2012: My Memorable Football Moments

January- 
In January, Zambia defied all odds and won the 2012 Africa Cup Of Nations (AFCON) after beating Ivory Coast on penalties in the final. 
In the Premier League, Thierry Henry returned to Arsenal on loan from New York Red Bulls. January also saw Paul Scholes come out of retirement to play a part in Manchester United's title challenge.

February- 
February saw Liverpool lift the Carling Cup for the 8th time after beating Cardiff 3-2 on penalties. Steven Gerrard's brother, Anthony Gerrard, missed the penalty which won Liverpool the trophy. 
North of the boarder, Rangers went into administration. 2012 turned out to be a year Rangers fans will want to forget.

March- 
March was a sad month for football. During Tottenham's FA Cup tie against Bolton Fabrice Muamba suffered a cardiac arrest. The football world held its breath, hoping that Muamba would survive. Despite his heart not beating for 78 minutes, Muamba still survived. Since then Muamba has been campaigning to make sure the same thing doesn't happen to other footballers.

April- 

In April, the argument over goal line technology was in the spotlight after Chelsea were awarded a controversial goal which many people think didn't cross the line. This happened in their FA Cup semi final against Tottenham. They went on to win 5-1. 
Chelsea were involved in more drama at the end of the month as they beat Barcelona 3-2 on aggregate. As Torres took the ball around Valdes to make the score 2-2 on the night, viewers witnessed what's known as 'The Gary Neville Orgasm'. The game finished 2-2 at the Nou Camp. The result was enough to send Chelsea through to the Champions League Final.

May- May started with a 'banana' goal from Newcastle striker Papiss Cisse at Stamford Bridge. The memorable goal was arguably the best goal of the 2011/12 season. 
May the 13th was one of the most memorable days in Premier League history. In the 90th minute of the Manchester City vs QPR game, City were 2-1 down and needed to win. Since rivals Manchester United won their game against Sunderland, City needed to win if they were going to win the Premier League title. The 4th official's board stated that there were 4 minutes added time. In the 91st minute Edin Dzeko converted a corner from David Silva. Then in the 93rd minute this happened...

The 19th of May saw two final's being shown live on Sky Sports. It was a special day for West Ham as they beat Blackpool 2-1 in the Championship play off final. The day was also special for another team...Chelsea. Beating Bayern Munich 4-3 on penalties in the Champions League Final. 









June- 
Euro 2012 was a memorable tournament. Nicklas Bendtner was fined £80,000 for showing a paddy power logo on his boxers whilst celebrating a goal he scored for Denmark against Portugal. England crashed out of the tournament at the quarter final stage after losing on penalties to Italy. Italy met Germany in the next round and won 2-0 to reach the final. Balotelli's celebration after scoring his second goal triggered thousands of meme's. 

July- 
In the Euro 2012 final, Italy lost 4-0 to Spain who in the process, won their 2nd European Championship in a row. Goals from David Silva, Jordi Alba, Fernando Torres and Juan Mata were enough for the win.

Later that month. Rangers were reformed as Newco Rangers. Newco Rangers were kicked out of the SPL and were sent to Scottish Division 3, as voted by a majority of the 11 other SPL clubs. 

August- 
August saw the Olympics come to London. Mexico surprised the world by beating Brazil 2-1 in the Olympic Football final at Wembley. A goal after 33 seconds helped Mexico win the gold medal.
Later that month, the Premier League got underway

September- The Prime minister apologizes for the deaths of 96 fans. The Hillsborough Justice Campaign see this as a breakthrough.

October- 
An eventful game at Stamford Bridge ended up in Mark Clattenburg not refereeing a Premier League game for a month after John Obi Mikel accused him of being racist. Mark Clattenburg was found not guilty and Mikel was fined £90,000.

November-

In November, Sweden met England at their brand new stadium, the Friends Arena. The stadium couldn't of witnessed a better opening game. Ibrahimovic scored 4 goals to earn Sweden a 4-2 win. He also scored this goal which some people say, is one of the best goals ever scored.
The month also marked an emotional return to White Hart Lane for Fabrice Muamba. He was greeted by a round of applause from the whole stadium. Muamba walked onto the turf and stood in the spot where he fell to the ground back in March. 
November is a month Celtic fans will never forget. In November they beat arguably the best club team in the world (Barcelona), 2-1 at Celtic Park. It was a famous victory for the hoops who went on to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League.
In Spain, Messi scored his 86th goal of the calender year to break Gerd Muller's record of 85 goals. The record stood for 40 years.







December- 

In December, QPR finally won their first Premier League game of the season.  A 2-1 home win against Fulham ended a record 16 game winless run.
Fulham were also responsible for ending the Downing jokes. The winger finally scored his first Premier League goal for Liverpool. It was his first goal since 2010 when he scored for his old club Aston Villa, against Liverpool.
Messi signed off the year with an incredible 91 goals for club and country. 

These events are not in any order. They are only in the month in which they took place.

So that was my most memorable football moments from 2012.

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