Real Madrid, Barcelona, Tottenham, Leeds United, Argentina and Portugal all feature in our list of football matches we can’t believe have never happened.
There’s a strange quirk of fate when it comes to the luck of the draw, in which some of the biggest clubs in the world have somehow continually avoided one another. We’ve taken a look through the football history books and identified seven matches we’re sure must have happened at some point… but somehow didn’t.
Note: We’re talking competitive meetings only here, not friendlies.
Real Madrid vs Flamengo
Given the different orbits they inhabit, it’s perhaps not that much of a surprise that Real Madrid haven’t played against Flamengo.
But when you consider that Flamengo are one of the biggest clubs in South America, boasting the biggest fanbase in Brazil, you’d have thought that these two behemoths of their respective continents would have met at some point.
Madrid have been a frequent fixture of Club World Cups, given how often they win the Champions League. Los Blancos have faced off against the likes of Gremio, San Lorenzo and Boca Juniors in FIFA’s flagship intercontinental competition, but they’ve never faced Flamengo.
The Brazilian giants missed a golden opportunity to book a glamour tie against Madrid back in 2022. They won that year’s Copa Libertadores but lost to Saudi side Al Hilal 3-2 in their Club World Cup semi.
Barcelona vs Marseille
We scoured Barcelona’s all-time list of opponents and invariably almost all the elite clubs you’ve heard of feature. They’ve faced pretty much all the big dogs from England, Germany, Italy and France… apart from Marseille, who are conspicuously absent.
You could argue that Marseille are a bit… Europa League-y, so it’s not all that surprising. But historically they possess a fine European pedigree.
AC Milan vs Valencia
Some kind of Mandela effect thing going on with this one.
If you’d told us that Carlo Ancelotti’s Milan had beaten Rafael Benitez’s Valencia 3-1 over two legs of a Champions League Round of 16 in 2002-03 we’d have no reason not to believe you.
In fact, it’s downright weird that the two clubs didn’t do battle at some point in the early noughties. It just feels right.
Portugal vs Argentina
Okay, technically speaking, Argentina and Portugal have played one another quite a few times. On no fewer than eight occasions, in fact. But all of those are friendlies, admittedly with the 1964 ‘Copa das Nacoes’ and 1972 ‘Brazil Independence Cup’ debatable on that front.
Money-spinning Messi vs Ronaldo matches have been arranged in 2011 and 2014, with the latter at Old Trafford among the most dismally forgettable games this writer has ever attended.
Given their quality, each consistently making it out of World Cup groups and winning continental titles in recent times, it’s a bit odd they’ve not come up against each other at some point. But at least in avoiding it we’ve all been spared a Pessi vs Penaldo social media apocalypse of epic proportions.
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Leeds United vs Wrexham
We did some deep digging around the 92 clubs of the Football League to come up with an all-English British tie and this was the best we could muster in terms of profile of the respective clubs. Think you’ve got a better one? Let us know @planetfutebol.
Google tells us that Leeds and Wrexham did meet in a pre-season friendly back in 1964, with Leeds legends like Billy Bremner, Paul Madeley and Norman Hunter lining up at the Racehorse Ground.
They’ve never met in a competitive setting, which is a bit mad when you think of their odysseys up and down the English football pyramid and the countless times they’ll have featured in the same cup draws.
In 2024-25, Wrexham find themselves just one tier below Daniel Farke’s side. Might they find themselves in the same division some day?
PSV vs Celtic
Earlier on in this piece we stated that Flamengo and Real Madrid occupy different orbits. But PSV and Celtic are very much part of the same orbit, namely.. Champions League group stage numbers-makers-up, that might go on a run in the Europa League if they finish third or mess up the qualifiers.
Even Brenden Rodgers would nod along if you recalled the time that Celtic suffered a costly 1-0 defeat at the Philips Stadion in October 2017. Hirving Lozano with the only goal of an attritional game. But nope, never happened. Somehow.
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PSG vs Tottenham
What, you don’t remember the six-goal thriller in the… *checks notes*… International Champions Cup back in 2017? Spurs won 4-2 at the wonderfully named Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida.
Talking proper football only, Spurs and PSG have never faced off. Which you’d expect would’ve happened at some point, with the two clubs being regulars in the Champions League throughout the 2010s, getting as far as the final in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
We’re not advocating for warmed balls, but some kind of system to offer more variety in the Champions League would be welcome. Manchester City vs Shakhtar Donetsk and PSG vs Barca seem to happen every year.