Sport can be an emotional business. We seen displays of raw pain, real grief in sporting arenas down the years.
Manchester United secured a heartening draw against Bayern Munich tonight and this fixture has been the scene of the most distressed reactions to defeat even witnessed (see No. 1).
It inspired us to compile this collection of moments when sports people let their emotions show.
1. Samuel Kuffour, 1999
When Ole Gunnar Solksjaer poked the ball into the roof of the net with a subtle flick of his right toe in the Nou Camp in 1999, Bayern Munich defender Sammy Kuffour delivered one of the emotional reactions ever to sporting heartbreak. All around, Bayern players lay on the ground, with either a dazed or sullen expression on their faces. However, Kuffour's reaction was on another level. He bawled like a new born baby, beating the ground with his fists in anguish. Never has sporting heartbreak been more vividly expressed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-XsRJU-LGo
2. Jana Novotna, 1993
Weeping on the Duchess of Kent's shoulder is not usually the first port of call for sportspeople after a gut-wrenching loss but then this is Wimbledon. Jana Novotna had the Wimbledon title of 1993 in her grasp. She led Steffi Graf 4-1 in the third set and was serving at 40-30 to make it 5 - 1. She double-faulted. Ten minutes later she had lost the set and the match. She sobbed uncontrollably at the presentation afterwards, eliciting big sympathy from the prissy Wimbledon crowd, leaving the winner a bit-parter in the after-match ceremony, standing around with a pained, sympathetic expression on her face.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkfh5MLO87c
3. Colm Boyle and Rob Hennelly, 2013
When Mayo lost the 2012 All-Ireland final their supporters and players were philosophical. They had, it was reckoned, over-performed in getting that far, were underdogs going in, and had played all-right against Jim McGuinness' machine. Not so in 2013. After the Donegal game, it seemed as if it was their destiny to win in 2013. They took it hard when this chance was missed. Colm Boyle and Rob Hennelly's faces were shot through with anguish and dismay.
4. Don Fox, 1968
One of those tragic cases where an entire career is overshadowed by one incident. All the northern Rugby League boys made the long trip down to London for the Challenge cup Final. Warrington were playing Leeds and on a sopping wet day, Leeds were winning 11-7. In the final minute Warrington's Ken Hirst went over for a try to make it 11-10 (tries are now worth 4 points in League). Crucially however, Hirst went in under the posts, leaving Warrington's kicker Don Fox with a straightforward attempt. However, in the horrible conditions he sliced it wide. The kick missed, the game lost, he slumped to the ground, before trudging off disconsolately. He was unable to collect the Man of the Match award which he had already been awarded before the fateful kick.
5. John Mullane, 2004
Most of the people on here express grief because they've just lost a match, but John Mullane was pretty cut up even after Waterford had won the 2004 Munster title. The reason; his sending off early in the second half.
6. Pete Sampras, 1995
An unusual one. The often emotional Sampras spent most of his 1995 Australian Open quarter final match against Jim Courier weeping, after receiving the news that his inspirational coach Tim Gullikson had been diagnosed with cancer (which would eventually kill him in 1996). Amazingly, Sampras went on to win the game.
7. Mary Decker, 1984
Mary Decker was the 1983 World Champion and the home favourite to win gold in Los Angeles in 1984. That was until she became entangled with Zola Budd's bare feet and took a tumble, falling dramatically on the side of the track. As the crowd booed the diminutive South African/Brit, Decker lay there clutching her leg and screaming in pain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0vxAk6XsLU
8. Paula Radcliffe, 2004
Paula Radcliffe was a nearly unbackable favourite for gold in the women's marathon in the Athens Olympics of 2004. In 2002 and 2003, she was peerless in the marathon, destroying the world record in late 2002, and then breaking her own record in the 2003 London marathon. Remarkably, she is still the world record holder for the women's marathon eleven years later. However, she had a history of narrowly avoiding Olympic medals. In 2000, she led the 10,000 metres for most of the race, before falling to 5th at the end. In Athens it all went horribly wrong. The footage is actually hard to look at.
9. Len Mattiace, 2003
Len Mattiace shot a final round 65 in the 2003 US Masters, coming from nowhere to put him right in contention. However, he bogeyed the 72nd goal. In the nervy play-off, he lost to Canadian Mike Weir. He kept it under wraps until the press conference when he started crying uncontrollably, the sobbing and sniffling amplified by the 20 or so microphones under his nose.
10. Paul Gascoigne, 1990
A watershed in British popular culture apparently. Gazza spent the last twenty minutes of the World Cup semi-final in Turin crying because he wasn't going to get to play in the World Cup final.
