Another European club football season is now done and dusted. Though Euro 2024 is just ahead, there’s still more than enough time to look back on another memorable season full of highlights and compelling storylines.
These are what I consider to be the top 10 moments of the 2023-24 European club football season:
Jude Bellingham signs for Real Madrid (June 14, 2023)
It isn’t often that a transfer fee of €103 million ends up being an absolute steal. Yet, this was exactly the case with Jude Bellingham’s transfer from Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid. Off the back of an impressive 2022-23 season which saw the Englishman win the Bundesliga Player of the Season award at just 19 coupled with an outstanding showing for England at the World Cup, Real swooped in to bring Bellingham to the Santiago Bernabéu. However, not even Real themselves could have foreseen Bellingham taking it to another level.
Bellingham won La Liga’s Player of the Season award by a landslide, was the clear best player of a Real team that won a league and Champions League double, and even finished joint-third in La Liga’s goalscoring rankings—a remarkable achievement for a midfielder. As such, he’s now a Ballon d’Or contender at the age of 20 and could potentially seal it by leading England to the Euro 2024 title.
Harry Kane signs for Bayern Munich (August 12, 2023)
Bellingham’s compatriot Kane is undoubtedly the greatest player in the history of Tottenham Hotspur. However, after years of carrying the North London club only to invariably fall short, Kane appeared to have all but ended his career trophy drought by signing for Bayern. After all, at the time of Kane’s signing, Bayern had won the league for 11 consecutive seasons.
Remarkably, not even this would come to pass. In a season marked by dysfunction, Bayern lost to Real in the Champions League semifinals, were soundly beaten to the Bundesliga title by Bayer Leverkusen, and were even upset by 1. FC Saarbrücken in the DFB-Pokal. As such, despite a brilliant individual season in which he won the European Golden Shoe for the first time with 36 league goals, Kane’s “trophy curse” continues.
Inter Milan 5-1 AC Milan (September 17, 2023)
This Derby della Madonnina sent a message and then some. Inter backed up their underdog run to last season’s Champions League final with a statement victory against their cross-town rivals and then-reigning Serie A champions early in the season.
The result set the tone for the rest of the Serie A campaign. No team ended up even coming close to the Nerazzurri who won the Scudetto by a massive 19-point margin, reclaiming the league title they last won in the 2020-21 season.
Jürgen Klopp announces departure from Liverpool (January 26, 2024)
In what came as an absolute bombshell to the Kop faithful and beyond, Klopp confirmed that he would be ending his almost nine-year stint as Liverpool’s head coach at the end of the season.
As the years pass, Klopp’s legacy at Anfield will only grow stronger. The German will be remembered as the man who revived the Reds and made them a bona fide powerhouse once again. Though Klopp’s time in the Liverpool dugout might not have yielded as many trophies as some fans might have liked, both the statistics and quality of play speak for themselves—and he did, of course, bring the Champions League title to Merseyside in the 2018-19 season.
Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 Bayern Munich (February 11, 2024)
If ever there was a match for which the underlying message was “show us what you’ve got”, this was it. Leverkusen were top of the Bundesliga and still unbeaten; however, many had picked out this match against perennial league juggernaut as a potential L and the match where everything would start to unravel.
Instead, Die Werkself rose to the occasion. Xabi Alonso’s team completely outplayed their more illustrious Bavarian opponents in every facet imaginable. Not only was this match proof that Leverkusen had what it took to go all the way; it also set the stage for what was to come soon.
Bayer Leverkusen 5-0 Werder Bremen (April 14, 2024)
Leverkusen would go on to clinch their first-ever Bundesliga title in style by absolutely taking Werder apart at the BayArena. Fittingly, the victory was sealed via a hat-trick scored by Florian Wirtz - already Leverkusen’s best player at just 21 and by far this season’s biggest breakout star.
To make things even more exciting, with just over a month remaining in the season, Leverkusen had not lost even one match in any competition. Not just the league - all competitions. Leverkusen were now in place to put the final touches on one of the greatest seasons, if not the single greatest season, in European club football history.
Kylian Mbappé announces departure from Paris Saint-Germain (May 10, 2024)
What had been one of world football’s biggest “open secrets” was finally made official. Mbappé would be set to wrap up seven seasons at the Parc des Princes at the end of his 2023-24 campaign. Although Mbappé did not specify the club for which he’d sign after leaving his hometown team, it was all but known that he would be headed for Real Madrid.
That ended up being exactly what would transpire. Less than a month after Mbappé’s announcement, Real signed the French striker on a free transfer. Mbappé will now form one of the most potent attacking forces not just today, but of all time by teaming up with Bellingham, Rodrygo, and Vinícius Júnior.
Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 Augsburg (May 14, 2024)
Prior to this season, an unbeaten league season in one of Europe’s four major football leagues had only been done nine times before with just four of those coming after 1932. It had also never happened in the Bundesliga. Having already clinched the league title a month earlier and still unbeaten heading into the final matchday, this was Leverkusen’s opportunity to elevate their legacy to the loftiest heights.
As they’d done in every other league match before this one, Die Werkself wouldn’t be beaten. It was a routine 2-1 victory - but also so, so much more than that. Leverkusen had now entered uncharted territory for a German club. While they would end up falling just short of an unbeaten season in all competitions by losing in the Europa League final, Bayer Leverkusen’s 2023-24 season will surely be one talked about even decades from now.
Manchester City 3-1 West Ham (May 19, 2024)
Staying on the topic of historic achievements, no club had ever won four consecutive Premier League titles up until this season. All Manchester City had to do on the last matchday was beat West Ham to arrive at an accomplishment that up to that point had eluded every English club ever.
As was expected, City had no trouble seeing off the Hammers at all. Phil Foden’s two goals that opened the scoring capped off his breakout season in which he picked up the Premier League Player of the Season award. As City get ready for what will be Pep Guardiola’s final season coaching them, the prospect of City not making it five in a row is almost unfathomable.
Real Madrid 2-0 Borussia Dortmund (June 2, 2024)
Borussia Dortmund’s underdog run to their first Champions League final since 2013 was brought to an anti-climactic end. Real Madrid made it two Champions League titles in the last three seasons, six in the last 11, and a record-extending 15th overall with a comfortable victory over their German opponents.
With the victory, Real head coach Carlo Ancelotti claimed his fifth career Champions League title and left no doubt whatsoever that he’s the greatest of all time. Vinícius Júnior, who scored Real’s second goal, made himself the front-runner for the Ballon d’Or with just Euro 2024 and the Copa América 2024 to go. Finally, legendary midfielder Toni Kroos, who had announced his impending retirement prior to the match, was able to exit on the highest note possible.
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