Robert Lewandowski was named The Best men's player by FIFA on Thursday, beating both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to the honour, but had it not been for a volcanic eruption 10 years ago, his career may well have taken a different path.
The Polish forward has been in lethal form this year. In 2019/20 he scored 55 goals in 47 games, and finally got his hands on the Champions League trophy that escaped him in his time at Borussia Dortmund, the club with which his career skyrocketed.
In April 2010, though, Blackburn Rovers had their sights set on the then 21-year-old Lech Poznan forward. The deal was close to completion, and all that was missing was for Lewandowski to travel to England to finalise terms.
But the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland put a halt to travel in Europe.
"I couldn't fly to Blackburn because of the volcano, but I wanted to go to see what the club was like," Lewandowski said at the time. "Had I gone, seen the club, the stadium and everything else, it could have become my first choice."
Lewandowski then went on to join Dortmund and, under Jurgen Klopp, his career exploded.
Ten years after that eruption, Lewandowski has been name the world's best player.