Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1066826
31 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 30 DECEMBER 2018 SPORTS FOOTBALL REVIEW Valletta held firm to win their second honour of the season. Maltese National Team 2018 was also the year in which the Maltese National Team was heavily criticised for the results obtained. To make things worse, the Malta Foot- ball Association changed the coach after just six months. Reports in the media indicated that Tom Saintfiet had applied to become Cameroon's manag- er and was therefore dismissed from his Malta role. Ray Farru- gia (Zazu) took over from him. Farrugia had a challenging task ahead of him as he needed to prepare the team for the UEFA Nations League. Malta obtained three draws and thus collected three points. Two of these draws were registered against Azerbai- jan, while the other was secured in Ta` Qali against Faroe Islands. The most disappointing result was the 5-0 defeat to Kosovo at the National Stadium. Italian Serie A The Italian League was – yet again – won by Juventus. Napoli did their best to stop them, but failed to do so, fin- ishing four point behind the Turin team. This was the sev- enth consecutive title won by the Italian giants. Juventus took the spot light again during the summer when they signed Cristiano Ronaldo. After nine years playing for Re- al Madrid, Ronaldo was up for a new challenge and Juventus were ready to pay €112 million to sign him. The Portuguese player secured an annual salary of €30 million. English Premier League Unlike what football enthu- siasts normally witness, this year's Premier League was quite a one-team show as Man- chester City won it without much difficulty. In fact, Pep Guardiola's side finished 19 points ahead of Manchester United who placed second. A lot of controversy also sur- rounded Manchester United's Jose Mourinho who came un- der serious scrutiny for the re- sults obtained. But the flamboy- ant manager justified himself by pointing to the trophies won for other clubs. Despite this, Man- chester United's board decided to dismiss him in December following the 3-1 defeat at the hands of Liverpool. UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions was won by Real Madrid for the third consecutive time. After eliminating Paris Saint Ger- main during the last sixteen of the competition, the Spanish giants were drawn against Ju- ventus. The first leg was quite straightforward as Real Madrid registered a 3-0 win in Turin. Everyone taught that the tie was finished after this result, but Juventus had other ideas as they managed to score three goals at the Bernabeu. The English referee, Michael Oli- ver, then called a penalty late in the game when Medhi Bena- tia was judged to have fouled Lucas Vazquez. This decision brought harsh protests from Gianluigi Buffon who was sent off. Cristiano Ronaldo, still a Real Madrid player at the time, stepped up and converted to send his side through. Zinedine Zidane's side went on to beat Bayern Munich in the semi-final and won against Liverpool in the final. The final match against Liverpool was also characterised by two hor- rific errors from Loris Karius that paved the way for Real Madrid's 3-1 win. Real Madrid rounded their excellent season by winning a third consecutive Fifa World Club in December after beat- ing Arab side Al Ain 4-1 during the final match. World Cup The World Cup character- ised this year's international scene. It was no surprise that France won the tournament as they were one of the favour- ites. However, there were other nations labelled as favourites whose performance left much to be desired. A case in point were the Germans who didn't even make it past the group stages. Spain also surprised many when they dismissed Julen Lo- petegui after it was made public that he will be replacing Zidane at Real Madrid following the World Cup. This definitely had its effect on the Spanish players as they were defeated by hosts Russia in the round of sixteen. The Spanish manager was also dismissed as Real Madrid's coach at the end of October. One cannot forget Croa- tia's performance. Guided by the prolific Luka Modric at the helm of their midfield, the Croats reached the World Cup final, but were defeated by France. Modric also had an ex- ceptional year as he was named the world's best player of 2018. Manchester United sacked Jose Mourinho in mid-December following a 3-1 defeat to Liverpool Croatia's Luka Modric was named 2018's player of the year after a stellar performance at the World Cup in Russia Christiano Ronaldo joined Juventus for €112 million