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The year 2018 has been a fantastic year for everyone in the football world. It has been full of surprises and interesting topics. Starting from Ronaldo's unbelievable form to the continued rise of Mohamed Salah, the year has been quite interesting.
Moreover, the UEFA Champions League has also made it really amazing. We have seen some giant clashes, as Barcelona faced Chelsea, Real Madrid faced Paris Saint Germain and Juventus faced Tottenham Hotspur.
Cristiano Ronaldo has also lit the tournament with his blistering performances, scoring amazing goals and pushing Los Blancos towards another consecutive European triumph.
Therefore, let us quickly look at the top-5 headlines so far in the year.
#5 Barcelona's incredible unbeaten run
La Liga giants, FC Barcelona are on course to win another treble this season. They are standing comfortably on top the La Liga table, they have made it to the final of the Copa Del Rey and already have one leg in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League.
After a poor start to the campaign, the Blaugrana have overturned their crisis chatter to a treble talk. Their manager, Ernesto Valverde has been in the center of every transformation in the club.
He has introduced balance into the team, frequently using the 4-4-2 formation. Besides, Barca's defense this season has been rock-solid. The defensive pair of Samuel Umtiti and Gerard Pique have proven that Barca has one of the best defenses in the world (something quite unusual for the attacking-minded Barcelona).
The Blaugrana have set some amazing unbeaten records this year. They are the only team that is yet to taste defeat in their domestic league across Europe's top 5 leagues. After 31 games in La Liga, they have won 24 and drawn 7, conceding only 16 goals in the process.
Their 3-1 win over Leganes on Saturday means that they have now equaled the highest unbeaten run in La Liga (38 matches), a record that Real Sociedad set in 1979-80.
Barcelona has also extended the incredible unbeaten run into the UEFA Champions League this season. They are yet to taste a single defeat in the competition after playing 9 matches this term.
All stats via transfermarkt
#4 Lionel Messi's amazing free kick record
It is true that Lionel Messi can surprise his fans with anything. This season, it seems that he has chosen to do so with his amazing free kicks.
The Argentine has been a real threat to opposition goalkeepers with brilliant efforts from set pieces. In fact, he has claimed vital victories for Barcelona with this fantastic skill.
Leo has taken his free kick stats to an unbelievable height in the campaign. His first goal against Leganes (a perfect free-kick effort from 25 yards) means that he has now scored 7 goals from set pieces in the season, more than any player across Europe.
His set-piece efforts have been a joy to watch. The Argentine shocked the world when he scored free-kicks in 3 consecutive matches in La Liga.
He started that amazing run against Girona at the Camp Nou and followed it up against Las Palmas before finally making Atletico Madrid the victims of his unbelievable skill.
#3 Neymar's injury
Neymar's move to Paris Saint Germain was the talk of the summer. The Brazillian shocked the footballing world when he left Barcelona for Paris Saint Germain in a world record transfer fee worth €222million.
The Parisians paid the release clause in the attacker's contract and made him one of the best-paid footballers on the planet.
It was understood that the French outfit took that huge step in a bid to win the UEFA Champions League and dominate European football. So they added another world-class superstar, Kylian Mbappe in a lucrative loan deal. In a nutshell, the team became filled with great quality.
The likes of Marco Verrati, Angel Di Maria, Edinson Cavani, Thiago Silva, Kylian Mbappe, Javier Pastore and Dani Alves formed part of an incredible all-star team, while Neymar was made the main-man to spearhead PSG's European quest.
Their campaign started in a brilliant fashion. In their first match of the tournament, they defeated Celtic 5-0 at the Parc Des Princes, a match in which the Brazillian scored a goal and assisted another. They followed that with an impressive 3-0 win over Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.
They finished on top of group B with a massive 15 points, scoring 25 goals in the process. However, the Parisians were so unlucky to draw the reigning European Champions, Real Madrid in the UCL round of 16.
Neymar led the Parisians to the Santiago Bernabeu for the first leg of their clash, but could not help his team as they suffered a 3-1 defeat in the Spanish capital. So the task became tougher and the Brazillian was expected to inspire his team to overturn that loss.
Unfortunately, just when they were counting on their 'messiah' to come to the rescue, PSG lost Neymar to a terrible injury and as he was stretchered off the field in the second half of a Ligue 1 game against Marseille with an ankle injury.
The injury occurred in the 76th minute with PSG leading 3–0. Neymar was crossed up with Marseille midfielder Bouna Sarr before falling and awkwardly landing on his ankle.
#2 Ronaldo's Champions League dominance
As usual, Cristiano Ronaldo has found his rhythm after a rather slow start to the season. What the Portuguese has done this year is quite unimaginable.
He has put all speculations of a gradual decline to bed, proving his critics wrong with absolutely fantastic performances as he leads Real Madrid towards another European triumph.
It is without doubt that CR7 is the king of the Champions League. He has reaffirmed his stand as the greatest player in the history of the tournament with his blistering performances in the campaign.
The Portuguese is the top scorer of the tournament this term, with 14 goals to his name. He became the first player to score in all matches of the group stages as well as the first player to score in 10 straight Champions League matches.
Besides, he has also scored more goals than anyone in the knockout stages of the tournament. In his latest outing of the tournament, the Portuguese scored two amazing goals, including a brilliant overhead kick as Real Madrid destroyed Juventus 3-0 at the Allianz Stadium. With such an amazing form, the sky is the limit for CR7.
#1 Messi breaks Chelsea curse
Everyone knew about the Lionel Messi Chelsea curse. The Argentine is one of the greatest footballers the world has seen. He has displayed his incredible ability several times, scoring goals and leading his team from victory to victory. Not many clubs can claim to have humiliated the Barcelona legend the way Chelsea did.
Before this season, the Argentine had met the London outfit on 8 different occasions. However, it was quite unfortunate that Leo could not record a single goal against the English club during those meetings. The Blues have enjoyed the reputation of impeding the Barca maestro for quite some time.
However, things have changed this year. The Blues were matched with Barcelona for the round-16 of the UEFA Champions League, but they could not afford to limit the unstoppable genius.
Messi seized the chance to score his first goal against the Londoners as they earned an entertaining 1-1 draw at the Stamford Bridge. In the return leg, the playmaker scored 2 goals to further hurt his old rivals.
