#ThatWas2018: Five records in football that were broken this year
Well, as the saying goes, records are meant to be broken. However, when records which have stood the test of time also lay shattered, one needs to acknowledge the historical importance of the moment. Football creates and breaks a host of records every day, and the same thing happened in 2018. Here are the most important football records which were broken this year.
Let's talk about the FIFA World Cup first
Mario Mandzukic became the first footballer in history to score an own goal in the World Cup final. Kylian Mbappe managed to touch the record of Pele by becoming the second-ever teenager to score a goal in the World Cup final. Harry Kane's performance against Tunisia made him the first English player since 1990 to score a brace in the World Cup.
Some set unprecedented records in Russia
Uruguay manager Oscar Tabarez became the first football manager to coach the same team in four different editions of World Cup, having done so in 1990, 2010, 2014 and 2018. 39-year-old Mexican Rafael Marquez became the third player in the history of the tournament to play in five editions. In the last 16 years, Germany became the third defending champions to lose their opener.
Focusing our attention on the English Premier League
This term, Manchester United witnessed their worst start to a season since 1990-91. Manchester City won the Premier League with the most number of points (100). City's winning margin of 19 points was the biggest ever. Liverpool bought Alisson for £66.8 million, making him the costliest goal-keeper ever, and were trumped a few days later, when Chelsea purchased Kepa Arrizabalaga for £71.6 million.
Unique Champions League records created in 2018
While Cristiano Ronaldo became the player with the highest number of Champions League titles (5), Real Madrid became the only club in modern football to win the title in three successive years. Leo Messi's hat-trick against PSV has made him the player with the highest number of Champions League hat-tricks (8). Messi has become the highest UCL scorer for a single club, Barcelona (106).
What records did La Liga witness this year?
Real Madrid went through a terrible phase, going 481 minutes without scoring a goal- their longest goal drought in the 116-year history of the club. Messi registered his name as the only player in La Liga to score 10+ goals in 13 consecutive seasons. Real Sociedad created a unique record in April during their match against Malaga by not conceding a single foul.
Individual records scripted by players
2018 saw Zlatan Ibrahimovic becoming the third active player after Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to score 500 career goals. Mohamed Salah scored 32 goals in 2017-18 in the EPL, the highest ever by a player. Luka Modric managed to end the decade-long dominance of CR7 and Messi over the Ballon d'Or. 2018 was the first time a women's Ballon d'Or was awarded.
