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One night in the summer of 2015, David de Gea was seconds away from becoming Real Madrid’s next Galáctico. Everything was done, agreement reached, signatures in place, Madrid waiting. Then, somewhere inside Manchester United’s offices, a fax machine jammed.

That small mechanical failure ended one of the most dramatic transfer sagas in modern football. De Gea stayed in Manchester, the deal dissolved, and his career took a different turn.

Had that fax gone through, he might have been part of Real Madrid’s dynasty, three Champions Leagues, a golden era, his name among the greats. Instead, he lingered at Old Trafford through the club’s decline, his brilliance fading into nostalgia.

Football’s history is littered with minor incidents that, in hindsight, changed the story of the sport: a missed penalty, a late tackle, a referee’s decision. Change one, and the story looks completely different.

Across generations, these “what if” moments have defined football. They remind us that, behind every triumph and heartbreak, is not only skill and strategy but also the unpredictable rhythm of chance.

I’ve gathered ten of the most consequential “what if” moments, the instances where a single twist reshaped football’s history and, in doing so, altered how the game itself is remembered.

10. Barcelona Choosing Mourinho over Guardiola

Before all the fights and the mind games, before all the eye pokes and the haramball masterclass, Barcelona was home to José Mourinho. He came to the club as Bryan Robson’s translator before transitioning to Louis van Gaal’s assistant in the late 90s. 

Seeing pictures of Mourinho as the coach chatting with club captain Pep Guardiola just feels surreal. But yes, they used to be friends at some point.

Mourinho left Barcelona in 2000 to finally prove himself as a head coach. By 2004, he was already running down the touchline at Old Trafford and lifting the Champions League with Porto.

So, with his experience in management, Mourinho joined Chelsea and also proved that he was able to compete with the top dogs, Wenger and Sir Alex.

Fast forward to 2008, and Barcelona is looking for a new manager. You would think that the board would go for a world-class manager with an unquestionable history of winning and an understanding of what Barcelona is. 

But for some reason, they decided to snub Mourinho and chose Guardiola instead, who was still the B-team coach with Tito Villanova. That may have felt like a rookie move as the model of appointing feeder team managers was not popular at the time.

So what if Barcelona decided to sign Mourinho instead? No Pep Guardiola, no tiki-taka revolution, no treble in 2009. Maybe Messi doesn’t become the Messi we know now. 

But here’s the thing, Mourinho not getting the Barca job also gave us some of the spiciest El Clásicos of all time. It turned Madrid vs Barcelona into an actual soap opera. Epic press conferences, fights on the pitch, horror tackles, iconic celebrations, eye pokes, we’ve got it all. 

So maybe there weren’t losers here, just trade-offs. Football gave us the best of both worlds: Pep’s genius and Mourinho’s chaos.

9. John Terry’s Penalty at the 2008 Champions League final

Chelsea and Manchester United were locked in the Champions League final in Moscow in the pouring rain..  

Roman Abramovich was probably already picturing himself lifting the trophy through John Terry’s hands.

After Ronaldo’s penalty miss, the final kick came down to John Terry, captain fantastic. One penalty. One kick to win Chelsea’s first-ever Champions League trophy. But in a cruel twist of fate, the ever-reliable John Terry slipped and smacked the ball into the post. 

Then Anelka went on to miss the deciding kick to put the final nail in Chelsea’s coffin.

Manchester United, their arch-rivals, lifted the trophy and their last-ever Champions League trophy. If Terry had scored that goal, Chelsea would have become European champions and denied Manchester United their 3rd UCL trophy. 

8. Steven Gerrard’s Slip against Chelsea in 2014

Speaking of winning the Premier League, some “what if” moments don’t just decide a season; they define a career. Steven Gerrard had done everything for Liverpool, through game-defining goals and historic European nights like the glory of Istanbul. 

Despite his numerous successes, the Premier League trophy was missing from his impressive trophy cabinet. In 2014, Liverpool assembled an insane attack with Steven Gerrard, Luis Suarez, and Daniel Sturridge, and the Premier League title was within reach. 

Then came Chelsea at Anfield. In an uncharacteristic misjudgement, Steven Gerrard slipped, and in a flash, Demba Ba was running through on goal to score for Chelsea. 

After losing this game 2-0 to Chelsea, Liverpool crumbled mentally and basically went on to fumble 3-3 at Selhurst Park, effectively surrendering the league to Manchester City, who had three games in hand.

Had Gerrard stayed on his feet, Liverpool might have ended their drought six years earlier. Gerrard could have lifted the one trophy that eluded him, and his status as a Premier League legend might have overshadowed Frank Lampard.

