Top Four underdog stories for the past 20 years in football

Congrats to Real Madrid football club for winning, I was not expecting them to come out on top in last night's final. Liverpool was the better team but football could be unforgiving when one loses lots and lots of goal-scoring chances just as the Reds did. Just one chance was enough to turn the course of the match and Real Madrid. Madrid should not have even made it to the final as the top team faced were better than they do but they came out a winner. This sure was a game where Luck played it is own part in deciding games. Besides that, Real Madrid were the underdogs going into this match but they did well by winning in the end.

I started watching football in the early 2000 and my first memory of the sport was watching the beautiful game with my elder brother who supports Arsenal. From that first day, I knew this sport is for me, and I decided to follow it. It took me a while before I decided on the team to support as I was faced with lots of options at that time. In Nigeria, it was either you support either Manchester United or Arsenal in the premier league or you support teams like Real Madrid or Barcelona in the Spanish league.

I made my choice in the middle of the 2004 / 2005 premiership season and that's where the list of the greatest underdog football story I have ever witnessed starts for me.

Chelsea 2004/2005 season

Chelsea before this season has not become a force to reckon with in the premier league. In fact, we were not a threat or a favorite for any trophy regardless of how small the trophy was. All that changed as Mourinho and Ibrahimovic came to the club.

Chelsea ended the 2004/2005 season as the best team in the premier league and ended the season with the first premier league title in 50 years with a then-record haul point of 95. No one gave Chelsea a chance but they did it and won the league. The rest is history as that is when I fell in love with the football club.

Chelsea Champions League trophy win In 2012.

A game of 120 minutes between Chelsea and Bayern Munich in the Champions League at the Allianz Arena in Munich ended with a penalty shootout with the blues winning their first champions league trophy in the club's history. Chelsea had started that season with so many promises as Andre Villa Boas was signed and lots of young talent was brought in. However, AVB underperformed and was sacked after the new year.

In fact, He left Chelsea in a mess as he left them and we were almost evicted from the champions league after trailing 3-1 from the first leg against Napoli. luck shine in the blues' favor under the new manager Di Matteo and we went all the way to the final. Bayern Munich was the better side as Chelsea had to defend and park the bus due to the threat posed by the German teams. Chelsea needed the win more as they ended the premier league campaign in 7th place. Luck smiled on Chelsea as they beat Barcelona and later Bayern to become the champions league winners for the first time in the club's history.

The Fox becoming champions against all Odds

Having gained promotion from the championship to the premier league for the first time in 10 years, nothing was expected from the fox. In fact, they struggled during their first year back in the English league and people wrote off any chances of them surviving the 2015/2016 premier league season as the club parted ways with Nigel Pearson, the manager who had brought them back to the premier league after winning the fox their first championship trophy.

2015/ 2016 eventually became one of the most remarkable seasons in the premier league as a team that has not spent much or that does not have the purchasing power gets to win the title ahead of the big money spenders in the division. To this day, the foxes' run is still been talked about as they were tipped for relegation but ended up as champions instead.

Zambia Stunning the Africa Continent

the name Herve Renard won't be forgotten in a rush in the African continent history as he became the first coach to win the AFCON CUP twice with two different Nations. First with Zambia and the second with Cote d'Ivoire. The most impressive of the two was doing it with Zambia, a team not highly regarded as one of the top footballing nations in Africa.

no Zambia team player who was among the title-winning side was known and the win changed everything. The most remarkable thing about this Zambia side was their style of play as the team hardly pulls the ball out. They were more of the tikitaka kind of team at that time with no standout player. Collective effort did it for them and the win was worth it.