2023 was a great year for football and it was filled with spectacular and exciting moments. So here are the top 5 football moments of 2023.
1. MANCHESTER CITY WIN THE TREBLE
Manchester City became only the 2nd English side after Manchester United to win the treble. City won the English Premier League, FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League in the 22/23 season.
The Citizens ended the Premier League season with 89 points as Erling Haaland scored 36 goals and broke the record for the most goals scored by a player in a single season in the Premier League. They won the FA Cup for the 7th time in their history after beating Manchester United by 2-1. Finally, they won their first-ever Champions League after beating Inter Milan by 1-0. This capped off a fantastic season for City and now the only question is will they be able to repeat this feat in the ongoing season.
2. NAPOLI WIN THEIR FIRST SERIE A TITLE IN 33 YEARS
The Gli Azzurri won their first Scudetto in 33 years registering 90 points on the Serie A table. They also made it to the quarter-finals of the Champions League but got knocked out by their Italian counterparts, AC Milan.
It was still a terrific season for Napoli and this squad was undoubtedly one of their best squads in history. There were many star performers in the team but the biggest of them all was Victor Osimhen. The Nigerian scored 26 goals in the Serie A and was the top scorer in the league. Another big role was played by the Georgian, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia who topped the assist chart with 10 assists and also scored 12 goals throughout the season.
3. DORTMUND LOSE THE LEAGUE ON FINAL MATCHDAY
Coming into the final matchday of the Bundesliga, Borussia Dortmund needed to win against Mainz to clinch the title. However, if they drew or lost and Bayern Munich won their game against FC Koln then it would be them who would go on to win the Bundesliga for the 11th season in a row.
The first 25 minutes were horrific for Dortmund as they went 2-0 down while Bayern were leading 1-0 against Koln. They found a ray of hope when Raphaël Guerreiro scored in the 69th minute. Things got even better for them when Koln scored to make it 1-1 against Bayern. If the scores stayed the same then Dortmund would go on to win the title.
However, Bayern’s Jamal Musiala scored in the 89th minute to restore their lead. This meant that Dortmund needed 2 more goals in stoppage time to win the title. Niklas Süle scored in the 6th minute of stoppage time to level the scores but it was too little too late for Dortmund as the game ended at 2-2 while Bayern won their match and thus went on to win the title on goal difference. It was a heartbreaking moment for Dortmund and their fans as they lost a golden chance to win their first Bundesliga title in 11 years.
4. LIONEL MESSI WINS RECORD-BREAKING 8TH BALLON D’OR
After carrying Argentina to the country’s third World Cup triumph and leading Paris Saint-Germain to the Ligue 1 title, Lionel Messi was one of the favorites to win the Ballon D’or for the 8th time in his career. His World Cup campaign was one of the best campaigns a player had ever had in the history of the competition as he scored 7 goals and assisted 3 more. He was a solid player for PSG as well scoring 16 goals and assisting 16 more. He was also the player with the most assists in the league.
His main competition for the award was undoubtedly Erling Haaland who had won the treble with Manchester City scoring 49 goals throughout the season. But in the end, it was the Argentine who prevailed and won his record-breaking 8th Ballor D’or. This award just adds to his never-ending list of accolades and is the cherry on top of a very beautiful and successful career.
5. LUTON TOWN GET PROMOTED TO THE PREMIER LEAGUE
This definitely is of the most underrated moments of the season. What makes this moment special is the fact that Luton Town were playing non-league football just 9 years ago. This was the first time-ever that they had gotten promotion to the Premier League and it all really went down to the wire.
After finishing 3rd in the table, Luton Town had to face Coventry City in the final of the play-offs where the winner of the match would get promotion to the Premier League. Both teams scored 1 goal each but couldn’t be separated until full-time. Extra time was also not enough to find the winning goal so the match went through to penalties where Luton prevailed after Coventry’s Fankaty Dabo missed his penalty. The Hatters won the match 6-5 on penalties and secured promotion to the Premier League. Luton Town’s story has got to be one of the best underdog stories in football in the recent years. These are the kind of stories which make football such a special game.