7. Sergio Ramos’s Header at the 2014 Champions League Final

Diego Simeone returned to Atlético Madrid in September 2011, not as the midfield captain of 1996, but as a coach tasked with reviving a broken club. Within three seasons, he had built a side that was compact and disciplined in and out of possession.

They gave up possession, fought for every ball, and found ways to edge out wins. What critics called “haram” football became their strength. In a league ruled by Messi’s Barcelona and Ronaldo’s Madrid, Simeone’s team snatched the title in 2014.

That same year, they reached the Champions League final, a stage few believed possible for the club to achieve. It felt as unlikely as spotting a grizzly bear in Accra. 

But here they were, playing against eternal rivals Real Madrid, and less than 1 minute away from their first-ever Champions League title.

Simeone urged the fans on, arms raised, as the noise grew deafening. One whistle was all they needed.

Madrid won a corner. On the sideline, Carlo Ancelotti chewed his gum, calm as ever. The match hung in the balance. Atletico were seconds away from glory, or a plunge into extra time where fate might turn against them.

But not so fast. Luka Modric was about to take a corner.  Sergio Ramos leaped highest to break the unbreakable Atletico defense to score the equalizer in the 93rd minute. Real Madrid went on to demolish the already demoralized Atletico Madrid 4–1 in extra time, and the story became La Decima.

If Ramos hadn’t scored, Atletico would have changed their club’s story. Instead of being nearly men, they would have been European champions, and Real Madrid’s obsession with La Decima would have dragged on.

6. Leicester City Sextape Scandal in 2015

What if I told you that a racist sextape helped Leicester City win the league? Sounds nuts, right?

Before the fairytale of 2016, Leicester City were relegation fodder in the Premier League. They were at the bottom of the table and barely managed to stay up. 

For pre-season, the club traveled to Thailand for a couple of friendlies. During this Thailand trip, three Leicester players, Tom Hopper, Adam Smith, and James Pearson, who was the son of the coach Nigel Pearson, made a sextape in which they also managed to abuse the women racially.

As a result of the scandal, Nigel Pearson lost his job as the manager, and Claudio Ranieri joined as his replacement in the summer of 2015.

If not for that sextape, we would have been denied the sensation that was Leicester City winning the league in 2016. Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez would have joined other clubs, and Ranieri would have missed out on the chance to inspire one of the greatest underdog stories in sports history. 

5. Arjen Robben Misses at the 2010 World Cup Final 

The 2010 World Cup final featured two teams that had never won the trophy before. Spain were the European champions with their mesmerizing tiki taka style, which was still new at the time, but the Dutch attack was just insane.

This was the Netherlands’s 3rd attempt at winning the World Cup final after failing twice in 1974 and 1978. Even with all the world-class players and legends the country produced, it never went their way. 

This time around, it looked like the stars had aligned with Wesley Sneijder coming off a Champions League Triumph and Robin Van Persie in the form of his life.

At 0–0, in the 62nd minute, Arjen Robben burst through on goal. The Dutch nation held its breath. Those situations were the kind that Robben capitalized on; the expectancy was a goal.

As he took his shot, Iker Casillas stuck out his foot, and the ball rolled wide—shock and disbelief in one sentence, that was arguably the save of the tournament. 

For the Netherlands, it was a matter of whether another chance would come. In games like this, it usually doesn’t.

Moments later, Spain had their opportunity. Andrés Iniesta got the ball and scored the winner in extra time, and Spain became the world champions. 

This loss ended the Dutch golden generation and extended Spain’s period of dominance in world football for two more years.

4. Agüero’s Goal on the Final Day of the 2012 Premier League 

It’s the final day of the 2012 Premier League season, and both Manchester City and Manchester United were neck and neck in the title race. 

Anything less than a draw for Manchester City meant that the title would go to Manchester United. The suspense was intense.

With the game at the Etihad tied at 2-2, Manchester United were already de facto champions after beating Sunderland. Since the results were in their favour deep into stoppage time at the Etihad, United players started to take a victory lap around the Stadium of Light. 

Then, with virtually the last kick of the game, Sergio Kun Aguero received a delicate pass from Ballotelli and delivered the dagger to complete the comeback and knock Manchester United off their perch. 

The look on Fergie’s face? Priceless.  The shock on Phil Jones’ face when he realized what had just happened was even more unbelievable. Their next-door neighbors had snatched the title from them in a split second.

It was done. Manchester City were no longer just the noisy neighbors. This was a statement title, announcing their arrival as genuine contenders for English football’s top prize.

Even though Manchester United went on to win the league the following year, they’ve remained in City’s shadow ever since then. 

