My 2014 in around 400 words.

2014 has been a truly spectacular year in the world of football, mostly down to the drama of the World Cup. Here’s few of the talking points of this calendar year.

Cristiano Ronaldo started the year by collecting the 2013 Ballon D'Or Award at the ceremony in Zurich on the 13th January. Not only did he win this, but he guided his team to a Champions League win against Atletico in Lisbon in late May.

Sticking with the Spanish trend, it was nice to see underdogs, Atletico Madrid topple the big spenders, Real Madrid and Barcelona and win the league title. During that victory, manager, Diego Simeone created a cohesive unit and a squad that was hard to score against. Having lost their star striker to Chelsea, Atleti haven't scored as many goals, but still lie in 3rd place behind Barca and their City rivals, Real.

In the Premier League, we have seen the resurgence of Liverpool as well as the demise at Old Trafford. Luis Suarez guided Liverpool to a second place finish in the league, netting 31 goals in 37 appearances. Arsenal once again pipped their North London rivals to 4^th spot while City were able to win the title following slip ups from Liverpool and Chelsea.

In Germany, Bayern achieved their 2^nd consecutive title at the end of March with a record of 7 games left before the end of the league. The Italian League was no more dramatic as Juventus won by 18 points. As for the Europa League, Benfica failed at the final hurdle for the second year running, leaving Sevilla to clinch it on penalties.

I can’t forget to mention the World Cup extravaganza that was staged in Brazil during the months of June and July. It displayed some spectacular pieces of skill, particularly, James Rodriguez’ goal against the Uruguayans in the last 16. We also had another blunder from Luis Suarez as he bit Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini in the arm to earn himself another lengthy ban.

It was great to see minnows Costa Rica reach the quarter finals of the competition, but one of the biggest talking points was the annihilation of Brazil by future Champions Germany in their own back yard. We knew Brazil didn’t possess a capable defence, but I was shocked to see it implode in such a manner. Germany were deserved winners of the competition especially after close shaves the previous two times.

That’s 2014 in a nutshell, as always I would love to hear your thoughts on what has been a special footballing year. Here is to an equally great 2015!