2019 has been a great year for football and so it’s always hard to come up with these sorts of lists. The various moments in football also mean different things for different people so here is what caught my eye this year in football. 

Manchester City wins the Premier League for the second time in a rowPep Guardiola led his team to a second consecutive Premier League title earlier this year. Manchester City held off the other Premier League teams once again, displaying good football and being the creators of embarrassing scorelines (see: Chelsea’s second match with Manchester City). 

You can read all about their title and their treble in my article from earlier this year. 

Liverpool loses the Premier League after only losing one match I couldn’t imagine the pain Liverpool and their fans felt when the Premier League season closed with them in second place. In a sense, it was Liverpool’s own fault since they had the edge over Manchester City for a while but slipped into second due to a string of draws and a loss to a Manchester City. Still, losing ONE Premier League match and not winning the league has got to hurt.  

Liverpool won the Champions League after a 14-year droughtIt wasn’t all melancholy for Liverpool, they won the UEFA Champions League for the first time since 2005. The finals, which was contested between them and Tottenham Hotspurs was the worst finals of any competition I’ve ever seen. 

You can read more about my thoughts on the finals here. The bottom line here is that Klopp and his men got some silverware to show for their fantastic season. 

All English European finalsFor the first time, especially in the Champions League, English teams contested both European finals after years of Spanish dominance. Arsenal and Chelsea contested the Europa League finals and Liverpool and Spurs played the Champions League finals. This was never before seen and deserved to make the list. 

Read my article about it here. 

Brazil won Copa America without NeymarWhen Brazil fans realized that Neymar was not going to be joining the Copa America squad there was anxiety. I’m sure there would have been flashbacks about the last time Brazil contested a competition in Brazil without Neymar. Tite and his men brought back some hope into Brazil fans worldwide as Brazil lifted the Copa America at home after a good display of football throughout the competition. 

Relive the event by reading my article here.  

Argentina loses Copa America Again Anybody that follows international football must have seen the irony in Argentina losing yet another Copa America. This time, they didn’t even make it to the finals since Brazil cut their time short by knocking them out in the semi-final. In the past, they have blamed coaches and players like Gonzalo Higuain but a Higuain-less Argentina still couldn’t bring home an international trophy. 

Read all about it here.  

Jose Mourinho becomes Spurs’ ManagerSpurs finally sacked Mauricio Pochettino after years of not getting trophies or generally favourable results. What was not expected was that Jose Mourinho would have been given the job. The former Chelsea and Manchester United manager found his way back into the Premier League and Champions League football. I’m sure losing 2-0 to Chelsea on the weekend is something he’ll be steaming over for weeks though. 

Lionel Messi wins Ballon d’or over Virgil Van DijkLionel Messi copped his record sixth Ballon d’Or this year, beating Virgil Van Dijk and of course Cristiano Ronaldo. Messi was awarded the honour after beating the Liverpool defender by a mere 7 points. It was surprising to me because Van Dijk had a good season with the Netherlands, helping them to qualify for Euros and making it to the finals of Nations League. In addition to that, he helped Liverpool lead a fantastic Premier League and copped a Champions League trophy. Messi, on the other hand, had an average year winning La Liga and finishing the UEFA Champions League as the top scorer.  

You can read about Barcelona’s disappointing season here.  He also failed to secure the Copa America with Argentina once again. Nevertheless, the voters have spoken and he undoubtedly made the headlines. 

Netherlands is back in European footballNetherlands missed out on the last World Cup and last European Championship. Football fans are excited to see them back on the big stage after they drew 0-0 with Northern Ireland

 and secured a spot in the European Championships for 2020.  

Liverpool’s fantastic start to the season – Liverpool seems to have learnt from their mistakes from last season and have started the 2019/2020 season with a bang. They’ve remained unbeaten so far and are 10 points in front of their closest competitor. Liverpool stayed making headlines this year.  

–Trevann Hamilton