In the storm of hooves and heartbeats that is the Grand National, the history books are written not by favourites, but by the unlikeliest of heroes.

When 100/1 outsiders cross the line first, the shockwaves ripple far beyond Aintree, creating legends and rewriting what we thought possible in racing. It is these moments that make the Grand National more than a race - they turn it into an unpredictable theatre of dreams, revered by fans and punters at 888sport alike.

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Every spring, Aintree welcomes hopefuls, experts, and dreamers, all searching for their place in horse racing’s most unpredictable marathon. The Grand National’s brutality - four-and-a-quarter miles, 30 fences, and a mammoth field 0 means chaos is never far away.

Here, the line between triumph and disaster is razor-thin, and the outsider can become immortal with one run.

Let’s relive the tales of the ten greatest upsets, where the Grand National biggest upsets became folklore and outsiders took their seat among the sport’s immortals.

Tipperary Tim (1928): The Last Horse Standing

A mist rolled over Aintree as 42 horses lined up, none more overlooked than Tipperary Tim. The story goes that a friend quipped, “You’ll win if all the others fall.” That day, under William Dutton, 41 did.

Only Tim and one rival finished, with Tim crossing the line in front. As the first to join the Grand National outsider winners list at 100/1, his unlikely victory remains a yardstick for shock horse racing results in the UK.

Gregalach (1929): Lightning Strikes Twice

A year later, and history looked set to repeat itself. The field ballooned to a record 66 - still the Grand National’s largest.

Gregalach, another 100/1 shot, survived the mayhem as more than 50 fell, leaving only nine to finish. Gregalach’s win proved that in the National, lightning really can strike twice, cementing his name among Grand National rank outsider legends.

Caughoo (1947): Fog, Rumours, and a Runaway Outsider

Caughoo’s triumph feels almost mythical. Shrouded in fog, he surged clear of 55 rivals by 20 lengths. Rumours swirled that he’d missed a circuit, but nothing was ever proven.

Caughoo’s 100/1 shock not only crowned him the lowest rated horse to win Grand National in his year, but added a layer of mystery to the outsider’s script.

Foinavon (1967): The Fence That Named a Legend

Foinavon was so unfancied that his owner didn’t bother attending. Behind the pack, his moment came at the 23rd fence - a loose horse caused chaos, but Foinavon picked his way through the carnage.

He won as the field regrouped, and the now-famous Foinavon fence stands as a memorial to one of the biggest Grand National shock winners ever.

Mon Mome (2009): The Modern Miracle

For decades, 100/1 triumphs seemed consigned to history. Then Mon Mome, written off by the market, stormed through the mud to win by 12 lengths. 

Venetia Williams became just the second female trainer to win, while jockey Liam Treadwell delivered a ride for the ages. Mon Mome’s win reminded everyone that the race still rewards the improbable, and sometimes, the Grand National longest odds winner can appear when you least expect.

Aurora’s Encore (2013): A 66/1 Dream

Few saw Aurora’s Encore coming. Starting at 66/1, this outsider joined the list of Grand National surprise results, romping home to a nine-length victory.

His clean jump and stamina saw off better-fancied rivals and turned an unheralded runner into a Grand National legend.

Last Suspect (1985): The Reluctant Hero

At 50/1, Last Suspect was considered more trouble than talent - a quirky, unpredictable competitor. But on National day, he relished the test, coming through late to claim victory.

His story is a reminder that even horses with patchy form can rise to the top when the fences and field conspire.

Ayala (1963): Youthful Nerve

Ayala was just seven when he lined up at 66/1. With little reason for optimism, he battled through to win, stamping his name among the National’s great outsider winners.

Every Aintree spring, his story reminds punters that youth and nerve can sometimes outshine experience and expectation.

ESB (1956): Drama at the Last

ESB’s shock win came after the long-time leader, Devon Loch, inexplicably collapsed just yards from victory.

ESB, seen as a 100/1 outsider by some bookmakers, swept by to claim an extraordinary win in a finish that still baffles and delights racing fans.

Shaun Spadah (1921): Against the Odds

Though not always recorded at 100/1, Shaun Spadah’s win in near-impossible muddy conditions remains one of the race’s most dramatic upsets. His stamina and courage saw him home in a year when the ground and fences defeated nearly all others - a true outsider’s triumph.

The Grand National’s greatest upsets live on because they shatter expectations. They offer proof that, at Aintree, chaos breeds possibility and even the longest shots can gallop into legend.

