Top 5 of the biggest footballing upsets in 2017
Football is one of those rare top-level sports in which upsets are quite common and every year, there are some results that completely defy the odds.
Underdogs often rise above the handicap of playing against far better opponents and put in a performance that comes as a bit of a shock to everyone. On the other hand, smaller clubs with a smartly assembled team of talented players can upstage more fancied opponents as well.
Very much like the past years, 2017 has also seen its fair share of upsets and here is a look at the top 5 of the biggest upsets that shook the footballing world.
#5 Plucky Monaco beat Pep Guardiola's City
When Manchester City was drawn against Monaco in the Round of 16 of the 2016-17 season of the UEFA Champions League in February earlier this year, there was widespread belief that the English club would easily win the two-legged tie.
However, Monaco's talented bunch of players, such as the likes of Radamel Falcao, Kylian Mbappe, Bernardo Silva and Thomas Lemar, among others, put on a show that overwhelmed Pep Guardiola's squad
In the first leg at the Etihad, the two sides produced an end to end 8 goal game which City won 5-3.
Monaco led 2-1 at half-time through goals from Falcao and Mbappe. Falcao then missed a penalty in the 50th minute and thereafter City fought back through a Sergio Aguero goal in the 58th minute. Falcao scored again to make it 3-2 in the 61st minute but the game ended 5-3 to City, as the players rallied to score 3 goals in a 12-minute spell.
Monaco might have lost the first leg but they had 3 away goals and that is what eventually lead them to victory.
In the second leg, at Monaco, the hosts completely dominated Manchester City and went up 2-0 in the first half through goals form Mbappe and Fabinho. Leroy Sane pulled one back in the 71st minute to make it 6-5 on aggregate to City and if they had held on they would have gone through.
However, midfielder Tiemoue Bakoyoko completed the massive upset by scoring the third in the 77th minute and making it 6-6 on aggregate. Monaco held on for the rest of the game and went through to the quarter-finals on the away goals rule.