Real Madrid, Newcastle, Liverpool and three other clubs who choked in title races

Seb Sternik
2 April 2022

Liverpool's Steven Gerrard during the Capital One Cup Semi Final, First leg at Anfield, Liverpool.

With the international break behind us, Man City and Real Madrid will be looking to seal league titles. Here, we take a look at clubs who have buckled under the strain of protecting sizable leads.

Manchester City held an 11-point lead over Liverpool going into 2022, leaving many to dub the Citizens as 'champions in waiting'.

However, with the Reds going on a nine-match winning run in the Premier League, the gap at the top has since been cut to just a single point.

A similar story could develop in Spain if the recent El Clasico is anything to go by. Barcelona's 4-0 thrashing of Real Madrid leaves them 12 points behind in the title race with a game in hand.

With Los Blancos clearly hurt by their derby collapse, and facing a tough run of games, the pressure is certainly growing on Carlo Ancelotti's men.

As you're about to see, it wouldn't be the first time the Italian suffered a shock title choke. Here, Planet Sport takes a look at six clubs who blew up big time when way out in front.

Juventus 1999/00 - The Perugia Choke

We teased you about Carlo Ancelotti, so let's get straight into his infamous 1999/00 season with Juventus.

By the 26th round of the Serie A campaign, Juve had a nine-point lead over nearest rivals Lazio. With eight games remaining, Ancelotti's men seemed on course for glory, although they still had upcoming encounters against some of their closest title contenders.

The young Italian coach was being tested for the first time in his career and the pressure clearly got to his side as they lost three of their next seven games - including a 1-0 defeat to second-placed Lazio.

Heading into the final round of games, Juventus still held a two-point advantage, which meant a win over mid-table Perugia would seal the deal.

It sounds pretty simple, but the footballing gods clearly weren't on their side on that fateful day.

For instance, the game was cast into doubt and could have been postponed as heavy rain waterlogged the pitch. Nevertheless, legendary referee Pierluigi Collina judged the surface playable and allowed the match to continue.

Perugia took the lead in the first half and Juve's task was made harder after the interval when Gianluca Zambrotta was red-carded. Left short-handed, the Old Lady were unable to get back on terms.

With Lazio easing past Reggina 3-0, it was to prove one of the most painful defeats in Juve's history as the title ended up going to Rome.

Newcastle United 1995/96 - I'd luv it if we beat them

Newcastle United's image tends to be somewhat deceiving whenever there's a discussion about English football culture.

On one hand, the Magpies appear to be one of the big clubs considering their enormous fanbase, their weekly attendances and size of their stadium. But on the other, what has the club actually won?

Newcastle's last league title arrived in 1927, while their last major piece of silverware was the FA Cup back in 1955.

With that in mind, you can only imagine the level of excitement around the city when the club was top of the Premier League table at the end of February 1996.

At their peak, Kevin Keegan's side enjoyed a 12-point advantage over Manchester United.

However, as tensions rose, resulting in Kevin Keegan's legendary outburst live on TV, the Magpies picked up just 17 points from their last 10 matches. The Red Devils were in no mood to look a gift horse in the mouth. Inspired by Eric Cantona they won 13 and drew one of their last 15 to clinch the title by four points.

Newcastle haven't come anywhere near the title since, although that could change considering the recent change in ownership.

Real Madrid 1992 and 1993 - Tenerife torment

The average person on the street tends to associate the island of Tenerife with trivial things, such as holidays, nightlife, the beach and so on. But for us sports fans, Tenerife has a deeper significance. One that is associated with the island's biggest football club - Club Deportivo Tenerife.

A mere mention of the club's name could earn you a free drink on the streets of Barcelona. At the same time, it could lead to serious trouble in certain areas of Madrid.

All that because of two matches in 1992 and 1993 which went on to shape the history of Spanish football.

The 1991/92 campaign seemed to be going swimmingly for Los Blancos, who went top of the La Liga table in round seven and held on to that position for the next seven months.

