The DiCaprio Effect: 5 sports jinxes that can be broken this year, in true Leo style
The solemn monologues about the unforgivable prejudices of the Academy will be missed, and so will the memes (but maybe not all of them; some were pretty disturbing and unfunny). In case you haven't heard, today Leonardo DiCaprio broke one of pop culture's most talked about jinxes by winning the Oscar for Best Actor. The Revenant was a painstaking experience, both for the makers and the viewers, so clearly it deserved a bunch of awards.But jinxes are not restricted to Hollywood; our very own sports world is filled with them too. Athletes and teams spend years, sometimes decades, trying to win that elusive piece of silverware, only to be thwarted at the last hurdle amid much gnashing of teeth.Some, like the case of Benfica, are steeped in tales of voodoo magic and personal vendetta. Others, like the Kevin Durant hoodoo, are a tad more colourful and modern-Twitter-rapper-inspired.Of all the innumerable sporting jinxes, I could count at least five that stand a good chance of being broken this year. Here's a look at each of them:
#1 A team defending the Champions League title
The UEFA Champions League is, by all accounts, one of the most intense and competitive tournaments in the world – if not the most. No other tournament, in any sport, is as immune to the 'fairytale run’ as the Champions League. In the tournament's rich and spectacular history, you won't find a team that ‘defied all the odds’ to script an unlikely title march that no one saw coming. At least not since 1992, the beginning of the Champions League era.
So it makes sense that each UCL champion in this 24-year period has been saddled with a unique and occasionally ignored jinx. No team has managed to defend a Champions League title; there has never been an instance of a team winning the tournament two years in a row.
AC Milan came close in 1994-95; after winning the title in 1993-94, they went all the way to the final the next year too. But they stumbled against Ajax, going down 1-0 after an 85th-minute winner by ex-Milanese Frank Rijkaard.
Ajax then had a chance to achieve the feat themselves in the very next edition; as the defending champions, they pushed Juventus all the way in the 1996 final. But the Old Lady had the last word, as old ladies tend to do, and they emerged triumphant 4-2 in a penalty shootout.
The Manchester United faithful will be quick to tell you that the Red Devils had a shot at breaking the curse too. After winning the title in 2007-08 they reached the summit clash again in 2008-09, this time against a raging Barcelona. But their hopes were quickly doused in a 2-0 loss that marked the start of Lionel Messi's reign over world football.
Juventus are the only other team to have had a chance of breaking the jinx, but they faltered against Borussia Dortmund in the 1996-97 final. Incidentally, that makes it three consecutive teams who had the chance to win two in a row – Milan in 1995, Ajax in 1996 and Juventus in 1997.
Barcelona, of course, are dead-set on turning this jinx into an afterthought. After completing the treble last year they only seem to have gotten better this season, with the Messi-Suarez-Neymar trio taking on new and unprecedented levels of intimidation.
At the moment no team seems capable of knocking Barcelona off their perch, and there is little to suggest anyone other than the Blaugrana will be lifting the trophy come 28th May. But as we've all learned in the past two decades, it's never as easy as it looks.
Barcelona may be the favourites to defend their title, but they will have to give their absolute best, and hope for good fortune to be on their side, to break this long-standing jinx.