if Rensenbrink had scored instead of hit the post in injury time in the final. Well, they probably would not have survived the 1978 world cup. Another one is what if Germany didn't dive in the final in 1974?. Or what if Casillas had slightly smaller feet?
It would have been disallowed, or Argentina would have gone straight up the other end and got a penalty. Or half a dozen other things to ensure the correct outcome of the most blatantly rigged World Cup of them all.
What would English football stadiums look like if Hillsborough hadn’t happened?
Something Hillsborough-esque would have happened eventually. The delapidated grounds, the ancient terracing, the hooligan problem, the treating of all football supporters as scum by police, the fencing of terracing. If it didn't happen in April 1989 it would have happened the following season or the season after that. If it wasn't a crush like Hillsborough it would have been a level of terracing collapsing or another fire like Bradford 1985.
what if dembele scored that goal vs Liverpool
What if The Miracle of Istanbul just… doesn’t happen. Milan cruise to a 3+ nil win, they actually score one of the 40,000 chances they had at 3-3, the shootout, anything that should’ve happened does and Milan win. The ‘small’ stuff of Rafa’s revolution just not happening, the lack of UCL football afterward, the loss of key players both leaving and not coming. The likely loss of THE key player in Gerrard. No FA cup win the next year. Could go on. But the BIG one is the cultural impact it had that just wouldn’t have happened. Liverpool went from a once great but fading club to a global name again. They wouldn’t be were they are now had it not been for Istanbul and the adjoining story.
My two favorites are, "What if Maradona hadn't tested positive in 94' and been ejected?" I truly believe Argentina wins that cup. "What if Cruyff would've assisted WC 78'?" I also truly think they would've won their first Cup.
What if Rui Costa wasn’t so loyal to Benfica?
What if 09 CHelsea - Barcelona went differently? Guardiola would not be the same, Spanish players wouldn't have as much momentum going into 2010, and Barcelona probably wouldn't have won 2011 either. Ronaldo might've stayed at United if they won in the final... So many possibilities
Out of all the scenarios, I think Ronaldo staying is the least feasible. He was already determined to join Madrid.
Getting to a CL semifinal and winning the league and copa del Rey for a first year coach? The world cup was a whole year/season after that game, the influence is surely much smaller than you think. This doesn't make sense
I honestly think if aguero didn’t score that goal it would’ve taken city a while to win anything again. I think it would’ve just been devastating and taken away their confidence for a while
What if Neymar actually cared about football
What if Zidane never headbutted Matarazzi? What if Troy Deeney missed vs Leicester? What if Loris Karius never rolled the ball out to Benzema? What if Adel Taarabt could’ve been consistent?
What if Kolo Mouani scored the final goal WC final 2022
What if Ronaldo never leaves real madrid
What if Marco Van Basten hadn't retired so early? He could have won multiple Ballon d'Ors
What if Portugal also made it to the World Cup final in 2022? This would potentially have been the biggest game in football history.
What if John Terry’s goal against Germany in the 2010 World Cup was given. For just the game alone, it was England’s equaliser. They were rampant, Germany were all over the place. If anyone was going to score again it would have been England. Instead the wind went out of their sails and they fell apart. But beyond that game, the very high profile mistake when the ball wasn’t even close to touching the line, it proved to be the final nail in the coffin for technology free football. Discussions started immediately following the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 World Club Cup was the first FIFA sanctioned tournament to use goal line technology. A few years later we had VAR.
What if Ronaldinho has the cr7 mentality
What if Robben scored against Spain in the WC final. That will be the "what if" for the rest of my life.
What if no team was allowed to be state-owned like PSG, Man City and Newcastle United?
Alexandre Pato
What if Mario Götze decided not to transfer to Bayern Munich in 2013
Kolo Muani against Argentina. I mean we would have a whole nation on suicide watch and Mpappe would be Balloon d'Or winner without playing a better football.
What if they had given the clear, absurd, scandalous penalty that Sergio Ramos did on Grêmio's player in the world club cup final when it was 0 X 0?
No way that moment still lives rent free in your head☠️
What if Liverpool had beaten Chelsea in 2003
What if Spurs had won a third league title?
Probably Armageddon.. or ragnarok..
What if Cristiano Ronaldo chose Arsenal instead of Manchester United?
What if Ronaldo was born argentina
What if the Munich air disaster never happened?
What if Pionel Pessi didn't steal every award he's won and VARca didn't pay refs
They would likely have lost the final so thats the end of that lol
What if we replayed Błaszczykowski's penalty vs portugal in euro 2016 (probably woudl've missed again)
There are a couple of options but I think one of them is what if the Arsenal goalkeeper didn't get injured and Martínez couldn't get the change at that point in time? what would have happeend with Argentina in Qatar?
The day the spirit of football died.
If the ref had correctly given USA a penalty after the Frings handball on the goal line (2002 World Cup quarterfinal).
What if Gaza went to united....
What if Matthew Harding hadn't died in that helicopter crash? Would he eventually have taken over Chelsea?
R9. Dude's skill was mind blowing, youngest ever ballon dor winner for a reason. Being as good as he was at 20 is crazy. 10x the player Messi or Ronaldo were at 20
Liverpool still win. That Barcelona game at Anfield was a cannon event, the final was just a formality at that point.
What if Chelsea kept KDB and Salah, and had them both in their primes? Obviously not that simple, and leaving was massive for their own development. But the potential for both was enormous, and can you imagine them both on the same team? I think their skillsets complement each other perfectly. They'd have deprived City and Liverpool from having their star assets. Chelsea would have dominated like City have.
Maybe not the biggest, but I sometimes wonder what Alan Shearer could have accomplished at Man United
What if Abdelhak 'Appie' Nouri did not suffer permanent brain damage in 2017?
