Year-End Review : Football in 2013

Iconic : United's 20th title

The only constant in the universe is Change. Football in 2013 epitomized that sentiment in every possible way with glories, despair, hopes, disappointments and controversies along the way. As the football world starts to look forward to an exciting 2014, The Beautiful Game takes a look back at the moments that made 2013 the year of the unexpected….

LIONEL MESSI WINS 4^TH BALLON d’OR

Messi winning his 4th Ballon d'Or

Football fans across the globe bid goodbye to 2012 by watching Lionel Messi break another record in his already illustrious career when he broke Gerd Mueller’s record of 86 goals in a calendar year with 91 goals. And it was no surprise when he bagged the most prestigious individual prize in football for the fourth year running with a whopping 41% of total votes, beating Cristiano Ronaldo(23%) and team-mate Andres Iniesta(10%). The event was testimony to Messi’s individual brilliance over the previous calendar year and he made sure that he grabbed the eyeballs of the non-football community as well with a quirky Polka dotted suit at the ceremony.

Germans rule the roost : Bayern and BVB

BAYERN, DORTMUND DISMANTLE SPANISH GIANTS

It was a head to head encounter of Spain’s best vs. Germany’s finest in the Champions League Semifinals. What was expected to be a battle of equals turned out to be torture for Barcelona as Bayern Munich outclassed them with their swift counterattacking play and effective closing down of spaces. The result was a 7-0 aggregate loss for the Catalans, the worst defeat in the history of competition in the semifinal stages. Barcelona were without their coach Tito Vilanova (undergoing treatment for his cancer relapse) for most of that campaign and looked ragged, tired and a shadow of the team that had dominated  European football for the last 5 years with their tiki-taka, while Bayern more than made up for the disappointment of losing the previous final on their home turf to Chelsea.

In the other encounter, Real Madrid were ripped apart by the scintillating form of Dortmund’s Polish strike-man Robert Lewandowski, who rammed in 4 goals past Madrid’s hapless defence in the first leg to take BVB closer to their dream final. Marco Reus and Ilkay Gundogan were a constant thorn in Real’s side with precision passing and allowed Lewandowski to beat the off-side trap and score the stunning goals. Though Madrid clinched the second leg 2-0, it wasn’t enough to guide them into the final and with it came the realization that BVB’s decimation of them may well have left a lasting scar on Madrid’s seemingly impossible quest of winning La Decima.

SUAREZ’S HUNGER GAMES

Suarez : Going tooth and nail

The Uruguayan striker has a penchant for controversy, demonstrated by his infamous handling of the ball in the previous World Cup’s quarterfinal against Ghana as well as his racial abuse episode with Patrice Evra, but what transpired in a league match against Chelsea in April was a bit too much even by Suarez’s standard and left the football world rubbing their eyes in disbelief. While being marked by Branislav Ivanovic during a Liverpool corner, a minor tussle between the players made Suarez lose his head and he shamelessly sunk his teeth into Ivanovic’s forearm. The repercussions had to be severe and he was handed 10 match ban by the FA which even carried onto the start of the current campaign.

However, ever since his return he has displayed a new kind of hunger – the hunger to keep scoring goals. He has been a talisman for the Anfield team this season and notched up an incredible 19 goals in 13 Premier League matches (up to 27^th Dec). Finally, Suarez is justifying his massive talent and the Scouse faithful are looking up to him to be their shining light for all the belief reposed in him by them.

CHELSEA: CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE and Champions of Europe

Chelsea had the rare distinction of being the Champions League winner and Winner of the Europa League at the same time, at least for 10 days as the Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Dortmund took place few days after Chelsea clinched the Europa League title against Benfica.

The Europa league final presented Chelsea with a shot at redemption after Roberto Di Mateo was sacked even after guiding the team to two major trophy victories and the unpopular Rafa Benitez was appointed in his place with many questions being raised about the direction in which the team was heading. Torres lifted the Blues’ morale with an early goal which was cancelled out by a penalty by Oscar Cardozo and it seemed that another Extra time awaited Chelsea in yet another Final until Ivanovic rose higher than everyone else to head home the winner in dying minutes. In the process, Chelsea became the first English team to win all 3 major European titles having clinched the Champions league and the now defunct Cup Winners Cup earlier.

Goodbye Sir Alex

LEGENDS HANGING UP THEIR BOOTS

Football may be a matter of life and death or even more but it has always had heroes who have made us love this game more with every passing move, fearless tackle or simply a breathtaking goal. We witnessed the retirements of some notable legends in the past year and to name a few…

Paul Scholes retired for the second time after coming back from his previous retirement and helping Manchester United clinch back the Premier League from the clutches of their city rivals. The diminutive midfielder left the game in the very manner he lived the game, Hardworking but keeping a low-profile: Typically Paul Scholes. A player of such incredible ability that he had to retire twice to befit his stature.

Giggs is the last one standing

Joining him was his ‘Class of 92’ team-mate David Beckham. There would be only a minuscule count of football fans who have never heard of Beckham and his magical Free-kicks. Beckham is a true ambassador of the game and helped make football a global game by plying his trade in MLS during the latter part of his career. It was no surprise that Beckham left the field in a grand fashion after being crowned Ligue 1 Champion with PSG.

