What is the ‘Drake curse’: Rapper loses £533k on Real Madrid and Arsenal bet

Barcelona lost to Real Madrid over the weekend but the fate of the El Clasico match may have already been decided.

The team’s defeat has been blamed on the ‘Drake curse’, which charges the Canadian rapper with transferring his terrible luck when it comes to sporting odds.

The superstition has circled the playing field following the 35-year-old’s shockingly poor track record of betting slips.

Ahead of the match, the superstar placed a CA$833,333 (£533,000) bet on Barcelona and Arsenal to beat Real Madrid and Leeds United respectively.

And with Barcelona’s 3-1 loss on Sunday, the curse continues to haunt him.

Here is the Standard’s take on the ‘Drake curse’:

What is the Drake curse?

Far from his first meme appearance, Drake has this time featured on social media for his ‘cursed’ effect on athletes and sports teams.

Fans (and non-fans) have joked that every time the four-time Grammy award winner has contact with sports stars, be it through photos or wearing their shirts, the team or individual will face defeat.

An early victim of this misfortune was Paul Pogba, who in 2019 posed with Drake four days before his FA Cup loss with Manchester United.

In April 2019, Crystal Palace also paid the price for Wilfried Zaha’s picture with the musician, losing to Manchester City 3-1 within a matter of days.

In the same year, Layvin Kurzawa repeated the sporting sin and Paris Saint-Germain faced their biggest loss in a decade at 5-1.

However, hope remains that the curse may yet be broken after Arsenal’s 1-0 victory.

Why did Drake wear special Barcelona shirts?

Drake’s connection to the team was highlighted last week when the Catalan club sported the artist’s logo to celebrate him becoming the first to reach 50 billion Spotify streams.

The OVO sign, which stands for October’s Very Own, took the place of the team’s main sponsor on their shirts and on the back was ‘Drake 50’.

The partnership was to “bring together two worlds that can arouse emotion, namely music and football”, FC Barcelona VP Juli Guiu said.

He added: “This initiative shows our potential to become a unique platform to offer experiences that help bring us closer to our fans while reaching out to new audiences around the world.”