Champions of Europe 1974-2005

1974: FC Bayern Munchen 4 Atletico de Madrid 0 (replay)

As soon as George Schwarzenbeck’s speculative 35-yard last-minute strike cancelled out Luis Aragones’ superb free kick to send this final into the first, and only, replay in the history of this fixture, Bayern were convinced the European Cup was theirs. But even the likes of Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Muller and Sepp Maier didn’t expect to romp home 4-0 in the replay two days later. Muller’s delicate job for Bayern’s third was the perfect riposte to those who doubted his technique while Hoeness’s sprint from the halfway line to round the goalkeeper with eight minutes to go made him the toast of Germany. Atletico have not reached the final of this competition since.

1975: FC Bayern Munchen 2 Leeds United AFC 0

A controversial final, marred by poor refereeing and violence in the stands at Rarc de Princes, saw Bayern retain their European crown despite being dominate by the Leeds United side that Don Revie had built. Bayern survived through Maier’s heroic goal, Beckenbauer’s promptings, an unawarded penalty and the guile OG Muller who, in an unfamiliar midfield role, found time to make one and score the other of Bayern’s goal. For Leeds, banned from European competition for a year by UEFA after theirs’ fans behavior, their scant consolation was that, on the night, they had been the better side.

1976: FC Bayern Munchen 1 As Saint-Etienne 0

Sometimes, Muller was too good for his own good. In the second minute of this Glasgow final, he raced on to pass from Bernd Durnberger to score only to be given offside. TV replays showed the Bayern striker had been onside, but had accelerated so fast he had confused the linesman. St Etienne were unlucky too-denied twice by the woodwork, once by a goal-line clearance from Beckenbauer and twice by fine saves from Maier-but only threatened consistently after injured winger Dominique Rocheteau came on with eight minutes to go. Ultimately the game was decided by a neat set-piece: a free kick tapped by Beckenbauer to Franz Roth whose thundering right-foot shot gave St Etienne keeper Ivan Curkovic no chance.

1977: Liverpool FC 3 Vfl Borussia Monchengladbach 1

Liverpool became champions of Europe at the fourth time of asking, bouncing back from defeat by Manchester United in the FA Cup final five days earlier to delight the tens of thousands of Reds who had made the pilgrimage from Merseyside to Rome. Their victory over the German champions was testament to the genius manager Bob Paisley, one of the greatest coaches in European Cup history, a man who eschewed the training manuals, dossiers and logarithms in favor of a simpler plan; just assemble the best players and let them play, with the emphasis on possession. In paid off on that balmy night in the Olympic Stadium, Kevin Keegan’s curtain call to the Kop; even when European footballer of the year Allan Simonsen cancelled out Terry McDermott’s opener, the Reds had the assurance and composure to regroup and strike again; after Ray Clemence’s match-saving stop from Stielike, Tommy Smith and a Phil Neal penalty earned Liverpool the crown and Steve Heighway, right, the chance to wear a top hat in celebration.

1978: Liverpool FC 1 FC Bruge 0

The second time for Liverpool could be described, after the exhilaration of 1977, an anti-climax, if becoming European champions can even be written off in such unflattering terms. But the negative tactics deployed by Bruges coach Ernest Happel meant the Wembley showpiece wasn’t much of spectacle. It was fortunate, then, that in Kenny Dalglish, recruited 12 months earlier from Celtic to replace Kevin Keegan, Liverpool Had a player of unparalleled wit, vision and touch. It was Scot’s sumptuous chip over Bruges keeper Birger Jensen, left, put through by a typically intelligent and delicate Graeme Souness pass, that made the difference on 64 minutes.