A few inconsistent results during the winter months meant Barcelona were never too far away. In fact, with just one game to go, the Catalonian giants were just two points behind.

All Real Madrid needed to do was to beat relegation-threatened Tenerife and the title would be theirs. Instead, Los Blancos capitulated, blew their 2-0 lead and lost 3-2 in one of the biggest shocks in La Liga history. Ultimately, Barcelona won their last game and stole the title.

One year later, Real found themselves in exactly the same situation. The club were top of La Liga, held a small advantage over Barcelona and needed a win at Tenerife to seal the Spanish crown.

On this occasion, Benito Floro's men entered the game on the back of a 22-match unbeaten run and seemed unstoppable. Surely, history wouldn't repeat itself?

The footballing gods apparently had different plans, as Tenerife ran riot and won the game 2-0 to seal a top-five finish and European qualification. Barcelona once again capitalised to win the title by a single point.

Liverpool 2013/14 - Don't let this slip

Liverpool's expectations ahead of the 2013/14 season were minimal considering their four previous campaigns produced sixth, seventh and eighth place finishes.

Nevertheless, as the world celebrated the start of 2014, the Reds found themselves within touching distance of the top four and could almost smell a return to Champions League football.

However, following an unbeaten run of 16 games, Liverpool's aspirations quickly turned from the top four to winning the Premier League title.

Brendan Rodgers got his team to the top of the table and just needed to maintain that winning run for three more games in order to make history.

Instead, a 2-0 defeat to Chelsea - which included Steven Gerrard's infamous slip - and a 3-3 draw at Crystal Palace from 3-0 up, allowed Manchester City to swoop in and claim the biggest prize in English football.

The dramatic nature of Liverpool's collapse also helped to take the attention away from another choker that season - Chelsea. The Blues held the top spot for nine straight rounds, before defeats to Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Sunderland saw them fall out of contention in the final weeks of the campaign.

Bayer Leverkusen 2001/02 - Neverkusen

In the final weeks of the 2001/02 season, Bayer Leverkusen were top of the Bundesliga, had clinched a place in the German Cup final and also secured a spot in the Champions League final.

However, instead of going on to complete their greatest ever season in style, Klaus Toppmoller's side spectacularly bombed in every competition, ending the campaign empty-handed.

The capitulation began in the league, as a run of two defeats and one draw in the final four games of the season saw Leverkusen surrender their nine-week run at the top of the Bundesliga.

Borussia Dortmund, who won their last three games, leapfrogged their rivals with two weeks to go and went on to seal their place in the history books.

Seven days on from their title collapse, Leverkusen lost 4-2 against Schalke in the final of the German Cup - the DFB Pokal.

Four days after that, Leverkusen travelled to Glasgow for the Champions League final against Real Madrid.

The pressure was on and ultimately, it was a moment of footballing magic from Zinedine Zidane which condemned Leverkusen to their most painful ever defeat. The 2-1 loss also earned them a new nickname - Neverkusen.

Lens 2001/2002 - Final-day surrender

In the same season that Leverkusen suffered their title collapse, a similar story unfolded in France as RC Lens bid for just their second league title in history.

Joel Muller's side were well on course to making that happen as they went top of the table in October and held that position for seven months - until the final game of the season.

Lens were self-destructing, however. A run of three wins from 10 games allowed Lyon to get within a single point of their title rivals. And if that wasn't dramatic enough, the two teams were set to go head-to-head in the final game of the season.

Lyon, who entered the title shootout on the back of a four-match unbeaten run, were playing on home turf and had the entire stadium behind them.

The match got off to a frantic start as Lyon scored two goals in 14 minutes to stun the visitors. Despite this, a goal from Jacek Bak made it 2-1 as Lens fought back.

Ultimately though, Lyon proved the superior team as a third goal in the second half sealed a 3-1 win and the French title.