Sports Spectacular

Cillian Neeson discusses three remarkable stories in sports. First, he talks about Leicester City's incredible comeback to win the Premier League in 2015-16. Then, he mentions Liverpool's memorable comeback win in the 2004-05 UEFA Champions League final. Finally, he highlights Iceland's historic qualification for the Euro 2016 tournament. Despite being underdogs, Iceland achieved success and inspired their nation. Neeson recalls these stories as moments of miracles and symbols of resilience in sports. Hi, my name's Cillian Neeson. You're listening to the Sports Spectacular podcast where we discuss all things that make sports so beautiful. Today we're talking about miracles in the football world, so make sure to stay tuned till the end. For this first miracle, I'll be taking you to the incredible comeback story of Leicester City during the 2015-16 Premier League season. It is among the most inspirational underdog tales in sports history. Despite having a small budget and a track record of battling relegation, Leicester City surprised everyone by winning their first ever Premier League Championship. Claudio Ranieri took over as manager of Leicester City in July 2015 and the team stared at the season as 5,000 to 1 outsiders to win the league. They had many commentators believing they would be relegated once more, but what came next was a fantastic journey that grabbed the attention of sports fans all around the world. Leicester City, a relatively small club in terms of financial resources and historical success, had unironically avoided relegation from the Premier League the previous season. The team was managed by Claudio Ranieri, an experienced coach known for his friendly personality but who had never won a league title in his managerial career. Many pundits had Leicester City as relegation candidates at the start of their title-winning campaign. However, in defying all odds, the club started a phenomenal winning streak, constantly surpassing predictions and taking down some of the best teams in the league. With Jamie Vardy's goal-scoring ability and Riyad Mahrez's creativity in midfield, Leicester City's unconventional style of play, which is marked by high energy and counter-attacking football, proved to be quite successful. As the season went on, football fans all over the world became enthralled with Leicester City's surprise success, and even impartial observers began to support the underdog squad. Leicester City's win against Manchester City in February 2016 was a real turning point in their title challenge as it showed everyone that they were able to compete with the elite teams in the Premier League. Tottenham Hotspur were the main title challengers but fell short in the final few weeks of the season, which allowed Leicester to win the league, with two games to spare. It's funny because I remember this sort of season of the Premier League football. I would have been fairly young at this stage, but I was still an Arsenal fan, and it was actually Leicester City who beat Arsenal to the league title when we looked quite promising to win it. And I just remember this sort of unreal goal scorer coming through in Jamie Vardy and him breaking the Premier League goal scoring record for most consecutive goals in the season. And I remember Riyad Mahrez with his sort of flair and his creativity just playing balls in behind. And then you see a player like N'Golo Kante coming through, who has become one of the Premier League's best centre midfielders, and he was just everywhere. So it was an unreal season and I just remember it as being a miracle as a bunch of these players who are either past their peak or you haven't heard of them much before and they were just unbelievable. For this next segment I'll be talking about Liverpool's remarkable comeback win in the UEFA Champions League of the 2004-05 season. It is often referred to as the miracle of Istanbul. It is one of the most memorable moments in soccer history. The final took place on May 25, 2005 at Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey. Liverpool managed by Rafael Benitez faced off against AC Milan, one of the most successful clubs in European history. AC Milan got off to a blistering start with captain Paolo Maldini scoring a goal in the first minute of the match. Hernan Crespo added two more goals before half-time, putting Milan 3-0 ahead. At half-time, Liverpool faced an almost insurmountable challenge, trailing by three goals and struggling to cope with Milan's attacking prowess. However, in a dramatic turn of events, Liverpool mounted a stunning comeback in the second half. Steven Gerrard scored a crucial goal in the 5th-4th minute to give Liverpool hope. Vladimir Smyser added another goal just two minutes later, further reducing the deficit to 3-2. Liverpool's momentum continued to build in the 60th minute. Xabi Alonso scored the equalising goal from the rebound of his own saved penalty kick. It made the game 3-3 in completing one of the most remarkable comebacks in Champions League history. Despite numerous chances for both teams, the score remained level at the end of the regulation and extra-time, meaning a penalty shoot-out was needed to determine the winner. In the penalty shoot-out, Jerzy Dudek, the Liverpool goalkeeper, emerged as the hero, producing crucial saves against Andrea Pirlo and Andriy Shevchenko, who are both legends of the game. Liverpool converted all their penalties, with Dieter Hamann, Gibraltar Cissé, Steven Gerrard and Vladimir Smyser finding the back of the net. With Liverpool leading 3-2 in the penalty shoot-out, Jerzy Dudek saved Shevchenko's penalty to secure Liverpool's fifth European title. The miracle of Istanbul is regarded as one of the greatest comebacks in soccer history and has come to represent Liverpool's never-say-die