Top 5 footballers of 2018
2018 has been a truly spectacular year for football fans. We witnessed Real Madrid's heroics in winning the Champions League for the third time consecutively, while Manchester City were rampant in their unbelievable march to the Premier League title.
Elsewhere, PSG expectedly regained their French crown, while Bayern Munich and Juventus also continued their long-running stranglehold on their respective leagues.
It was not all rosy though as some clubs faltered. Manchester United fell some way off the heights expected, which ultimately cost Jose Mourinho his job, while Barcelona failed in their European objectives.
On the international scene, we had the pleasure of watching the mother of all events as Russia hosted the world, with France triumphing on the grandest stage where future superstars were born.
The new season has offered a chance at redemption for clubs who failed to match their objectives last term and while some such as Barcelona and Liverpool appear willing to grab the opportunity, others like Real Madrid and Bayern Munich seem to be faltering.
It was also a wonderful year on an individual level, with the most spectacular individual performance perhaps being that of Luka Modric. He finally broke the decade-long duopoly of Messi and Ronaldo over the individual awards with his Ballon d'Or triumph, while players like Sancho, Salah, Mbappe amongst others catapulted themselves to international repute.
There were numerous players who made 2018 such a delight for fans with their exceptional displays on the lush green grass, but unfortunately, we have to trim this down to five. In this piece, we would be taking a look at the five most impressive players across the world of football in the year 2018.
Honourable mentions - Eden Hazard, Antoine Griezmann, Harry Kane, Raphael Varane, Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker
#5 Mohamed Salah
What a year it has been for Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian had a record-breaking debut season for Liverpool, which made the £35m Liverpool paid to Roma for his services look like chump change.
The 25-year-old scored 44 goals in all competitions to help Liverpool reach the final of the Champions League, while he also broke the joint record held by Alan Shearer, Luis Suarez and Cristiano Ronaldo of most Premier League goals in a 38-game season with his 32 strikes.
His displays saw him deservedly named the PFA and PWA Player of the Year, while he also made a podium finish at the 2018 FIFA Best Awards.
The Egyptian scored the decisive goal deep into injury time in October last year which took his country to the World Cup for the first time in 28 years but had his season cruelly ended with a shoulder injury in the UCL final just weeks to the commencement of the World Cup.
Amidst fasts and prayers of his countrymen, Salah returned in time for the Mundial but was powerless to stop his nation's group stage exit although his class still shone through as he scored two goals.
This season, Salah has continued from where he left off despite a slow start and once more finds himself among the goals as Liverpool find themselves unbeaten in the Premier League in their quest for a first league title since 1990.