PSG shattered the world transfer record by signing Neymar from Barcelona for €222 million, Arsene Wenger left Arsenal, and Schalke came from behind to tie 4-4 with Dortmund – what else happened?
COMMENT
Arsene Wenger left Arsenal on April 20, after years of pressure from fans. (Reuters pic)
The 2017-18 European club football season has reached its end, and every club will now take a look at what they have gone through this season, and hopefully use their experiences to set themselves up well for next season.
However, there were clearly some moments throughout the season that stood out.
In chronological order, the following are, in my opinion, the 10 most memorable moments of the 2017-18 season.
Mohamed Salah signs for Liverpool (June 22, 2017)
When Salah joined the Reds from Roma for a fee of €42 million, not even the most ardent Liverpool fan could have expected the signing to move the needle the way it did. This was understandable, considering that at the time of signing, Salah had only scored 57 career league goals in an eight-year career.
However, he was clearly the breakout star of the season, scoring 32 league goals; leading Liverpool to the Champions League final and Egypt to the World Cup; finishing second in the European Golden Shoe rankings; winning various awards including African Footballer of the Year, Premier League Player of the Season, and FWA Footballer of the Year; and emerging as a genuine Ballon d’Or candidate.
Taking his transfer fee into account, this was easily the signing of the season.
Neymar signs for PSG (Aug 3, 2017)
It is one thing to break the world transfer record. It is quite another to shatter it in the manner that PSG did when they signed Neymar from Barcelona for €222 million, more than double the previous record set when Paul Pogba signed for Manchester United for €105 million just one year earlier.
In an extremely successful four-year stint with the Blaugrana, the Brazilian superstar won six major trophies, including the 2015 Champions League. He also was the top scorer of the tournament that year, and domestically, he scored 68 league goals in 123 games for Barca.
Unfortunately for him, his debut season in Paris was cut short when he broke the fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot in a match against Marseille in February.
Borussia Dortmund 4-4 Schalke (Nov 25, 2017)
This was probably the most enthralling league match of the season. It had it all: it was a derby, it featured a comeback from 4-0 behind, a superstar received a red card, and it was laden with goals.
Dortmund led 4-0 at halftime through goals scored by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mario Gotze, and Raphael Guerreiro, as well as a Benjamin Stambouli own goal.
However, in the second half, aided by an Aubameyang red card, Schalke scored four goals to leave the derby with the most improbable of draws.
Philippe Coutinho signs for Barcelona (Jan 6, 2018)
It didn’t take long for Barca to replace Neymar with another Brazilian star.
Throughout the season, Coutinho had been linked with a move to the Catalan club from Liverpool. In fact, in the previous off-season, Liverpool had rejected a ₤72 million bid for Coutinho from Barcelona. This drove Coutinho to submit a transfer request, and this request was fulfilled in January, when Barca signed him for ₤105 million.
Coutinho went on to play an important role in the second half of Barca’s double-winning campaign, immediately becoming a regular starter and fitting in seamlessly.
Roma 3-0 Barcelona (April 10, 2018)
In the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal, Barca took Roma apart, winning 4-1. This meant that in order to advance to the semifinals, Roma had to win the second-leg match by four or more goals, or 3-0, which would have put the Giallorossi through on away goals. Heading into the second leg, almost everyone assumed that the tie was all but decided, but that was not the case.
An early Edin Dzeko goal pulled Roma within two, with much of the match still to be played. Then, in the 58th minute, Roma won a penalty, which was duly converted by Daniele De Rossi. Finally, in the 82nd minute, Konstantinos Manolas forever etched his name into Roma’s history books by scoring the goal which completed the incredible comeback and knocked out the team favoured to win it all.
As if that wasn’t enough, De Rossi and Manolas had scored own goals in the first leg, making their goals in the second leg even more dramatic.
Arsene Wenger announces departure from Arsenal (April 20, 2018)
The day that seemed as though it would never come finally did.
After years of pressure from Arsenal fans, Wenger announced that he would end his 22-year stint at the helm of the Gunners at the end of the season.
Wenger left Arsenal with something of a mixed record: he won 10 major trophies during his time at Arsenal and led the club to an unbeaten Premier League campaign in 2004, but also presided over a nine-year trophy drought, and in 19 Champions League campaigns, only made it to the semifinals twice.
Andres Iniesta announces departure from Barcelona (April 27, 2018)
Wenger was not the only long-serving, iconic figure to leave his club this season. In fact, Iniesta’s departure caused even more of a stir, as he is probably a top-10 player of all time, Spain’s greatest-ever player, and perhaps the greatest central midfielder in the history of football.
In an unbelievable 16-year career at Barca, Iniesta played 674 matches for the Blaugrana, including 442 in La Liga. During this time, he won nine La Liga titles, six Copa del Rey titles, and four Champions Leagues. He was also named to the FIFA FIFPro World XI nine times, as well as the UEFA Team of the Year six times.
Iniesta’s next career stop will be J1 League club Vissel Kobe.
Levante 5-4 Barcelona (May 13, 2018)
With two matches left to be played in the La Liga season, Barcelona had yet to taste defeat. Over the last 40 years, only on four occasions had a team from one of the four major leagues completed an unbeaten league campaign, and none of them were La Liga clubs.
However, aided by Barca coach Ernesto Valverde’s fateful decision to bench Lionel Messi, as well as a remarkable hat-trick scored by Emmanuel Boateng, Levante ruined Barcelona’s pursuit of an unbeaten season.
Barca thus missed out on joining the likes of Perugia 1979, AC Milan 1992, Arsenal 2004, and Juventus 2012, though they did secure a league and cup double.
Lazio 2-3 Inter Milan (May 20, 2018)
The race for the fourth and final Champions League spot from Serie A came down to the last day of the season. Lazio needed a draw to qualify for the 2018-19 Champions League, while for Inter, only a win would do.
After 78 minutes, Lazio led 2-1 and were in a very comfortable position. That was when all hell broke loose.
Inter Milan earned a penalty, which was converted by Mauro Icardi. Shortly after that, Lazio midfielder Senad Lulic received a red card. Two minutes later, Matias Vecino put Inter 3-2 up, a lead they would never surrender. To top it all off, in the third minute of stoppage time, Lazio defender Patric received his team’s second red card of the match. In a truly astonishing final-day clash, it was the Nerazzurri who came out on top, and thus qualified for the Champions League.
Real Madrid 3-1 Liverpool (May 26, 2018)
The 2018 Champions League final will surely be remembered as one of the all-time iconic matches in club football history. It contained a spectacular goal scored by Real’s Gareth Bale, two dreadful errors by Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius, and an intriguing tactical battle between coaches Zinedine Zidane and Jurgen Klopp.
However, most importantly, it ended with Real completing their “three-peat”, sealing their place as football immortals and confirming them as probably the greatest club team of all time.
No team had ever won back-to-back European titles, let alone three in a row, since the tournament began its existence in its current form in the 1999-2000 season. This current Real Madrid team has not only broken new ground, but gone so far into this new ground that I believe no team will match its feats for at least another 50 years.
Eu Weijun works at FMT.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.
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