Andres pulled the trigger on the heartbreaker.

It was a nightmarish eighty or so minutes for Barcelona fans tuned in to the game when their team, the La Liga champions, failed to equalize against Michael Essien’s early goal. Too bad for Chelsea, though, that Barca’s lone goal came about in the 93rd minute, when Andres Iniesta delivered the ball screaming into the back of the net past a beaten Petr Cech. For this, he earns a Magic: The Gathering tribute.

Didier Drogba was one monster of a threat the whole game, but was contained by Barca’s defense. He would cuss about the game being “a fucking disgrace” later on, but to what avail? His team is down, and he probably will fall further down when UEFA investigates his reactions to their loss. Sorry, Didier, but you’re just a sore loser, a whining wimp of a clown.

Barcelona and Manchester United meet in the final game!

10. Cristiano Ronaldo’s year. From all the talk about Real Madrid and Manchester United vying for Ronaldo’s services, the drama about him dreaming about playing for the Spanish giants since childhood, to United’s several conquests this year including their first FIFA Club World Cup, the Premier League title, and the Champions League crown, this has been the Portuguese midfielder’s year, and that said, he has rightfully claimed the Ballon d’Or. He scored a stunning 31 goals in 2007-08 league games alone (he had 8 goals in the Champions League), topping the Premier League in goals and earning him Golden Boot honors.

9. Brock Lesnar defeats Randy Couture. Who would have thought Lesnar could get out of the WWE ring and be this successful in the UFC? He started his UFC career with a defeat against Frank Mir, but even then his agility and brute strength showed, earning the acknowledgement of a vast potential waiting to be unleashed. He did just that against Heath Herring, brutally pounding his opponent for a unanimous decision win. However, his biggest fight was against Randy Couture in UFC 91, where he won the UFC Heavyweight Championship via KO at the second round. With this title, who needs a WWE belt?

Brock Lesnar spearing Randy Couture, Edge-style. (Photo by Eric Jamison/AP)

8. Liverpool and Barcelona top their league tables by year-end. Two of my favorite teams, Liverpool and Barcelona, have been successful in their league campaigns so far, with Liverpool leading the chase for the English title with 45 points (followed by Chelsea with 42) and Barcelona closing in on the La Liga title with 41 points (followed by Sevilla with 31). It’s also good that Juventus has come up second to Internazionale with 36 points (Inter has 42), but I’m hoping they could still climb up and challenge Inter for the Serie A title.

7. NBA’s 2007-08 player movement. If there was anything to blame for the Celtics becoming champions, the Lakers being the other contender, and the West coming up with such a tight race for playoff spots, I’m pointing my finger at the player transactions made from the draft night to the trade deadline. Let’s review. Phoenix got Shaq, Miami got the Matrix, Boston got the Big Ticket and Ray Allen, the Lakers got Gasol, Dallas got Kidd, New Jersey got Devin Harris, Milwaukee got Richard Jefferson, Cleveland got Ben Wallace (and several others), Utah got Kyle Korver, Charlotte got J-Rich, and Atlanta got Mike Bibby. Trades, signings, and drafts never fail to pique every NBA fan’s interest, and 2007-08 had a lot of that.

6. Rafael Nadal defeats Roger Federer at Wimbledon. I’m not a big tennis fan, but there are some matches that could really keep my eyes glued to the TV screen, and this is the biggest one that had my attention this year. Rain? Almost five hours? I remember I got so tired watching the game that I had to take a nap after Nadal’s win.

5. Team USA wins Olympic gold. And deservingly so. I’ve been keeping up with Team USA’s progress since they started rebuilding for a multi-year plan to win gold in the Olympics, and it truly was a story of redemption, triumph, and relief for the Americans. Co-captains LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Carmelo Anthony made the trip to the final match even more entertaining, as three of this generation’s best players ushered in a renaissance of sorts to professional basketball, powering Team USA back into power and erasing the ghosts of the last few years.

Wade, Anthony, and James have reasons to smile.

4. Spain triumphs at Euro 2008. Iker Casillas? Cesc Fabregas? Xavi? David Villa? Fernando Torres? Carles Puyol? Six of my favorite football players were part of the Euro 2008 winning squad from Spain, and what makes the win sweeter is the fact that many of these players are still young and will still be expected to play in the next World Cup. I thought I’d be rooting for Lionel Messi’s Argentina, but Wonder Kid, Tevez, and Aguero aside, who’ll be on that squad to cheer for? Spain, on the other hand, is loaded with marquee names at every position. How can one go wrong rooting for them?

3. Eight Olympic golds shipped Michael Phelps’ way. I can’t say much more, except that the feat is unbelievable. Inspirational, even. Phelps has made an achievement appreciated by sports fans all over the world, even by people who are not the least bit interested in the sport of swimming, like me.

2. NBA Finals 2008. Again, my Detroit Pistons failed to reach the Finals, but I admit, for the good of the whole sport of basketball, the Celtics-Lakers match-up could not have been topped by any other postseason ending. The Lakers’ acquisition of Gasol, the Celtics’ recruitment of Garnett and Allen, the build-up into the playoffs, that Larry Bird and Magic Johnson playoffs commercial (“Rivalries live on,” There Can Only Be One series), Paul Pierce’s heroics, Kobe Bryant’s MVP award, and everything else that spiced up the championship battle made it one to remember, as another chapter was added to the Celtics-Lakers rivalry.

1. Pacquiao defeats De La Hoya, Diaz, and Marquez in three different weight divisions. Manny Pacquiao started the year with a controversial decision win over arguably his biggest rival to date, Juan Manuel Marquez. Shortly thereafter, several rumors about a rematch between the two great fighters surfaced, but eventually died down as Pac-Man’s camp announced their intention to move their fighter up in weight and face David Diaz for a lightweight title. He promptly won that fight and geared up for what became this year’s biggest fight (and near the end of the year, as well): the Dream Match, a match that featured the Filipino fighter going up against boxing’s biggest crowd-magnet at that time, Oscar De La Hoya. Hundreds of articles must have been written about the fight, and most probably agreed with the common forecast that De La Hoya, being the naturally bigger fighter, would knock out the reigning pound-for-pound king, who had to climb up another two weight divisions to meet his opponent at welterweight. We all know how that story ended, and with that, I’m voting for Manny Pacquiao’s big year as my top sports event of 2008.

He's not just an athlete, he's a military athlete. (Photo by Jay Directo/AFP/Getty Images)

Looking forward to another great year in sports. Cheers to 2009!