attitude. The match holds a special place in the hearts of Liverpool fans, symbolising the club's resilience and ability to overcome seemingly impossible odds. The victory in Istanbul marked Liverpool's fifth European Cup and remains a defining moment in the club's illustrious history. The miracle of Istanbul is not just a historic football match, but a testament to the drama and unpredictability that makes the UEFA Champions League one of the most prestigious and captivating competitions in the world. I know how much it meant to Liverpool fans now, despite being too young to even watch the game or remember it at all. My father is a Liverpool fan and he would have been talking about it non-stop when I was growing up and to this day he still does talk about that comeback as it just was unreal and not seen before, like no one had ever done it. So it holds a great place in the hearts of Liverpool fans all around the world and it just, like I said earlier, shows how great of a competition the Champions League is. For this next segment I want to talk about a story that I love. It's not a success story like the other two stories where a trophy is the outcome of their upsets. Iceland's qualification for the UEFA Euro 2016 tournament was a historic achievement for the small Nordic nation and was one of the most remarkable stories in international soccer. Iceland, with a small population of just over 330,000 people, had never qualified for a major international tournament prior to Euro 2016. The team was managed by Lars Lagerbeck, a Swedish head coach, and Heimer Helgemsen, an Icelandic dentist who also served as co-manager. Iceland was drawn into Group A of the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying campaign alongside teams like the Netherlands, Czech Republic and Turkey. Despite being considered underdogs, Iceland got off to a strong start in qualifying, picking up points against tough opponents and displaying a resilient and organised style of play. One of the defining moments of their campaign came in September 2014 when they defeated the Netherlands 2-0, marking their first ever victory over the Dutch national team. Iceland continued to perform consistently throughout the qualifying campaign, securing important wins and draws to gain crucial points and climb up the group standings. In their final qualifying match against Kazakhstan in October 2015, Iceland secured a 0-0 draw which was enough to confirm their place in the Euro 2016 finals as one of the top two teams in their group. Iceland's qualification for Euro 2016 was met with jubilation and pride by fans across the country. It was a historic moment for Icelandic soccer and a testament to the hard work and dedication of the players, coaches and support staff. The team's success on the international stage helped raise the profile of Icelandic soccer and inspired a new generation of players and fans. At Euro 2016, Iceland continued to defy expectations, advancing to the knockout stage of the tournament before ultimately being eliminated by France in the quarter-finals. I personally remember this story and tournament very well as it was a special tournament for Ireland as well. After surprising everyone and qualifying out of the group stages, Iceland was faced with the task of going up against European juggernauts England in the round of 16. Everyone thought this was one step too far for Iceland but once again they defied all odds when they knocked out England 2-1 and it was especially impressive due to the fact that England went 1-0 up in the second minute and nobody thought they could come back from it but they scored two quick goals and the game was turned on its head and they ended up finishing off and winning the game 2-1. The achievements of the Icelandic national team during the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign and tournament run remain a source of national pride and continue to be celebrated as a symbol of the country's sporting prowess and unity. I personally remember this tournament even just as a sort of a fairytale tournament where a lot of the small teams made big waves and they defied all expectations and teams who would never get a look in qualified for the semi-finals like Wales for example got to the semi-final of Euro 2016, Ireland got out of the group stage for the first time in their history, then you have a story like Iceland here they beat England 2-1 in the round of 16 and then get to play against France in their home tournament in the quarter-finals so it was a really good tournament and it's great to see the impact that this tournament alone has had on the country of Iceland you know they've got a good national team that can get results and even their national league at the stage has become way more professional since this tournament and it just shows what the sport can do for people. And you know like football is an incredible sport there's so many miracles that I could be sitting here talking about like for example the Denmark win in 1992 they won the Euros in 1992 after not even qualifying for the tournament and they only qualified due to the fact that Yugoslavia was banned from the tournament essentially. Denmark got knocked out in the qualifying phase for the tournament and then they were reintroduced after Yugoslavia being banned and they went on to win it and then another story would be of the Greece 2004 win where a small footballing nation who don't really make much sound on the national stage they go ahead and defy all odds once again like Denmark and Iceland even to go on and win the tournament. And with that little story there we have run out of time that's all we have time for today I have been your host Kilian Neeson on the Sports Spectacular podcast I hope you enjoyed and I hope you tune in for the next podcast.