2020 in football: The year in photos

He looks shocked himself - but Ralph Hasenhuttl's upturn at Southampton was the comeback of 2020. The form team of the last year, the Saints got their own back on Leicester City for that 9-0 in January, beating them 2-1. Take that. 

He got 20 assists in 2019/20 - not quite enough for the record but still an astounding tally beyond belief. Little stopped Kevin De Bruyne, who began 2020 as he ended 2019.

FourFourTwo reunites two rivals in John Motson and Barry Davies for our Euro 96 special. Here the pair are presumably discussing England's current options in goal. 

FROM THE MAG "The gantry erupted – Trevor Brooking lost his cool!": John Motson and Barry Davies on football's friendliest rivalry

New Tottenham Hotspur signing leaves his impact on the Premier League, netting against Manchester City. Tottenham's remarkable season was to become a lockdown favourite in All or Nothing on Amazon Prime.

Has there ever been a bigger impact from a January signing? Bruno Fernandes supercharged Manchester United, kickstarting their season and winning the Player of the Month award for his first few weeks in England. As you can see, it was hard to keep up with him.

Remember when Liverpool named their youngest-ever line-up for the FA Cup and Jurgen Klopp said he wasn't turning up? Yep, that was this year. Feel old yet?

The undisputed star of 2020, Marcus Rashford, gets up close and personal with FourFourTwo for a photoshoot - you know, when you could get up close and personal. 

INTERVIEW Why the 2020s are going to belong to Manchester United's Marcus Rashford

Liverpool's incredible unbeaten run comes to a cataclysmic halt at the hands of Watford at Vicarage Road. Nigel Pearson's side run out 3-0 winners.

Euro 2020 is cancelled, all in the name of COVID-19. It just gives England another year to prepare, right?

One of the Premier League's best new signings of 2019/20, Allan Saint-Maximin, displays that there's quite literally nothing he can't do, in this beautiful shot captured against Southampton.

With the winds of COVID swirling around us, Atletico Madrid fans make the trip to see their side knock Liverpool out of Europe. 

The start of the Premier League's hiatus begins in March. No one had any idea how long it would last, as the UK as a whole went into nationwide lockdown. 

Dortmund and Schalke are the first two teams to come back post-lockdown and Erling Haaland has no idea how to celebrate a goal with socially-distanced etiquette. The BVB lads choose to bump elbows. 

Following the tragic death of George Floyd in America, football stars across Germany pay tribute, including Borussia Monchengladbach's Marcus Thuram. Thuram chose to take the knee after scoring against Union Berlin.

Jadon Sancho of Dortmund also pays his respects to Floyd, revealing a t-shirt after scoring against Paderborn. 

Look, you can see it's over the line! A renaissance painting of a photograph, this was the first big talking point when football resumed in June. 

You can see what Big Nige thinks of the decision to relieve him of duties at Watford two games before the end of the campaign. Hayden Mullins becomes the fourth Hornets boss of the season. 

Ade Akinfenwa and Wycombe Wanderers finally get to the play-offs after a hard-fought final victory against Oxford United. It came much to the surprise of everyone - including FFT, who predicted Gareth Ainsworth's boys would go down in the Season Preview issue a year prior. Once again lads, we can only apologise... 

Birmingham City teenager Jude Bellingham makes the multi-million pound move to Dortmund in July. His former club retire his number 22. All perfectly normal things, here - check out this beautiful mural, though. 

Somehow, we don't think it'll be another three decades before Liverpool win another title... here's the image we used in our spread in the magazine - it's such a great picture. 

16 long years in the making. It's great to have to you back, guys. 

There was no one there to see it but David Silva's final game ends with a 5-0 victory at home to Norwich. 

We all knew there could be casualties this year in the Football League - Macclesfield Town sadly went out of business this year. The club have rebranded and are working their way back up from the bottom.

Mikel Arteta's side overpower Chelsea 2-1 in the first-ever August Cup final - only for captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to drop the trophy. You doughnut, Auba. 

Left-back Joe Bryan is the hero of the play-off final with an outstanding brace, sending the Cottagers back into the Premier League.

Andrea Pirlo may have claimed he would never be a manager - but in August, he replaced Maurizio Sarri as the Juventus boss. 

Here's Julian Nagelsmann going absolutely berserk after his side have beaten Atletico Madrid in the Champions League - revealing to everyone that he is in fact Doctor Octopus from Spiderman.

