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maltatoday, SATURDAY, 24 DECEMBER 2016 43 Sport SPORTTODAY FOOTBALL Football: A year of surprises WARREN ZAMMIT HIBERNIANS went into this year hopeful of retaining the Premier League. However, they were contested by Valletta who under the guidance of Paul Zammit were challenging for silverware. Both sides remained head to head until round 32 which was played on the 23rd and 24th of April. During that weekend, both Val- letta and Balzan had very difficult matches. Valletta played on Saturday and recorded a hard fought 2-1 win against Balzan with goals coming from Federico Falcone and Mi- chael Mifsud. The day after, all the pressure was on Hibs who had to avoid defeat against Birkirkara before facing Valletta in what could have been a decisive clash. However, Andrew Co- hen's goal was cancelled out by Vito Plut and Edmond Agius who scored for Birkirkara and Valletta celebrated their 23rd Premier League title. A week later, Valletta faced Hibernians in a game without a story since whatever the outcome, Valletta were champions while Hi- bernians were runners up. The result of the match was 1-1. After the match, Valletta's captain Jonathan Caruana lifted the trophy and official celebrations began. At the lower end of the table, this year was a successful one for St. Andrews after man- aging to retain their Premier League status following a series of good results that came to an end with a 2-1 play-off win over Senglea. This was not the case for Naxxar and Qor- mi who relegated to the first division. FA trophy The FA trophy was also an important one for many top clubs who are constantly look- ing to win honours. January saw Valletta and Hibernians going through an early exit. On the 20th of January, Pembroke caused an upset after managing to register a 2-1 win against Hibs. The result meant that the Pao- lites' adventure in the competition lasted till the fourth round. The same happened for Valletta who were eliminated by Birkirkara. This scenario meant that the three greatest clubs who remained in the competition were Sliema Wanderers, Balzan and Birkirkara. At that time, Birkirkara were considered by many as favourites to lift the competition. In the semi-finals, the Wanderers claimed an important win against Birkirkara to go through to the final as Birkirkara's disap- pointing season came to an end. On the oth- er hand, Balzan had to work hard to secure a 3-1 win over Pembroke. When it came to the final match, Balzan started as favourites especially with the num- ber of high profile players that the squad has. The match was tightly contested with nei- ther team risking too much. In fact, it re- mained 0-0 for one 120 minutes as the game went into penalties. After the penalties, it was Sliema who walked out victorious fol- lowing a 5-4 shoot-out win. Serie A In the case of the Italian League, like in pre- vious years, Juventus managed to lift the tro- phy. However, this was a year that didn't start well for the Bianconeri. Juventus struggled in the early stages of the campaign, but made up with a string of good results that enabled them to lift their 5th successive Scudetto. Barclays Premier League This was definitely the most discussed league during the year. The main reason was that minnows Leicester City managed to lift the cup. In the previous year, Leicester risked relega- tion for many months before finishing 14th in the table. This led to the dismissal of Ni- gel Pearson and the appointment of Claudio Ranieri. Under the Italian, Leicester City won 23 matches and only lost two to become the new English Champions. Champions League This year was also a good year for Real Ma- drid. The Spanish team had dismissed Rafal Benitez on the 6th of January and appointed Zinedine Zidane. This led to a good run of results in which Real Madrid obtained their eleventh UEFA Champions League after beating neighbours Atletico Madrid in a tightly contested match that was decided with a penalty shootout. Apart from the Champions League, on the 18th of September, Real Madrid managed to register a 2-0 win against Espanyol to set up a new La Liga record of 16 straight victories. UEFA Euro 2016 This year also marked the 15th European Championship. This was a tournament which marked a significant change as 24 teams participated. Few had tipped Portugal to win the cham- pionship especially when considering the results obtained. The Portuguese side went through from the group stages as one of the best third placed teams after three consecu- tive draws. Additionally, they also struggled to overcome Croatia and Poland. However, they did produce a solid performance against high flying Wales. In the final match, France were favourites due to their recent performances, but failed to find the breakthrough against a solid Por- tuguese defence as the game went into extra time. Portugal scored the all-important goal in the extra 30 minutes through Eder. PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRISTINE BORG Valletta players celebrate Claudio Ranieri shocks the football world by winning the English Premier League title with minnows Leicester City