The Biggest Moments in Football in 2020

Following a 30 year wait to see Liverpool win a league title and having never won the Premier League since it rebranded from the old Division One in 1992, the Anfield club managed to break their duck once and for all.

Having most recently gone close in 2014, losing out to Manchester City following Steven Gerrard’s fateful slip against Chelsea and a 3-3 draw away at Crystal Palace in the following game, it was ironically Chelsea who sealed Liverpool’s title win, with a 2-1 win against City, courtesy of goals from Christian Pulisic and Willian, which meant that Liverpool were 23 points clear of the Sky Blues with just seven games to go, meaning the gap was insurmountable. Liverpool finished the season on 99 points, which is the second-most in the history of the Premier League, only one point behind Manchester City’s centurions from the 2017/18 season.

Last season Leeds United ended their 16-year wait for Premier League football to return to Elland Road, as they 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. The White’s win against their near-neighbours 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.

2020 was the year that Barrow AFC had been waiting for, as the Bluebirds ended 48-years of pain by getting promoted back to the Football League, having been controversially voted out in 1972 for being located in an isolated area, as well as having a speedway track introduced around the pitch to try and offset the club’s financial difficulties.

Barrow who were managed by current Bolton Wanderers boss Ian Evatt last season finished on 70 points from 37 matches, following the curtailment of the National League, losing just three of their final 28 league fixtures. The Ziggers finished 4 points clear of Harrogate Town who were promoted through the play-offs themselves and reached the Football League for the first time in their club’s history.

The year 2020 saw German giants Bayern Munich win the treble for the second time in their club’s history, having last done it in 2012/13, with Hansi Flick’s side completing this feat against Paris St Germain in the UEFA Champions League final at the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon, thanks to a solitary goal by Kingsley Coman.

Bayern had already won the Bundesliga and DFB Pokal, having beaten Borussia Dortmund to the league title by 13 points, racking up 82 points in 34 games, scoring 100 goals in the process, before dispatching of Bayer Leverkusen in the German Cup final, beating Peter Bosz’s side 4-2. Due to the incredible performances from the German side, which saw them beat the likes of Barcelona 8-2 in the Champions League semi-final, Flick was voted as UEFA Men’s Coach of the Year, whilst Polish striker Robert Lewandowski was voted as UEFA Men’s Best Player of the Year, having scored 55 goals in 47 matches in all competitions.

In 1996-97 Rangers completed their ninth league title win in a row under the management of Walter Smith, which looked as though it would never be equalled due to how close the quality levels are between Gers and their fierce Old Firm rivals Celtic.

However, 2020 was the year that the Parkhead club matched the 23-year-old record, winning the Scottish Premier League for the ninth time in a row, winning the championship by 13 points ahead of Steven Gerrard’s men following the early finish to the league season. Odsonne Edouard finished as the league’s top scorer with 22 goals for a dominant Celtic side, which even beat the likes of St Johnstone 7-0 at Celtic Park last campaign.