The nearly men
There is nothing more difficult in football than the balancing act of taking a team deep into several competitions at the same time.
Success is guaranteed to land you a place among your club’s pantheon of greats, but if you fail there is no shortage of people queueing up to say there are no prizes for second place.
Manchester City landed their first piece of silverware of the season in Sunday’s League Cup final, but their fates in the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup are still to be determined...
Arsenal (1998/99)
Alex Ferguson’s treble-winning Manchester United side made history in 1998/99, but it could have gone differently if Arsenal hadn’t lost their way at vital moments.
The Gunners dominated that famous FA Cup semi-final clash between the two teams and were a man up after Roy Keane’s red card, but Dennis Bergkamp’s last-minute penalty was saved by Peter Schmeichel and Ryan Giggs saw to the rest.
In the league, Arsene Wenger’s side went into the final two games knowing that six points would land them the title. However, Leeds had other ideas and defeated the Londoners 1-0, while United won their last two games to seal the Premier League crown.
Bayer Leverkusen (2001/02)
With three games remaining in their Bundesliga season, Leverkusen were five points clear at the top and had booked a place in the finals of the DFB-Pokal and Champions League. Cue the collapse of the century.
Leverkusen, despite inspired performances from a young Michael Ballack who scored a record 17 goals from midfield, lost two of their final three league games – including to relegation strugglers Nurnberg. Dortmund won the title.
In the German Cup final they led Schalke 1-0 at half-time but collapsed to lose 4-2, while in the Champions League a Zinedine Zidane wonder-strike subjected them to a 2-1 defeat and earned them the unwanted nickname of “Neverkusen”.
Celtic (2002/03)
Martin O’Neill led Celtic to their first European final since the Lisbon Lions’ 1967 European Cup win, having already taken his side to the League Cup final.
But they found themselves on the wrong side of history – and Rangers – as Alex McLeish’s side secured the League Cup with a 2-1 win, after John Hartson missed a late penalty.
Jose Mourinho’s Porto needed extra time to win the UEFA Cup final 3-2, and the Bhoys were excruciatingly pipped to the title by Rangers on goal difference... by one goal.
Benfica (2012/13)
In May 2013, Benfica faced Porto in the penultimate game of the league season with a two-point advantage over their rivals. They went in front, only to collapse to a 2-1 defeat and ultimately hand Porto the league title.
The Europa League promised to be their salvation, but superstition got the better of them. In 1962, outgoing coach Bela Guttmann declared that the club wouldn’t win another European trophy for 100 years – and sure enough, the wait has gone on despite eight attempts since. In 2013, Chelsea scored a late winner to inflict more misery on Benfica, who then lost to Sevilla on penalties in 2014.
Barcelona (1999/2000)
After finishing 11 points clear of Real Madrid in La Liga a year earlier, Barcelona went into the final stretch of the season with Deportivo La Coruna as their closest challengers for the title, as well as having booked semi-final berths in the Copa del Rey and Champions League.
The implosion began when Barça decided to boycott their domestic cup semi against Valencia because of Spanish FA rules about player eligibility, resulting in their expulsion from the competition.
They were then smashed 4-1 by Valencia in Europe to eventually go out 5-3 on aggregate against their Spanish rivals, while in La Liga, Louis van Gaal’s side picked up two points from a possible nine to hand Depor the title. Unsurprisingly, the Dutchman was chopped.
Ajax (2016/17)
Peter Bosz’s exciting young team were the talk of Europe going into the final few weeks of the season, having booked a Europa League final spot and in the middle of a scrap with Feyenoord for the Eredivisie title.
It was worse in Europe, where Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United comfortably won 2-0 as Ajax failed to turn up for the big occasion.
Fiorentina (1998/99)
After appointing Giovanni Trapattoni as boss, Fiorentina felt that 1998/99 could finally be the year they ended a 30-year wait to land the Italian league title.
Gabriel Batistuta’s goals had fired them to the top of the table by the end of February, but an injury to the Argentine highlighted the Viola’s lack of depth – not helped by reserve striker Edmundo disappearing to the Rio Carnival midway through the campaign.
The Florence club picked up just two victories in their next 11 games and dropped to third. In the two-legged Coppa Italia final they were leading Parma, only to concede twice and lose on away goals. Two decades later, they're still waiting for their next title.
Bayern Munich (2011/12)
Jupp Heynckes’ side were determined to grab the Bundesliga title back off Dortmund after signing Manuel Neuer and Jerome Boateng, but come February, they were struggling to match the ferocious pace of Jurgen Klopp’s side.
It felt like destiny and the Bavarian side dominated, but Didier Drogba replied to Thomas Muller’s late goal, Arjen Robben missed an extra-time penalty and then the English side triumphed in a shoot-out.
