In football, it's hard to zero in on the best matches from a particular calendar year. Every year, the performances on the football pitch step a level higher. The year 2015 also hasn't been an exception.
Records have been made and smashed with equal ease all over Europe, as we became witness to some scintillating action on the football pitch throughout the 12 months. And the best part is that the year is not over yet. Who knows, the best may be yet to come!
Nevertheless, we have picked out some of the best games that have taken place this year, for you to re-live the action. The European powerhouses have no doubt, continued doing what they have been doing all these years -- making the beautiful game all the more beautiful -- but this year, we also witnessed small-scale teams making it big on the grand stage.
Accept it, there have been oodles of moments when teams like Leicester City and Bournemouth have made us sit upright once more to say, "Wow, this is what football is all about!"
Here are the Top 5 European football games from the year 2015:
1 January, 2015: Tottenham Hotspur 5-3 Chelsea
The first day of the year produced a goal festival in the Premier League and signalled that the calendar year would turn out to be immense when it comes to seeing goals.
Chelsea ruled the roost atop the EPL table right from day one of the 2014-15 season, and they suffered just three defeats along the way to their title win. One of the defeats were against Spurs at White Hart Lane in North London on the first day of the year.
The eight-goal thriller made a superstar in the Premier League in the form of Harry Kane; the Spurs striker scored a brilliant brace in the match to decimate Jose Mourinho's side. Spurs were 5-2 up in the match by the 80th minute, and even John Terry's goal in the 87th minute, couldn't do much for Mourinho's team.
14 February, 2015: Bayer Leverkusen 4-5 Wolfsburg
From the Premier League, we shift attention to the German Bundesliga. Bayer and Wolfsburg may not be termed as European heavyweights, as compared to Bayern Munich or Borussia Dortmund, but the football the two teams produced on the matchday was a superlative promotion of the German league.
Remember the names -- Bas Dost (Wolfsburg) and Son Heung-min (Leverkusen). While Son scored a hat-trick, Dost scored four times in the nine-goal thriller. It looked like the match at the BayArena was heading for a 4-4 draw, but an instant magic brewed by Dutch forward Dost at the death, gave Wolfsburg a massive win.
Bas Dost also finished fourth in the Bundesliga top scorers chart last season.
22 September, 2015: Bayern Munich 5-1 Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg features once more in our list, but this time as the side who were outclassed in every department on the matchday by one name -- Robert Lewandowski. The 2015-16 Bundesliga season has begun in the best possible way for German giants Bayern Munich, and their star man remains the Poland hotshot.
The world came to know once more about the class of Lewandowski, as the lethal goalpoacher popped in five goals in nine minutes, to finish off the game. Too good to be true, isn't it? But that's Lewandowski for you. Yet another massive promotion of the Bundesliga.
See it to believe it!
14 December, 2015: Leicester City 2-1 Chelsea
Never mind the scoreline, the importance of this result can go a long way to decide the current English league season. We are back to the Premier League, and this time, we highlight the performances of Leicester City -- not really a part of the big 5 (Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City).
The Foxes continued their dream of a start in the 2015-16 season as they edged past the defending EPL champions to get two points clear at the top of the table (as on 14 Dec, 2015). Jamie Vardy, who created a Premier League record by scoring 11 goals in 11-straight games, got his overall 15th goal of the season, by getting on the scoresheet.
Another star from Leicester, Riyad Mahrez also joined the Englishman in the scoresheet. The Algeria international had scored the first hat-trick of his career only in the previous EPL game.
21 November, 2015: Real Madrid 0-4 Barcelona
The list of the best football matches of the calendar year doesn't make much sense if you don't have Barcelona in it. The La Liga champions recorded their second biggest win in a league away game against Real Madrid without conceding. The biggest record has been a 5-0 victory in 1974.
Decimating a Real Madrid side featuring the likes of Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Karim Benzema, at the Santiago Bernabeu, and that too in an El Clasico, doesn't happen very often. Also, with Barca hotshot Lionel Messi not a part of the starting XI, the scoreline looks unbelievable.
But that's Barcelona for you. No Messi, no problem. There's Luis Suarez and Neymar to take care of the business, and with an ever-present Andres Iniesta just behind, you can just trust your goalscoring prowess, and never look behind.
