2010 - Iniesta wins the World Cup for Spain
Spain won the first ever World Cup in Africa after Andrés Iniesta scored the game-winning goal in extra time against the Netherlands. In a cagey and often heated match in Johannesburg, referee Howard Webb was forced to issue 12 yellow cards, a World Cup final record.
In the 109th minute, Dutch defender John Heitinga was sent off for a second bookable offense, and it's still puzzling how Nigel de Jong was permitted to continue playing after kung fu kicking Xabi Alonso in the chest. Iniesta, however, was the winner in the end. The World Cup victory capped a period of international dominance for Spain, which also won the European Championships in 2008 and 2012.
Source: Yahoo Sports
2010 - Barcelona run riot in Champions League Final
Pep Guardiola's time in command of Barcelona culminated in the club winning the 2011 Champions League after a 3-1 victory over Manchester United at Wembley.
On paper, the two teams appeared to be evenly matched going into the game, and despite the fact that the score was 1-1 at halftime, it was in the second half when Barça blew United away with a historic performance that confirmed their place as Europe's best ever club side. It was Barcelona's third European victory in six years, and Guardiola's tenth trophy in his three years as manager at Camp Nou.
Source: Sky Sports
2012 - Aguerooooooo!
The year 2012 will go down in history as the most spectacular Premier League season ever. Manchester City knew that if they beat Queens Park Rangers on the last day, they would win the Premier League for the first time in 44 years.
However, as the clock ran down to injury time, Roberto Mancini's team found themselves losing 2-1 and the title was unexpectedly in Manchester United's hands. However, Edin Deko's 92nd-minute equalizer gave City hope before Sergio Agüero rose up with the final kick of the season to slam home a title-winning goal.
Source: ABC News
2013 - Football says goodbye to Sir Alex
The following season, United would revenge Manchester City, winning their 13th and final Premier League title under renowned manager Sir Alex Ferguson. Ferguson announced his retirement from the game on May 8, 2013, at the age of 71.
During his 27 years in charge at Old Trafford, the Scot won an incredible 38 trophies, more than any other manager in the history of the game. "The decision to retire is one that I have thought a great deal about. It is the right time," Ferguson said at the time. "It was important to me to leave an organization in the strongest possible shape and I believe I have done so."
Source: SportsKeeda
2014 - Germany humiliate Brazil in their own backyard
At the 2014 World Cup, everything was going so perfectly for Brazil. After cruising through the group stage and knocking off Chile and Colombia in the elimination round, the hosts only needed to beat Germany to advance to the final. However, the horrific night in Belo Horizonte was one from which Brazilian football has yet to fully recover.
Scolari's side went down 1-0 to a badly defended Thomas Müller goal after just 11 minutes, despite the support of 204 million Brazilians. It was 5-0 at halftime. After the break, André Schürrle added a sixth and seventh goals to complete the humiliation. In reality, Germany slowed down in the second half, and the final score of 7-1 was humiliation for the Brazilian side.
Source: Mirror
2015 - FIFA corruption scandal rocks football
Following a large FBI investigation, the US Department of Justice accused seven top officials on accusations of "rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted" corruption in the summer of 2015, engulfing international football's governing body in turmoil.Following the arrest of two Fifa vice-presidents at the same Zurich hotel in December of that year, 16 more officials were charged, with former Brazil football federation chief Ricardo Teixeira among those accused of being "involved in criminal schemes involving well over $200 million in bribes and kickbacks."
Two of football's most prominent individuals, Fifa President Sepp Blatter and Uefa President Michel Platini, lost their jobs as a result of the scandal.
Source: The New York Times
2016: Leicester's Premier League fairytale
Claudio Ranieri was chosen as Leicester City's new manager in the summer of 2015, replacing Nigel Pearson, and many experts anticipated the Italian would struggle to keep the team in the Premier League. However, the Foxes had a fantastic start to the season, led by striker Jamie Vardy, who scored 13 goals in 11 games from August to November. Leicester City won the Premier League on Christmas Day 2016, despite being at the bottom of the standings exactly a year before.
Following a 2-2 draw between Chelsea and Tottenham on 2 May 2016, Leicester became the sixth club to win the Premier League, and the trophy was raised at the King Power Stadium a few days later.
Source: ESPN
2017: FC Barcelona "La Remontada"
Barcelona 6-1 Paris Saint-Germain, also known as La Remontada ("The Comeback").[3] [4] was the result of the second leg of a UEFA Champions League tie which occurred on 8 March 2017 at the Camp Nou in Barcelona. FC Barcelona came back from a four-goal deficit in the second leg of their 2016-17 UEFA Champions League round of 16 encounter against Paris Saint-Germain to win 6-5 on aggregate, the largest comeback in the competition's history.
Neymar delivered a cross into the penalty area in the final seconds of the game, and Sergi Roberto scored their sixth and final goal in the 90+5th minute, winning the game 6-1 and advancing to the quarter finals 6-5 on aggregate, with the media describing the result as "astonishing," "incredible," and "a miracle."
Source: Goal
2018: Ronaldo scores the goal of the decade
Many amazing goals have been scored in the last ten years, but few come close to Cristiano Ronaldo's spectacular overhead strike in the 2018 Champions League quarter-finals in terms of sheer iconography. Ronaldo leaped an estimated seven and a half feet to meet a cross with an unbelievable bicycle kick that left Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon helpless as it slid into the back of the net in the blink of an eye.
The goal was so magnificent that the home fans gave the Portuguese superstar a standing ovation. Ronaldo went on to join Juventus in the summer of 2018, and his goal won the Uefa Goal of the Season award, beating out Gareth Bale, who scored a similar bicycle kick in Real Madrid's Champions League final victory over Liverpool.
Source: The Guardian
