Manchester City hit new heights but Liverpool claimed the European glory in an outstanding year of football.

Pep Guardiola's exhilarating City side followed up their magnificent 100-point Premier League-winning campaign of 2018 by playing even better to become the first English side to claim a domestic treble.

Yet they were pushed all the way to the league crown by Liverpool in a magnificent title race, eventually taking the prize by just a whisker – 98 points to 97 – after winning their last 14 matches.

Liverpool, who began the year leading the Premier League, lost just one match throughout the campaign but – critically – it came at the Etihad Stadium in January when John Stones made a dramatic clearance off the line with just 11mm to spare.

That small margin made a huge difference but, when it came to Europe, Jurgen Klopp's men were kings. While City's quadruple bid ended in agonising, VAR-related, last-gasp fashion at the hands of Tottenham, Liverpool produced another comeback for the ages to reach the final.

Trailing 3-0 to Barcelona after the first leg of their semi-final at the Nou Camp, the Reds produced arguably the greatest European night in Anfield's long history to fight back and prevail 4-3 on aggregate.

In Scotland, Celtic claimed their eighth successive title in a treble-wining season but Rangers, after years in the doldrums, were finally closing the gap under the bright stewardship of Steven Gerrard.

On the international front, England were beaten in the semi-finals of the Nations League by Holland but cruised through Euro 2020 qualifying, winning seven of their eight group games and scoring 37 goals.

The low point of the campaign came in Bulgaria, with a game needing to be stopped twice as England players were racially abused by supporters.

Wales also made it through to next year's tournament but Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland will have to wait until the play-offs next spring to see if they are involved.