This article celebrates the Grand National’s history as a festival of unpredictability. If you choose to participate, please remember to gamble responsibly. For help and support, visit BeGambleAware.org.

The Champions League may be prestigious and elite, the very pinnacle of European football, but mismatches still occur.

Once in a while, a team continues to disprove the Champions League betting and makes it all the way beyond the qualifying rounds to the group stage where the big boys await.

In Estonia they are the reigning champions, the best of their peers. Suddenly, they’re in the Bernabeu, cast as minnows and hopelessly outclassed.

Where possible, we have omitted these occasions when Goliath swatted aside a plucky David.

Instead, we’ve focused on the times when two behemoths have met, with one ruthlessly dismantling the other.

Think the two T-Rexs in Jurassic Park turning on one another, but rather than an almighty scrap ensuing, it is bizarrely one-sided. These are results that shocked a watching continent.  

Humiliating Champions League Defeats:

• Liverpool 8-0 Besiktas (2007/08) 
• Manchester United 7-1 AS Roma (2006/07)
• Barcelona 7-2 Newcastle (2025/26)
• Tottenham Hotspur 2-7 Bayern Munich (2019/20)
• Manchester City 7-0 RB Leipzig (2022/23)
• Bayern Munich 9-2 Dinamo Zagreb (2024/25)
• Borussia Dortmund 7-1 Celtic (2024/25)
• Barcelona 6-1 Paris Saint-Germain (2016/17)
• Barcelona 2-8 Bayern Munich (2019/20)
• PSV Eindhoven 1-7 Arsenal (2024/25)

If these results tell us anything, it’s that even at the very highest level expensively assembled teams full of household names can spectacularly collapse.   

So, without further ado, it is time to count down the 10 most embarrassing defeats in Champions League history – do you agree with our football rankings?

Liverpool 8-0 Besiktas 

With a team sprinkled with Turkish internationals, Besiktas had beaten Liverpool in the corresponding fixture just two weeks before, the Brazilian forward Bobo scoring a late winner in Istanbul and giving the Black Eagles every chance of qualifying from Group A.

The visitors therefore presumably arrived at Anfield in good spirits, particularly as they topped Super Lig at the time, as per battling it out with their domestic arch-rivals Galatasaray. 

Rafa Benitez’s Reds however simply blew them away, committing men forward at every opportunity and not giving an overwhelmed opposition time to settle.

The game was all-but-won by the break, Liverpool two goals to the good. The second half was as brutal a demolition this competition has seen.

Ryan Babel scored twice. That alone tells the whole sorry tale. 

Manchester United 7-1 AS Roma

Holding a 2-1 advantage after a very competitive first leg in the Italian capital, Roma headed to Old Trafford in pretty solid form.

They had knocked out Lyon in the round of 16, and looked well-set to reach the last four.

Manchester United, however, had other ideas.

Alex Ferguson’s side mounted a ninety minute assault on the senses, taking a 3-0 lead before the 20-minute mark and adding three more before Roma scored their lone goal in the 69th minute.

The Red Devils were knocked out at the semis by Milan, who went on to beat Liverpool in the final. 

Barcelona 7-2 Newcastle United

With the tie firmly in the balance ahead of the last-16 second leg, Newcastle's hopes of reaching the Champions League quarter-finals were very much alive as the Magpies travelled to Camp Nou in March 2026.

However, it would be fair to say that things didn't exactly go to plan...

Newcastle made history but for all the wrong reasons, with the Toon Army conceding seven goals and therefore, equalling an English record for the most goals conceded in a Champions League match by an English club.

Around 10,000 supporters made the trip to sunny Spain but fans were left disappointed at a lacklustre defensive display, with Newcastle capitulating in the second half.

The 3,000 or so fans in the stadium couldn't quite believe what they were watching as the Magpies went to pieces.

Tottenham 2-7 Bayern Munich

A week is a long time in football. Four months can alter a narrative completely.

On June 1st, Spurs took on Liverpool in the biggest game in their history.

Though admittedly pitched as underdogs in the Champions League final betting, and though ultimately they lost 2-0, it was a statement of the enormous strides the club was making under Mauricio Pochettino. 

They were now one of the prominent players on the continental stage. 

On October 1st, they were subjected to a 7-2 hammering at the hands of Bayern Munich in the group stage. Reality bit, and bit so hard it drew blood. 

Heung-min Son put the Lilywhites ahead 12 minutes in, but Bayern scored four more unanswered prior to Harry Kane’s 61st-minute penalty.