Breaking onto the scene as a wonder kid and then going on to be one of England’s leading scorers, Michael Owen called it a day as well on his glittering career that saw him play for Liverpool, Real Madrid and Man United. A former European Player of the Year, Owen may have suffered from a rough patch during the twilight of his career but it takes nothing away from his achievements on the pitch. Defenders Jamie Carragher and Alessandro Nesta also ended their respective playing days. Carragher was a long serving member of Liverpool, having the opportunity to play under 6 different permanent managers and earning 11 first team honours. Nesta won 2 Champions League medals with AC Milan and also the World Cup with Italy in his prime. Others to hang up their boots were Deco, the decorated midfielder who was part of the Barcelona squad that won the Champions League in 2006 and Louis Saha, one of the much travelled free-scoring strikers in the BPL.

The highest Honour though has to be reserved for the man who knocked Liverpool off their F***ing perch and established Manchester United as the most successful English team in the modern era. Sir Alex Fergusson finally called it a day on his legendary 26 years with the club having clinched 13 English league titles, five FA Cups and two UEFA Champions League trophies. Football may well never see another manager blessed with his longevity and the art of getting the best out his players, rebuilding teams over different eras and clinching those iconic last minute victories.

Neymar and Brazil : On the way to glory

BRAZIL WIN THE CONFED CUP TO RAISE THE SAMBA HOPES

Brazil sent out a strong message to their rivals that they would be no pushovers at the World Cup next year on their home soil when they thumped the reigning World Cup winners Spain 3-0 in the final to lift the FIFA Confederations Cup. Neymar silenced his critics with some stunning performances during the entire course of the tournament and scored some breathtaking goals, one of which is nominated for the latest Puskas award. It seems that the Samba flair has returned to Brazilian football again but they will be up against high hopes from the home crowd and history as well considering that no Confed Cup winning team has ever lifted the World Cup.

BVB : Turning their backs on Judas

2 B’S: BIG MONEY TRANSFERS AND BETRAYALS

The summer transfer window of 2013 will be remembered as the one which made a mockery of the FFP (Financial Fair Play) and established the fact that Success is indeed needed to be bought in the modern game. Big teams splashed out cash to get the players which would take them to the next level possible and pip their closest rivals. Real Madrid splurged a record 100 million $ to sign Gareth Bale from Tottenham after failing to sign Neymar, who was transferred to Barcelona for 57 million euros, and gain an upper hand over their Catalan rivals. Other big money moves included Edinson Cavani to PSG, Radamel Falcao to Monaco while Spurs and Manchester City spent over 100 million euros each for a combination of players to bolster their squad.

The betrayal of the Year award has to go to Mario Gotze who left Borussia Dortmund to join their biggest rivals Bayern Munich over the summer in what seemed like a backroom deal. BVB loyalist were left stunned as the announcement of the transfer was made before the previous season ended and added an extra dimension to the Champions League Final clash between the two sides. Real Madrid, on the other hand, to compensate for the money spent on Bale had to sell out Mesut Ozil,who was as per general perception the second best player of the team after Ronaldo last season. Nevertheless, Arsenal sensed the opportunity and splashed out triple the value of their previous record transfer fee to snatch the biggest transfer coup of the summer.

RONALDO GUIDES PORTUGAL TO WC AT ZLATAN’S EXPENSE

Ronaldo won this one alright!

The playoff between Portugal & Sweden were widely touted as Ronaldo vs Zlatan. As the old saying holds true ‘Cometh the hour, Cometh the Man’, Ronaldo carried his brilliant club form into the playoffs and scored the sole goal in the 1^st leg to hand Portugal the advantage. Never to accept on being Second Best, Zlatan scored a brace in the 2^nd leg but fell well short of Ronaldo who scored a brilliant hat-trick to claim the night and booked Portugal’s place in the next and also may have earned himself a possible Ballon d’Or next year.

"It was probably the last attempt to reach the World Cup with the national team for me. One thing is for sure, a World Cup without me is nothing to watch so it is not worthwhile to wait for the World Cup.”

-Ibrahimovic

Five-star Bayern

BAYERN’S HIGH FIVE

Undoubtedly, Bayern Munich were the team of the year 2013. The brilliantly assembled squad of players under Jupp Heynckes won the treble(Bundesliga + German Cup + Champions League) for the first time in their history. The Bavarians had a change of guard over the summer when Pep Guardiola took over the squad which was bolstered by the signings of young talent like Mario Gotze and Thiago Alcantara. The Bayern success story continued well into the new season as they clinched the European Super Cup against Chelsea and more recently the Club World Cup. The only downside for them was losing the German Super Cup to fierce rivals Dortmund going down 4-2 which also prevented them from matching Barcelona’s record of 6 trophies in a calendar year.

So that was all about 2013. Now that’s past us, we must all look forward to an exciting and action packed 2014. Here’s wishing you truckloads of exciting footballing action to look forward to and a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

The Brazuca : All set for Brazil 2014.

-
Gaurav Mishra

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