The year 2020 is one strange year that served the world with both sweet and bitter football moments, especially with the corona-virus pandemic which continues to do damage to virtually all sporting events in the world.
A year where thousands of lives were lost and a year in which great success was attained. All over the globe, the impact of the disease has been so severe. And in it, several deaths of great football personalities were also recorded, as well as great achievement amidst the turbulent year.
Today on Cheapgoals, here are some of the good and sad football moments in 2020.
The Good Football Moments
- Liverpool – (Premier League Title Triumph)
The wait is over! The first word that may come out of the mouth of every Kop faithful following their title triumph.
While Liverpool’s title triumph was in 2020, the build-up to the long-awaited success can be traced to the 2017-18 season where they finished fourth, 25 points adrift of champions Manchester City.
During that season there was something remarkable about their style of play, and it was the fact that the Kop were building something unique and that suggested they would be one of the sternest title challengers in the seasons to come, in what was their third year under their German manager Jurgen Klopp.
In the 2018-19 season, Jurgen Klopp and his Red Army came close to winning the title, but unfortunately, they were fatigued towards the end of the season as City went on triumphant. Step forward to 2019-20, a fruitful year the Kop faithful will never forget in a hurry having won what they’ve waited for in over 30 years.
While the scare of the pandemic was looking like the stumbling block to their title triumph, in the end, Liverpool clinched the league with a record seven games in the bag as they achieved one of the arguably finest football moment ever in the history of the Premier League. Under Kloop, the man who seems to have taken them where they actually belong as a modern team.
READ ALSO: Devastating! Top Embarrassing Defeats In Football History
- Leeds United – (EPL Promotion)
One of the exciting football moments in 2020 was Leeds United getting back to the Premier League. It has been a long and often tortuous road back for Leeds but after ending 16 years of anguish with the Championship title, few could begrudge them their place back at the top table of English football
The Whites won the EFL Championship with 93 points, ten points clear of West Bromwich Albion in second. The Yorkshire side’s promotion and league title was sealed following West Brom and Brentford’s failure to win their matches. As they both fell to shock defeats at Huddersfield and Stoke with Leeds having already beaten Barnsley at Elland Road on game week 44, thanks to an own goal from Michael Sollbauer.
Leeds win against their near-neighbors and their promotion rivals’ defeats meant that Leeds went 10 points clear at the top of the table ahead of the Baggies, meaning Marcelo Bielsa became just the fourth manager to have won the second division for the club, after Arthur Fairclough, Don Revie, and Howard Wilkinson.
It has been a long and often painful journey back to the Premier League for Leeds and their fans, who had seen their team reach the semi-final of the Champions League in 2001.
The club was in a dreadful financial position when they were relegated to the Championship in 2004 and though Kevin Blackwell – the first of 15 managers employed by Leeds since they were last in the top flight – steadied the ship initially and nearly took them back up in 2005-06, they were placed into administration in 2007 and went down to League One.
Worse was to come in the form of a 15-point deduction to start the following campaign and it took them three seasons to eventually win promotion back to the second tier under the management of Simon Grayson.
- Bayern Munich – (Treble Triumph)
The Bavarian giant became the second club in history after Barcelona to achieve the treble-winning the League, Cup title, and Champions League for a second time. Bayern basically won everything there was to be won in the year in review.
Their Champions League final triumph against Paris Saint Germain at the Estadio de Luz in Lisbon crowned a historic season for Hansi Flick and his boys.
Following their underperforming manager exit in November, Bayern’s management appointed their former player Hansi Flick as the interim manager. After taking up the reign from Niko Kovac, Flick won 33 of his 36 games in charge as the Bavarian manager.
Been the first top-flight league to restart the league in a Covid-19 era, Bayern Munich struggled at the start of the season and it seems like league rivals Borussia Dortmund and Leipzig would give the Bavarian giant a run for their money, but in the end, Flick overseen a remarkable turnaround for the German Champions as they went on to win a treble.
- Robert Lewandowski – (FIFA Player Of Year Award)
Sometime back in 2014 towards the beginning of the season, there were reports of Lewandowski almost joining Real Madrid, and in recent seasons as well there were reports of the Pole moving club.
