From Les Blues triumph in the FIFA World Cup final over Croatia to Real Madrid’s journey of becoming the first club to win UCL three times in a row, PIONEER SPORT brings you a list of some of the major headlines that gained spotlight in 2018

France beat Croatia 4-2 in the final played at Moscow to emerge champions of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Star striker Antoine Griezmann, Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe were in the score sheet for Les Blues while Ivan Perisic and Mario Mandzukic scored for Croatia.

However both Mandzukic and Perisic were guilty of handing France an advantage in the final, as Juventus striker first scored an own goal to give France an early advantage in the final whereas Perisic's handball land France a penalty which was successfully converted by Griezmann to further build on his side's advantage.

This was the second time France won the elite title, their first after 20 years.

It was also the moment to cherish for French coach Didier Deschamps, under whose leadership France won its first ever World Cup in 1998.

19-year-old sensation Kylian Mbappe emerged as the star player for the French side as he becomes the first teenager after Pele to score in the World Cup final. In total he scored four goals in the tournament out of which his brace against Argentina in the round of 16 clash scripted France's epic victory. He was named as the FIFA's best young player of the tournament.

France were put ahead in the 18th minute of the match by an own goal from none other than Mario Mandzukic. He had the dubious honour of becoming the first man to score an own goal in a World Cup final but he would get to make amends later in the match. Exactly 10 minutes later, Ivan Perisic equalised for Croatia after a deft set-piece routine triggered by the inconquerable Luka Modric.

The drama was not to end there. Just over five minutes before half-time, then referee, with assistance from VAR gave France a penalty kick due to an apparent handball by Perisic. The validity of that decision was debatable – replays indicated that Perisic did not move his hands towards the ball – but Antoine Griezmann was in no doubt as to what he wanted to do with it. He calmly rolled the ball past Danijel Subasic into the bottom left-hand corner and France were in the lead at halftime.

The second half started with Croatia all over the French defence. Deschamps’ men weathered that storm and it was not too long before they extended their lead Paul Pogba sent in a thunderous strike from the edge of the box and extended France’s lead to 3-1.

Minutes later, Kylian Mbappe scored a similar goal, from outside the box and that marked the third record of the day — Mbappe became the first teenager to score a goal in the World Cup final since the great Pele. Croatian shoulders slumped at that point but this match was not done yet.

France goalkeeper and captain Hugo Lloris has built a reputation of having a sturdy pair of hands and a calm head to go with them in the years in which he has been Tottenham Hotspur and France’s No 1 goalkeeper but he chose a very wrong time to make an uncharacteristic blunder. He literally put the ball into the path of Mandzukic who tapped it in to goal.

Mandzukic became the first player since Netherlands’ Ernie Brandts in 1978 to score for his team and an own goal in the same game. All those second-half goals were scored within the space of nine minutes and after that, France held on.

They kept making attacking moves whenever they could and eventually, the Croatian players’ body language said that they knew it was now a lost cause. The final whistle came and tears flowed on both camps, albeit for opposite reasons.