FC Hollywood then netted three in five minutes before the final whistle to wrap up a drubbing.

Former Arsenal winger Serge Gnabry finished with four goals, rubbing greater salt into some painful Spurs wounds.

Pochettino was sacked a matter of weeks later. 

Manchester City 7-0 RB Leipzig

After a competitive 1-1 draw in the first leg, RB Leipzig must have fancied their chances of an upset as the tie headed to Manchester. What followed was a humiliation for the Bundesliga club. 

Erling Haaland effectively wrapped the tie up for Pep Guardiola’s side with a first-half hat-trick.

The Norwegian added two more after the break. Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne also getting on the scoresheet.

Leipzig were not the first or last team to lose heavily at the Etihad, but such a thumping in a Champions League knockout match is always crushing.

Bayern Munich 9-2 Dinamo Zagreb

Vincent Kompany has had a clear impact at Bayern Munich and his side have been running riot in the final third, and that was evident in the 9-2 victory over Dinamo Zagreb in the 2024/25 Champions League group stages.

Harry Kane scored four goals on the night, with three coming from the penalty spot as the Bavarians took full advantage of some haphazard defending. It truly was a night to forget for the visiting side at the Allianz Arena.

Things could've been even worse for the Croatian side, with the officials ruling not one but two Bayern goals out on the night.

This seven-goal mauling tied Bayern's highest ever margin of victory in the Champions League and it wouldn't be a huge shock to see the Bundesliga giants feature on this list again in the not-so-distant future.

Borussia Dortmund 7-1 Celtic

Celtic had won nine from nine in all competitions going into their Champions League clash with Borussia Dortmund but the Scottish champions were outclassed and embarrassed, conceding five goals in the first half.

In doing so, they became the first British club to ship five goals in a single half of a major European match since Cwmbran Town in 1997/98 and Brendan Rodgers had absolutely no excuses for Celtic's performance on the night.

Karim Adeyemi was a revelation and proved a constant thorn in Celtic's side, bagging a first half hat-trick in the space of 31 minutes to add salt to the Bhoys' wounds.

One post-match report suggested that Celtic were lucky to only concede seven and this game could've hit even greater heights had Dortmund not spurned a number of clear opportunities to add to their goals tally. It was an embarrassing night for Scotland's biggest football club.

Barcelona 6-1 PSG

In a blockbuster last 16 tie PSG headed to Spain comfortably buffered by a 4-0 first-leg win.

Surely, they were finally proving they could compete with Europe’s elite on the biggest stage of them all? Not quite.

Barcelona prepared for the second leg with a 5-0 win over Celta, which proved to be a sign of things to come.

Luis Suarez put the hosts ahead three minutes in, setting them on the right track, but the second goal didn’t come until the 40th minute.

Lionel Messi made it 3-0 with 50 minutes on the clock, but Edinson Cavani got an away goal for PSG which seemed to have blunted Barca’s shot at history. 

PSG imploded after being angered at having a penalty shout turned down. Neymar found the net with a free-kick in the 88th minute, giving the hosts a glimmer of hope.

A penalty for the hosts was converted moments later before Sergi Roberto’s dramatic tie-winning goal five minutes into added time. 

Barcelona 2-8 Bayern Munich

Played behind closed doors in Lisbon, we can only imagine what the atmosphere would have been like had this taken place at a packed Camp Nou.

This quarter-final drubbing was the first time Barcelona had conceded eight goals in a match since 1946.

Remarkably, Barca took an early lead through an early David Alaba own goal. Bayern, though, were 5-1 up with 31 minutes on the clock.

Images of a dejected Lionel Messi are the long-standing memory of this fixture. It was symbolic of how far Barcelona had fallen due to ageing core players and some poor recruitment decisions.

Bayern ultimately won the competition, and Messi left for PSG 12 months later.

PSV Eindhoven 1-7 Arsenal

Missing several key attacking players through injury, a trip to the Netherlands was a potential banana skin for Arsenal. PSV Eindhoven weren't in the best form, but they had knocked Juventus out in the playoffs and drawn away to PSG in the league phase.

What followed was a humiliating defeat to the Dutch giants in front of a frustrated Philips Stadion crowd.

Jurrien Timber, Ethan Nwaneri, and Mikel Merino took the Gunners to a 3-0 lead just after the half-hour mark. A penalty from Noa Lang gave PSV some hope before the break, but Arsenal delivered a scintillating second-half performance, featuring a brace from Martin Odegaard en route to a 7-1 win.