Thankfully the Bavarian giant holds on tight to their marksman, which in the end came through for them in achieving success.
The Pole’s journey to becoming a world-class and one of the best players in the world is a tale of consistency, dedication, and hard work. With what Lewandowski has achieved with Bayern Munich, we can unanimously say the Pole is in the class of Ronaldo, and Messi having conquered Europe with his goals.
Lewandowski’s goalscoring statistics and prowess are ridiculously amazing, and in that sense winning the FIFA Player Of Year Award simply justifies how fantastic he was for Bayern Munich.
The former Dortmund forward scored 55 goals in 47 matches for Bayern Munich in the season in review, scoring 15 in 10 games in the Champions League.
The Ugly Football Moments
- Diego Maradona’s Death – (Argentina)
The year 2020 claimed the lives of notable football legends and amongst them is the 1986 World Cup-winning star, Diego Maradona.
El Pibe de Oro, “The Golden Boy” is no doubt the best player ever to come out of Argentina, led the La Albiceleste national team to two straight World Cup finals including the 86 finals, in which he scored a controversial goal term “Hand Of God“.
The Napoli legend passed out on November 25, 2020, at the age of 60 in Buenos Aires due to what was believed to be cardiac arrest. Maradona had battled health and drug problems during his active days, most especially his drug issues which led to him being ban.
READ ALSO: Diego Maradona: His Transgression & god Status
Two weeks following his brain surgery after been reported to be doing fine and responding to treatment, sadly El Pibe de Oro gave up the ghost in his home country. A piece of the sad news that threw the football world in a moment of shock and sadness because no one ever thought El Diego would leave soon, and that is one strange thing about death, no utter regard and it doesn’t inform, it just kicks you.
- Paolo Rossi’s Death – (Italy)
Rossi is one of the few Italian footballers to have won the Ballon D’or in 1982 and was also named on the FIFA 100 list by the Brazilian legend Nascimento Pele. He was likewise inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame in 2016 as a result of what he achieved whilst still active.
The Italian forward died on December 9, 2020, at the age of 64 barely a week that the footballing world is still battling with the sad exit of former Napoli and Argentina legend. Rossi won 6 club trophies with the Old Lady and was named Seria A top goalscorer in the 1977-78 season with 24 goals scored in the league.
Rossi was also fondly remembered for his astute role in the Azzurri’s World Cup triumph against West Germany, which he played a fundamental role in achieving that success. His hat trick against Samba Boys of Brazil at the World Cup is also fondly remembered due to the manner in which he scored those goals.
With Rossi’s death in 2020, it makes its rank among the ugly, sad football moments or whatever name you want to give it, even though the cause of the late Italian death isn’t yet clearly confirmed.
- Ajibade Babalade’s Death – (Nigeria)
The former Super Eagles defender shone in the domestic league with Stationery Stores, one of the biggest clubs in Nigeria with great history and pedigree, he also played for Heartland and Shooting Stars during his active day.
The hard-tackling center defender was also part of the Nigeria national team squad to the 1992 Africa Cup of Nations in Senegal, where the Eagles won bronze at the tournament.
Babalade age 48, was confirmed to have passed away due to cardiac arrest on September 4 in Ibadan. At the time of his death, the former defender was the active manager of Shooting Stars Sports Club, playing in the Nigeria National League (NNL).
The death came as a big shock to many Super Eagles faithful who saw him played during his active days, for his role in propelling Shooting Stars to the last final edition of the African Cup of Champions Clubs in 1996, which was changed to CAF Champions League the following year.
Babalade’s death would be remembered as one of the bitter football moments in 2020, it showed that the year didn’t only serve us good, it also served us the bitter side.
Honorable Mention
Radomir Antic’s Death – (Former Atletico Madrid Manager)
Lorenzo Sanz’s Death – (Former Real Madrid President)
Gerrard Houliier’s Death – (Former Lyon & Liverpool Manager)
Goyo Benito’s Death – (Former Player)