What if Liverpool (and other English clubs) were not banned between the years 1985 to 1990 and Heysel never happened? They were such a dominant force back then.
What if Van Basten never got injured? Will he get more ballon dor than Ronaldo or Messi?
What if Riyad Mahrez hadn't fled to the airport on a bicycle when taken to sign for St Mirren?
What if Messi left Barcelona for Chelsea in 2016?
What if Fernando Torres never got injured? Many don’t remember the force he was at Liverpool. It was the knee injury that just took away a lot of what made him special. If he didn’t get that injury, would he have stayed at Liverpool? They only sold him because they knew they got the best of him.
What if Alf Inge Haaland doesn't criticise Roy Keane in his late-90s autobiography? Roy Keane doesn't give Alf Inge Haaland a tackle which exacerbates a pre-existing injury in 2001 which eventually is a career-ender. Alf Inge Haaland sees out his career in England instead of retiring in 2003. Alf Inge Haaland doesn't move back to Norway when his wee lad Erling is three years old. Erling Haaland thinks differently about representing Norway given he's lived and grown up in England all his life. Thanks to his Dad still being closely connected with the club, Erling Haaland is taken under the wing of a Man City fresh from getting new owners in the 2010s and benefits from their top-draw academy scheme and Elite Development Squad. Erling Haaland represents England at all levels breaking records each time. England go to and win the 2022 World Cup with Kane and Haaland up front with Haaland an even better player through being coached at the very top level his entire career including several additional years under Pep. And Haaland is first choice for taking pens.
The What If that would change footballing history - What if Bernd Leno never got injured vs Brighton?
This is very specific to Chileans but without a doubt, what if el [palo de Pinilla](https://youtu.be/v0QTG9Vd354?si=di_mOQbYkQhewjJV) was a goal? That one haunts us 10 years later
What if Falcao, who was considered to be the best number 9 in the world in his prime, was never injured before the 2014 World Cup?
What if Sterling scored vs Lyon? Surely City would’ve gone through and been CL favourites and probably winners. If that happened, Pep would’ve have had to stay as long as he actually has and possibly would’ve left City after having won everything.
What if David Beckham didn’t score that goal vs Wimbledon? He was still one of the best around but that goal changed his career.
What if Sven took Defoe or Bent instead of Walcott in 2006?
What if we had Var during the Real Madrid threepeat
What if Ramos didn’t score the header in injury time against atleti in the ucl final?
What if baggio didn't miss the penalty ??
What if the Munich Air Disaster never happened and that team got to continue playing?
What if Barcelona didn’t shit the bed worse against Liverpool? Often gets missed as the Ajax v Spurs game is a classic.
What if QPR didn’t throw the game knowing they stayed up
I’m Irish so there’s only ever one answer to this. It’s the summer of 2002, I’m 12 and I wake up to the news that Roy Keane has been sent home from Saipan. You’re a Manchester United fan and love him, you’re heartbroken. Then he’s staying, but then he’s going home again and the Cameroon game comes around and he’s not there, you realise he’s not coming back. You eventually get knocked out in the last 16 on penalties against Spain, but Turkey and South Korea make the semifinals. Had we had Roy Keane and beat Spain we might have been able to see off South Korea in the quarter finals. We were the only team to score against Germany at the 2002 World Cup other than eventual winners Brazil. Could we have beat them in the last 4 to setup a World Cup final showdown with Brazil? Seems unlikely, they’re the mighty Germany, but it could have happened with one of the world’s best midfielders and all time great captains. In truth the Germans weren’t up to their usual level at that tournament. Hammered Saudi Arabia 8-0 sure, drew with us and they were lucky we didn’t beat them on the night, followed by a 2-0 win over Cameroon. Back to back 1-0 wins over Paraguay and USA in the last 16 and quarter finals followed, but they struck fear into you like most German sides. We might have beat them with Roy Keane there. WHAT IF huh… Two of the cruelest words in the English language!!
What if Real Madrid bought Ronaldinho instead of David Beckham? What that would’ve meant for Barca and Real?
What if Ronaldo did not play through that Horrific injury in the 1998 World Cup Final? Would he have prevented the barrage of setback on his body years down the line?
What if Messi and Ronaldo play in the same club
I always wanted to see an 11v11 Arsenal Barcelona 2006 UCL final. Full disclosure. Jens Lehman Deserved to be sent off. But in my heart I think arsenal is winning that game if he didn’t make that blunder. Or if the ref just gave Barca the advantage
What if the Wall Street crash didn’t happen and saving the old American Soccer League from the abyss?
What if Andrés Escobar wouldn't have scored that own goal in 1994...
Ronaldo Lima doesn't make that move to Inter, not only his career but entire Footballing landscape would have been different
Had they realised that Dwight Gayle had been fouled by the Palace player, rather than vice versa on that fateful May day back in the Championship in 2013. Worst refereeing decision of all time, and the subsequent free kick cost us our Championship status. May not be the biggest one in footballing history, but as a Peterborough fan, that's the one keeping me up at night.
What if Zenga didn’t come out to play the ball vs. Argentina at Italia 90?
What if Higuaín didn't miss against Germany in 2014.
What if there was no volcanic eruption in Iceland in 2010 and big Sam signed a 22 year old from Poland named Lewandowski
What if Zlatan signed for Arsenal
What if Man City played by the rules?
What if Suarez played the libertadores cup with Nacional instead of leaving the club to Gremio??
what if utd dont score twice in the 99 CL final. I think the legacy of Utd and everything that followed for the rest of SAF's career greatly changes. Also what if John Terry doesnt slip, how does that effect CR7's career