Law of averages in football - It all evens out

2) Ruud Van Nistelrooy (a tale of two penalties)

The incident that, perhaps, preserved Arsenal‘s ‘Invincible’ tag more than most was the Dutchman’s missed last-minute penalty that helped the Gunners to a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford in 2003.

The match got heated up in the final ten minutes. Van Nistelrooy tripped Vieira, who reacted while lying on the field, flicking his boot. The Frenchman, who had been booked earlier, was shown his marching orders by the referee. It sparked a melee between the teams resulting in Van Nistelrooy and Jens Lehmann being carded.

In the stoppage time, United earned a penalty, giving the Dutchman a chance to seal victory, but his spot kick thudded against the bar, prompting another flare-up as several Arsenal players surrounded Van Nistelrooy, shoving and taunting him. The ugly scenes continued after the match.

Arsenal, that season, went on to win the Premier League without losing a single game, leaving Van Nistlrooy pondering what might have been had his penalty found the back of the net on that evening at Old Trafford.

The United striker, however, got his moment of redemption a year on from the incident. Arsenal were on a record 49-match unbeaten streak when they returned to Old Trafford the following season. In a match where tempers were boiling, United earned a penalty in the second half. Van Nistelrooy, inevitably, stepped up to take it. The calmness and composure that he displayed in slotting the penalty past the keeper, who went the wrong way, was just the opposite of the celebration that followed it – Arms spread wide in exultation, he ran towards the corner flag, almost in slow motion, as if the events of a year before were rolling before his eyes. He kneeled down at the flag and let out a long wild shriek, that purged all the agony, trauma and pain off him, and finally, burned the ghost of that missed penalty that would have haunted him for an entire year. They call it, the law of averages – it all evens out.

3) Chelsea Football club and Didier Drogba (name on the 2012 European Cup)

Chelsea were hibernating in cold English weather until Roman Abramovich plucked them out of obscurity and put them back into the higher echelons of English football. After they won two back to back titles in 2005 and 2006, first of which was their first in 50 years, they made the European cup as their prime target.

The Russian injected millions into the football club that made them a force to be reckoned with in European football.

After a couple of years of struggling at the quarter or the semi finals stage, the influx of money and the hard work paid off in 2008, when Chelsea earned themselves a place in the Champions League final against Manchester United. The end result, however, was not that Chelsea and its fans were looking for.

In a match where Didier Drogba was sent off, following a snap at Nemanja Vidic, Chelsea lost out narrowly in the penalty shoot-out.