If Aguero had missed that goal, Manchester City might have collapsed or at least had to wait a few more years to win the league. Robin Van Persie might have stayed at Arsenal instead of winning the League with United the following year.

3. Asamoah Gyan’s Penalty Miss at the 2010 World Cup

2nd July, 2010, at Soccer City, Johannesburg, the Quarterfinal match between Ghana and Uruguay.  A day most Africans will never forget. 

Ghana carried the hopes of the entire continent on its back. With other participating countries on the continent at the World Cup already being edged out of the tournament 

With the game tied 1-1 in extra time, Ghana gets a golden chance to score into an open net. But Luis Suarez was not going to let that happen. In utter desperation, he punches the ball away on the goal line with both hands.

Ghana had the opportunity to win the game on the spot. They had the chance to become the first African country to reach the semis.

Up stepped Gyan, Ghana’s prolific striker, who had helped in taking them far, and boom! The ball hits the crossbar and goes out for a goal kick. The entire stadium went silent, even the vuvuzelas stopped buzzing for once, the entire month. 

If that ball had gone in, African football would have written a new chapter. Instead, the wait stretched on for 12 more years until Morocco finally defeated Portugal to become the first African and Arab team to reach the World Cup semifinal.

Gyan went from potential African hero to dream killer. If he scored, Africa would have made a semi-final on African soil. Suarez became public enemy number one in Accra. 

2. 2020 Brighton vs Arsenal: Maupay Injures Leno 

It was an ordinary Premier League afternoon at the Amex Stadium, the kind that might have slipped quietly into the archives of Premier League matches. The stands were half-empty, the atmosphere hollow. Yet, on that day, a single challenge altered the course of modern football in ways no one could have imagined.

Midway through the first half, Brighton’s Neal Maupay collided with Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno. The German fell awkwardly, wriggling in pain, and was soon stretchered off, pointing angrily at Maupay as he disappeared down the tunnel.

What appeared to be just another injury in the season would, in time, set off a chain of events that moved far beyond Arsenal, beyond England, and all the way to Qatar.

On the bench that day sat Emiliano Martínez, a name few outside Arsenal had paid much attention to. Signed as a teenager from Argentina a decade earlier, he had spent most of his career in the shadows.

A series of loan spells, a handful of league appearances, and the quiet frustration of a player waiting for a chance that might never come was what had been the story of Martinez’s career.

When Leno’s injury forced him onto the pitch, Martínez’s life changed. Arsenal were struggling under Mikel Arteta, adrift in mid-table, with little sign of progress after the post-Wenger era. The decision to rely on a backup goalkeeper in such uncertain times did little to inspire confidence amongst the fans.

Martínez’s performances in the weeks that followed turned doubt into belief. Commanding, emotional, and fiercely committed, he helped steer Arsenal to an FA Cup triumph that summer. This victory restored pride to a restless fanbase and gave Martínez the platform he had waited years for.

That season was the making of Emiliano Martinez. Within a year, he had earned a move to Aston Villa and, more importantly, the number one shirt for Argentina. In 2021, he stood between the posts as Lionel Messi lifted his first major trophy with the national team, the Copa América.

Eighteen months later, he played a decisive role in Argentina’s World Cup victory over France, producing the save and the shootout heroics that sealed Messi’s immortality in football.

And so, by the strange logic of football’s intertwined fates, Neal Maupay, a French striker in a routine league fixture, had unwittingly shaped the story of Lionel Messi, Argentina, and the 2022 World Cup.

1. Kolo Muani’s Chance at the 2022 World Cup Final

Of course, what better place to start than with the butterfly effect of Neal Maupay injuring Bernd Leno?

So, after Messi dragged Argentina through the chaotic tournament, he was finally one game away from putting his hand on the object of his heart’s desire. 

For Messi, this was not his first rodeo as he had been to the World Cup final before in 2014, but this was most likely the twilight of his international career. 

The final swung wildly between two giants, with Argentina taking control in the early stages. Mbappé is dragging France back from the dead with an all-time performance. And then… the chance that made the whole world gasp in collective shock.

In the dying seconds of extra time, Lionel Messi’s dream nearly ended. Randal Kolo Muani broke free after a defensive clearance. 

With the entire world watching, he had the chance to shatter Argentina’s dream and crown France as back-to-back World Cup winners.

Emi Martínez stretched his legs as wide as possible to block the shot from point-blank range, and in that split second, Argentina was saved. Emi Martinez then went on to put on an all-time performance in the penalty shootout to win the trophy for Argentina.

If Kolo Muani had scored, France would have become the most decorated national team of the modern era. Mbappe would have won the Ballon d’Or. And Messi’s legacy would still be in question as the man who failed to win the World Cup twice.