Yes, that really happened.

Pep Guardiola suffers another humiliating quarter-final defeat, this time at the hands of Lyon - who aren't playing European football this season for the first time in two decades.

Romelu Lukaku has been Inter Milan's talisman in 2020, scoring the goals to get them to the Europa League final and proving himself to be one of the continent's premier hitman. Here he is scoring the winning goal - an own goal - in the Europa League final to hand the trophy to Sevilla. Poor bloke. 

Kingsley Coman scores against former club Paris Saint-Germain to bring the Champions League trophy back to Bavaria, as Bayern Munich complete a historic treble. 

Here's FourFourTwo's Player of the Year, Robert Lewandowski, who scored 55 goals last season. They managed to take the Champions League trophy off Lucas Hernandez's head just long enough to let Super Rob get a photo with it. 

IN THE MAG FourFourTwo's 2020 awards! Starring Lewandowski, Bellingham, Robertson, Grealish, Warnock, Harder, Bielsa, Bendtner and many more

Nikitta Paris of Lyon lifts the Women's Champions League as the French side defeat Wolfsburg in the final. 

...and beaten finalist Pernille Harder swaps Wolfsburg for the Bridge, joining Chelsea. Even more exciting than that though, she's the Women's Player of the Year in the new issue of FFT, too. 

IN THE MAG FourFourTwo's 2020 awards! Starring Lewandowski, Bellingham, Robertson, Grealish, Warnock, Harder, Bielsa, Bendtner and many more

Everton pull off a Galactico move, as Carlo Ancelotti signs James Rodriguez for a third time. Don Carlo now qualifies for a free James Rodriguez should he wish to buy him a fourth time. 

Jack Grealish gets his long-awaited England debut against Denmark after signing a bumper deal at Aston Villa. He's had quite the 2020. 

Son Heung-min racks up four goals from four Harry Kane assists in September. That ball's all his. 

Brighton and Hove Albion go from strength to strength in the early weeks of the season. Our favourite image of the Seagulls' 2020? This perfectly-captured Yves Bissouma challenge, which earned him a red against Newcastle United.

Jamie Vardy scores only the third hat-trick against Pep Guardiola as Leicester smash Man City 5-2. Vardy, by the way, got the second one too, in 2016.

Yes, that really happened, too. 

Virgil van Dijk is ruled out for the season after a strange Jordan Pickford lunge in the Merseyside derby. The title race is blown wide open. 

Zlatan Ibrahimovic continues to bag goals in his AC Milan return, firing the Rossoneri to the top of Serie A.

An FA Cup final? In November? Manchester City see off Everton in the end 3-1 - and don't drop the trophy. 

It's US election season and Arsene Wenger goes on the PR trail - to promote his autobiography. This photo - used on the FourFourTwo subscribers cover - becomes the iconic shot of Le Professeur in 2020. 

IN THE MAG Arsene Wenger exclusive! Plus Modric, Thiago, Razor Ruddock's hardest men, Schmeichel, Juninho and more

22 years after their last major tournament, the Tartan Army defeat Serbia to get to the European Championship. Here's what we assume is the least NSFW photo the Scots took of the party. 

Diego Maradona passes away at the age of 60 in November. The football world pays tribute to a one-of-a-kind character - including this incredible mural in Naples.

...And as the world pays respect to Diego, Lionel Messi finds a unique way to honour his countryman, donning the Newell's Old Boys jersey that connects the pair in a moving tribute. 

Barcelona have had a nightmare year but they thought these days were behind them. Once more, Cristiano Ronaldo scores against Messi's Barca, before celebrating in typically humble fashion. 

As 2020 draws to a close, finally, crowds are allowed back into football grounds. Arsenal's Europa League tie with Rapid Vienna is the first to welcome back the fans - along with Gunnersaurus, who's reinstated after his shock redundancy earlier in the year. 

In such a bleak, dystopian 12 months, Marcus Rashford stood above everyone off the field. 

He initially raised £20 million to provide food for children nationwide, before pressuring the government into a change in policy regarding the extension of free school meals, setting up the 'Child Food Poverty Task Force' and later encouraging hundreds of businesses to pledge food vouchers. 

Thanks to Marcus Rashford, the government is set to provide almost £400m over the next year to support the cost of food and household bills to poor families. 

Take a bow, Marcus.