SportsCafe’s Greatest Footballing moments of the decade ft. Leicester City and AS Monaco
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The end of what many have taken to calling football’s golden decade is nearly upon us and what a decade of football it has been. From Cristiano Ronaldo to Lionel Messi, from Spain to France, from Leicester City to AS Monaco, football this decade has been rambunctious, dramatic and entertaining.
An era-defining side with era-defining players and it was all put together for what might be possibly Jose Mourinho’s second greatest achievement. Simply put, for Mourinho beating/humiliating Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona in a Champions League semi-final was never going to be enough. He had to do something more to erase what Barcelona did to him and so he won the treble.
They won one of the greatest Serie A title races (by two points on the final day) just days after they beat AS Roma (who finished second in the league) in the Coppa Italia. Then came the battle of the trebles with Bayern Munich chasing one as well and yet history only remembers one side.
As Yaya Toure emphatically smashed home a thunderbolt, possibly the only thing going through Robert Mancini’s head was “I’ve done it”. We may never know exactly, especially with the Italian’s back turned as he celebrated, but given the rivalry, the history and the sheer hatred between the two parts of Manchester, it had to be something along those lines. Especially after the Reds humiliated him and Manchester City the season before in the Carling Cup.
Because them breaking their trophy drought meant nothing as compared to the fact that the next time anyone visited Old Trafford, the banner commemorating City’s trophy-less years would be collecting dust in a basement somewhere.
Martin Tyler: It’s finished at Sunderland, Manchester United have done all they can and Rooney’s goal is enough for the three points. Manchester City are still alive here, Balotelli……WELCOME TO THE GREATEST END TO A LEAGUE SEASON.
. “Do not scratch your eyes. You are really seeing the most extraordinary finish here.”Fitting, wasn’t it? That the man that last won the league and cup double with Atletico Madrid would be the man to lead them to another double, although the trophies arrived within a year of each other. But this doesn’t care about the Copa Del Rey, despite its significance, but the title and that sensational game against Barcelona. That rag-tag group of misfits lead by a misfit himself broke a decade-long dominance. Arguably the greatest title race, and it boiled down to one game, 90 minutes of carpe diem football, and Atletico Madrid carped the diem out of it.
It was the season, that threatened to go off the rails. The season that saw Barcelona, Luis Enrique and their infamous MSN trio nearly go off the rails. And yet in perfect harmony, the Blaugrana made the world their very own and became only the first team to win a treble twice. They lost thrice in the league and effectively won the title at Atletico Madrid. Lionel Messi was, consistently, his world-class self and combined with Neymar and Luis Suarez, it made them unbeatable. Then that glorious Champions League run before the final against Juventus. A fitting end to Xavi’s career at Camp Nou.
Leicester City, what more could you honestly say about that season. It’s been regurgitated just about a million times and yet, even now, it seems improbable. How did a side that survived relegation by the skin of their teeth, then fired the very man who kept them up and appointed a journeyman manager in Claudio Ranieri, go on to win the Premier League? How did Jamie Vardy go from playing non-league football to a title winner?? How did Riyad Mahrez, N’Golo Kante, Danny Drinkwater, Marc Albrighton, Wes Morgan and that entire team go from obscurity to the history books?
It was the year of stories with Leicester City in the Champions League knockout stages, Real Madrid ending the year as the first team to defend their Champions League title and Newcastle’s return to the Premier League, but the year goes to AS Monaco and their kiddies. Because sometimes, rarely, the stars align and with an average age of 22 years, they won the title. They won 30 out of 38 league games, scored a sensational 107 goals, and put an end to PSG’s longstanding dominance in Ligue 1.
Naturally, anything Real Madrid did in that period had to be attuned to Cristiano Ronaldo and rightfully so. But it took guts, glory and a ruthless need to do nothing but win that both Ronaldo and Zidane had pumped into the team. It meant that they pummelled any team that stood in front of them in what had to be possibly the greatest display of star power. It also meant that in a year dominated by shocking results, Real Madrid became the last superteam left standing and grabbed their third European crown, through the hands of dismayed Liverpool fan.
This is the story of an inch, 30 yards and two losses. The story of possibly the greatest Premier League title race, maybe even the greatest title race ever to take place. Never will the world ever see two perfectly matched teams in every shape and form battle it out till the very last day of a football season. For Liverpool, an inch stole them the chance to break a thirty year-long title drought in style. For Manchester City, it was only fitting that possibly their greatest player in Vincent Kompany would be the man to score the goal that handed them their last crown of the decade after he handed them their first title.
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