Liverpool, Man United, the Ryder Cup and the greatest sporting miracles
Steven Gerrard believes he will need a miracle to win the Premier League title with Liverpool before he retires, but the Reds captain was swiftly reminded that sporting miracles do happen. Europe's Ryder Cup comeback, beating America 14½-13½ after trailing by four points going into the final day's play, will go down in history as one of the great moments in sport, taking its place alongside a select group of sporting miracles, including one match Gerrard will remember fondly...
Liverpool 3-3 AC Milan (3-2 on penalties) in the 2005 Champions League final
Liverpool's run to the final of the Champions League was a miracle in itself, but there was to be one final, phenomenal twist for Rafa Benitez's men. Finding themselves 3-0 down at half-time to hot favourites AC Milan, Liverpool looked set for humiliation. The football gods were smiling on Rafa's team, however, and a second-half comeback was on after Steven Gerrard and Vladimir Smicer pulled two back for the Reds in quick succession. Xabi Alonso completed the dramatic six minute revival and, after a nervy final 30 minutes and extra-time, the final would be decided by penalties. Jerzy Dudek's memorable performance in goal ensured that Liverpool would lift the trophy for a fifth time in the most miraculous of circumstances.
Highlights from Liverpool's historic Champions League final win
Lewis Hamilton wins the 2008 World Championship on the final lap in Brazil
Perhaps the most heart-in-mouth moment in Formula One history, the 2008 world championship came down to the final few corners of the the Brazilian Grand Prix. With Felipe Massa dominant in front of his home crowd, the Ferrari driver needed to win the final race of the season to secure the title himself, while his closest challenger, Lewis Hamilton, needed to finish fifth or higher to ensure that the drivers' crown would head to England.
As the race drew to a close, Hamilton found himself in a train of cars stuck behind the Toyota of Timo Glock and short of the fifth place he needed to win the title. With just three corners remaining, Massa crossed the finish line to seemingly win the title, however, a mechanical fault for Glock saw Hamilton overtake the German, giving him the fifth place he needed to win the title by a single, breathtaking point.
The final lap of the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix
Manchester United 2-1 Bayern Munich – 1999 Champions League final
The great comeback kings of the modern football era, Manchester United defined their dominance of the '90s with a last gasp turnaround in the 1999 Champions League final. Trailing early on and finding themselves increasingly pinned back, Sir Alex Ferguson's men would need a miracle to take the game to extra-time, let alone win it within 90 minutes. However that's exactly what they did, as late goals from Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ensured United would cap of an historic treble in style. Football? Bloody 'ell!
Highlights from the 1999 Champions League final
Man City 3-2 QPR – final day of the 2011/12 Premier League season
The final day of the 2011/12 Premier League season would go down in history as one of the most dramatic. During a heart-stopping afternoon, the title race boiled down to the outcomes of the final fixtures, with Man City needing a win against relegation-threatened QPR and rivals Man United hoping to pounce on any slip up as they travelled to Sunderland. United duly won 1-0 in a nervy affair, finishing their match as Man City looked like blowing their big chance, as they trailed QPR 2-1 with just injury time to play. City boss Roberto Mancini had prayed for divine intervention and his prayers were answered with Edin Dzeko grabbing an equaliser, before Sergio Aguero snatched the winner with the last kick of the game to win City the title on goal difference.
Paul Merson's reaction to Man City's unbelievable turn around
Tiger Woods' incredible chip at the 2005 Masters
Widely regarded as one of the most incredible golfing shots, Tiger Woods' audacious chip at the 2005 Masters showed a player at the peak of his powers. With the ball sitting just on the edge of the rough, Woods would need a miracle to hole, but in one stroke of his club lifted the ball on to the green and let the rest take care of itself.
Tiger Woods' at the peak of his powers
Chelsea's unbelievable Champions League run – 2011/12
Following a 3-1 first leg drubbing at the hands of Napoli in the last 16, Chelsea were teetering on the brink of a Champions League exit. However, a change of coach and a sense of self belief not only saw the Blues triumph 4-1 over the Italian side in the return, but breeze past Benfica to set up a semi-final clash with the mighty Barcelona.
For all of Barcelona's possession and attacking flair, they could not score against a resilient Chelsea side in the first leg at Stamford Bridge, who neutralised Barca and squeezed past the much-favoured Spaniards to reach the Champions League final with a sensational 10-man performance in the Nou Camp. Chelsea's reward was to play the final at the home ground of opponents Bayern Munich, who spurned chance after chance before finally taking the lead late on against the flagging Blues. Just like Manchester United in 1999, however, Chelsea grabbed a late equaliser to stun the Germans, when Didier Drogba pounced from a set piece on a rare attack from Londoners. Bayern missed a penalty in extra-time to clinch the trophy and Drogba would once again be the Blues' saviour, scoring the deciding spot kick and winning the final in utterly miraculous style.
Chelsea's road to Munich
The 'Miracle on Ice' – USA v Soviet Union in the 1980 Winter Olympics ice hockey final
With the Cold War at its peak, a 1980 Winter Olympics ice-hockey clash between the USA and Soviet Union would provide the perfect setting for the two super-powers to flex their muscles, albeit with the Russians heavily favoured. Dubbed the 'Miracle on Ice', the fixture would see the United States face a Soviet side which had won nearly every world and Olympic title since 1954; the Americans were unable to field their professional stars in what was then an amateur Olympic tournament, forcing them to use college players in the ice hockey tournament (the Soviets were unhindered by this policy, as their [players were all officially classed as amateur, despite being effectively professional, leading to the term 'shamateur' being coined). With ten minutes left of the final third, the US took a surprise 4-3 lead, much to the disbelief of the Soviets, who bombarded the US goal to no avail. As the clock ran down, the crowd went into pandemonium, leading to commentator Al Michaels to deliver his famous line: “Do you believe in miracles?”
America stun the Soviets
Do Liverpool need more than a miracle to win the Premier League? What are some of your favourite sporting miracles? Have your say on the topic by commenting below...