Oh, curses do exist in football. Some things are just so logically unexplainable that the idea of it being a curse becomes more and more realistic with every thought. Oh, you doubt that? Come along on this video and see 7 of the biggest curses in football history.
Yaya Toure was one of, if not the brightest player at Manchester City before Pep Guardiola joined. The Ivorian, although playing in midfield, scored plenty of goals. And in one of the seasons, was even the club’s outright top scorer.
But Pep came and Yaya’s influence began to wane. Not because he stopped playing well, but just because the Spaniard didn’t fancy him so much, and started using him less.
Oh, and if you remember, something similar happened when the City boss joined Barcelona. He brought in a certain Sergio Busquests from the Barcelona academy, and Yaya was forced to leave the club the following season.
But it was different at City. Toure was a legend there. The players loved him. The fans loved him. Everyone loved him. But Guardiola came, and the 4-time African Footballer of the Year was slowly iced out.
It all culminated in an exit that was not befitting for a legend. Yaya was not happy. Fans were not happy. And according to Dmitri Seluk, Yaya’s agent at the time, African shamans were also not happy.
Seluk said that the shamans in Africa will curse Guardiola and he won’t be able to win a Champions League again.
“Life will show whether I am right or not,” he said. And well, so far, he has been. No UCL medal for Pep since his second with Barcelona in 2011. It may not have been so long ago, but he has had opportunities to go all the way for the 3rd or maybe even the 4th time.
Remember the dramatic loss to Spurs in 2019. Yes, the VAR one. Then the absolutely shocking defeat to Lyon in 2020. And most recently, the final loss to Chelsea when City were obvious favorites. Could the curse actually be real? Will Pep retire without an additional UCL title to his name? Time will tell.
But I guess time has already told, and pretty clearly, too, about the next one.
The number 7 curse at United
Since Cristiano left Manchester United in 2009, no other player who has worn the number 7 shirt for United has succeeded. And we’re not saying no one has played up to CR7’s level; that would be huge shoes to fill. They have all just… flopped.
And it is not that they were not good players. We’re talking Angel di Maria, Alexis Sanchez, Memphis Depay, among others. The curse just repeatedly held them back.
To show you how bad it was, in the 11 years Cristiano was away, all United’s number 7s managed only 25 goals. Yes, a combined 25 goals.
Good thing CR7 has come back to reclaim his number. And he is already looking like he ended the curse. It is his number anyway. We just hope, for United’s sake, that the curse doesn’t kick off again when he eventually leaves.
The Chelsea number 9 curse
Just like United’s number 7 shirt seemed to have been cursed since Cristiano’s exit, Chelsea’s number 9 shirt appears to have been cursed since Hasselbaink.
Notable players who have worn the number 9 shirt and flopped pretty horribly are Fernando Torres, Hernan Crespo, Mateja Kezman, Alvaro Morata, Radamel Falcao, and Gonzalo Higuain. That is truly a long list.
We made a video extensively talking about why the number 9 jersey is cursed at Chelsea. Click here to check it out.
Anyway, we are still looking to see if Romelu Lukaku will break that curse at Chelsea. He has only scored 3 goals since his return to the club, but it is still early days, right?
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