What a year 2016 has been for football.
It saw a rank underdog team winning the English Premier League, perhaps the toughest league in the world. It was a fairytale ending for Leicester City, who beat the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool to lift the title. It was a stellar year for Paul Pogba as well, who left Juventus to join United in a world-record transfer fee of £100 million breaking the record held by Gareth Bale.
Cristiano Ronaldo too had a breakthrough year by winning his fourth Ballon d’Or and also, the European Championship with Portugal. The Real Madrid striker also won the Champions League title for a record 11th time.
Football saw heartbreaks as well win Argentina losing the Cope America final to Chile. Such was the impact of the loss that Argentine captain Lionel Messi bid adieu to the beautiful game and retired. But, he came back stronger than ever after a short while. However the most heart-wrenching story has to be of Brazilian side Chapecoense FC, who lost nearly their entire team in a plane crash as they were traveling to play the Sudamericana final. In India, Bengaluru FC created history by becoming runners-up in the AFC Cup finals.
Football also saw the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Iker Casillas and Bastian Schweinsteiger retiring from international football. Brazil won the first Olympic gold in football at the Rio Olympics with Neymar slotting in the winning penalty to take his side home.
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