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2018 has been a pretty amazing year in the world of football, with some tremendous action in the leagues across Europe and in the 2017/18 Champions League, as well as in the dramatic World Cup in Russia in the summer.
We’ve hardly been short of iconic moments to discuss, meaning it was hard to whittle this category down to just 5, but the following stood out more than any others and will probably be spoken about for years to come.
Here are the 5 most memorable football moments of 2018.
#5 Modric wins the Ballon d’Or
The Ballon d’Or has been the premier award for individual footballers for years now, and in some ways, it’s almost as valued as winning a trophy with a team. Unsurprisingly, over the past decade it’s been dominated by 2 players; Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
The two have 5 Ballon d’Or wins each, and before 2018, you’d have to go back to 2007 and Kaka to find an alternative winner. That’s why it was such a breath of fresh air this year when Luka Modric of Real Madrid and Croatia was named the winner in December.
It’s not like Ronaldo or Messi had bad years; both men scored iconic goals, in fact – Ronaldo in the Champions League, Messi in the World Cup – but there were few arguments against Modric receiving the award.
The diminutive playmaker was the key man in Croatia’s march to the World Cup final, even if they lost to France in the final, and he scored one of the best goals of the tournament against Argentina. And he was equally important to Real as they won their third Champions League in a row, appearing in 14 of their games in Europe including the final.
Whether this marks the end of Ronaldo and Messi’s overall dominance is yet to be determined, but it was a tremendous and well-deserved capper to what has been a brilliant career for Modric – and fittingly, he dedicated his award to all the great players who missed out on it during the past decade.
#4 Roma’s crazy comeback
The 2017/18 edition of the Champions League was full of crazy incidents and unbelievable games, but one of the most memorable moments came in the quarter-final tie between Barcelona and Roma. On paper, it didn’t even look like a close contest; Roma had scraped past Shakhtar Donetsk in the round of 16 while Barcelona had swept Chelsea aside.
The first leg went exactly to the script, as Eusebio di Francesco’s side were destroyed at the Nou Camp, losing 4-1 with their only consolation being an 80th-minute goal from Edin Dzeko. They looked dead and buried going into the second leg. Surely they couldn’t overturn such a deficit?
Somehow though, the miracle happened. Dzeko put Roma into the lead in the 6th minute, Daniele de Rossi added a second from the penalty spot in the 58th minute, and then with 8 minutes left on the clock, defender Kostas Manolas popped up to head home and complete one of the all-time great Champions League comebacks.
Roma’s substitutes and coaching staff immediately spilled onto the pitch to celebrate after the final whistle had blown, and the fans in the Stadio Olimpico couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Roma went on to lose in the semi-finals to Liverpool, but their comeback against the mighty Barca will live on in the minds of their fans for years to come.
#3 England win a penalty shoot-out
Coming into the 2018 World Cup, few people fancied England to get very far. Boss Gareth Southgate had been parachuted in to replace Sam Allardyce in late 2016 and although the Three Lions qualified with ease, Southgate’s young and inexperienced squad just didn’t appear to be equipped to end all the years of hurt that England fans had suffered.
Those years of hurt didn’t quite come to an end – England were defeated by Croatia in the semi-finals of the tournament – but one huge ghost was laid to rest in the round of 16, as Southgate’s side defeated Colombia in a penalty shoot-out. The shoot-out win was England’s first in the World Cup, and their first shoot-out win overall since Euro 1996 – and in the time between, they’d lost 5 in a row.
With Southgate – the man who missed a crucial spot-kick against Germany in the Euro '96 semi-final – at the helm though, things always felt different. England’s players seemed more prepared and more relaxed, and even when Jordan Henderson missed England’s third kick – handing the initiative to Colombia – it didn’t feel like doom was nigh.
Sure enough, Mateus Uribe hit the bar with Colombia’s next penalty, Kieran Trippier scored for England, and then Jordan Pickford made a miraculous save to keep out Carlos Bacca’s kick, leaving Eric Dier with a chance to carve out a piece of history.
The Tottenham midfielder duly fired past David Ospina, and England’s curse was finally lifted after 12 long years. The country went into rapture and while the Three Lions couldn’t quite bring football home by winning the tournament, they’d provided 2018 with one of its most memorable moments.
#2 Gareth Bale’s overhead kick in the Champions League final
Cristiano Ronaldo might’ve scored arguably the greatest goal in the history of the Champions League with his overhead kick for Real Madrid against Juventus in the quarter-finals. Somehow though, his Welsh teammate Gareth Bale scored a goal almost as good – and on a bigger stage too – in the final against Liverpool in May.
The game had already been full of drama as Liverpool’s Mo Salah was taken off early due to a shoulder injury inflicted by Sergio Ramos. Then a strange goal for Karim Benzema - gifted to Madrid by Liverpool keeper Loris Karius – was quickly offset by an equaliser from Sadio Mane.
Real boss Zinedine Zidane then introduced Bale to the game, and the flying Welshman had an almost immediate impact. Just 3 minutes after coming onto the pitch, Bale launched himself into the air to meet Marcelo’s left-wing cross and fired a remarkable bicycle kick into the roof of the Liverpool net.
It was probably the best goal in the history of the Champions League final – beating out Zidane’s famous volley from the 2001/02 tournament. And although Bale added a second goal following another howler from Karius, it was his first – a feat of wondrous athleticism – that will stick in the mind for years to come.
It was a goal worthy of winning any final, and it certainly stands out as one of 2018’s most memorable moments.
#1 France win the World Cup in style
After a tremendous month of action that saw hosts Russia unexpectedly make the quarter-finals, England shock everyone by making the semis, and holders Germany dumped out at the group stage, the 2018 World Cup came down to two sides – the star-studded squads of France and Croatia. And after a tremendous final in Moscow, it was Les Bleus who came out on top.
The 4-2 scoreline in the final arguably flattered Didier Deschamps’ side, although Croatia’s second goal was gifted to them by France keeper Hugo Lloris. Overall, few could dispute that France were the best side in the tournament. The group stage saw them barely move into second gear as they slipped past Australia and Peru before drawing with Denmark, but their best performance came in the round of 16.
Argentina were defeated 4-3 in that game, but it was a game most memorable for the stunning show from teenage striker Kylian Mbappe. The then-teenager simply shredded the Argentina defence over 90 minutes – winning a first-half penalty before scoring twice in the second to send Messi and company packing.
France then swept aside Uruguay and Belgium – both great teams in their own right – in the quarter-finals and semi-finals to set up their date with Croatia. It was Mbappe who starred again – this time alongside midfield star Paul Pogba – as France lifted their first World Cup since their win on home soil two decades earlier.
The World Cup as a whole was probably the best tournament since the 1998 edition and so it felt poetic that it was France who came away victorious. Although the trophy presentation was marred by torrential rain, it’s hard to deny its place as the most memorable football moment of 2018.