1979: Nottingham Forest FC 1 Malmo FF 0

On 7 May 1977, unfashionable Nottingham Forest were playing even less fashionable Millwall in the second tier of English football. Just two years and 23 days later, the still not paricularly chic Forest were champions of Europe. How did it happen? It was all thanks to two men in comfortable pullovers: Brian Clough and Peter Taylor, right. The motivation skills of Clough and Taylor’s eye for a player combined to create an appealing fusion of revitalised casts-off (like Larry Lloyd and John Robertson), graduates plucked from the youth ranks or non-league football (step forward Garry Birtles) and the odd big-money purchase (Peter Shilton and England’s first million-pound footballer Trevor Francis). And it was Francis who repaid some of that seven-figure fee, heading home the only goal in an otherwise disappointing final in Munich’s Olympiastadion, against a dour Malmo side obsessed with the offside trap.


1980: Nottingham Forest FC 1 Hamburger SV 0

Nottingham Forest returned to defend their title 12 months later in Madrid’s Bernabeu, facing the man who had been an integral part of Liverpool’s success in 1977. But this time Kevin Keegan was to finish on the losing side in a European Cup final, as his Hamburger side, replete with international names like Felix Magath and Manny Kaltz, lost out to a first-half goal on the counterattack from John Robertson. It was a victory that relied on teamwork more than anything else, as Clough beamed, “It was one of the best 90 minutes we have ever had. Absolutely marvelous.”


1981: Liverpool FC 1 Real Madrid CF 0

Bob Paisley’s men secured a hat-trick of European Cup wins with their defeat of Vujadin Boskov’s Real Madrid team in Paris. It came courtesy of a goal eight minutes from time from the unlikely source of left-back Alan ‘Barney Rubble’ Kennedy, whose angled shot from the edge of the six-yard box evaded the Real keeper Agustin. Like the previous year, the English challengers found themselves up against a compatriot, this time in the shape of temperamental winger Laurie Cunningham, but neither he, nor team-mates Uli Stielike or Jose Camacho, were able to halt Liverpool’s march to a third triumph. Local hero and captain Phil Thompson, left, fulfilled a boyhood dream when he lifted the cup in the Parc des Princes.


1984: Aston Villa FC 1 Bayern Munchen 0

The names of Peter Withe and Nigel Spink, right, are etchedon the heart of every Aston Villa supporter, thanks to their braveheart performances in the final in Rotterdam. Few outside the claret-and-blue quarters of Birmingham gave Tony Barton’s side much of a hope against the imperious Bayern, spearheaded by Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in his pomp, especially when goalkeeper Jimmy Rimmer had to be substituted with an injury minutes after the start. But his inexperienced deputy Spink rose to the challenge, while with netted the winner from close range midway through the second half from a Tony Morley cross. Improbably, Villa were only England’s eleventh best club that season, but nobody could deny them their status as kings of the continent.


1983: Hamburger FC 1 Juventus 0

England’s grip on the European Cup has finally been loosened in the quarter-finals by Juventus and Widzew Lodz, who beat Aston Villa and Liverpool respectively. In the semis, Giovanni Trapattoni’s Juventus beat the Poles to reach the final where they faced Ernst Happel’s Hamburg. Boasting 1982 World Cup icons Michel Platini, Paolo Rossi, Dino Zoff and Marco Tardelli, the Turin giants were clear favorites to lift the cup in Athens. But perhaps having rather underestimated the Germans, they were stunned by Felix Magath’s curler in the seventh minute, and with too many of Juve’s stars failing to perform, it proved enough for the Germans.


1984: Liverpool FC 1 AS Roma 1 (5-4 pens)

The first European Cup final to go to a penalty shoot-out, it was settled by Liverpool keeper Bruce Grobbelaar, whose buckling-knees routine put off Roma spot-kick takers Bruno Conti and Francesco Graziani. In fairness, Gobbelaar and his team-mates might have been forgiven for having wobbly legs all evening, having to play the final in the intimidating atmosphere of their opponents’ home ground. But Joe Fagan’s side calmed their nerves with a pre-match singalong in the tunnel, and although Phil Neal’s 15th-minute opener was cancelled out shortly before the interval by Roberto Pruzzo’s header, Liverpool’s assurance saw them deservedly lift the trophy for the forth time.


1985: Juventus 1 Liverpool FC 0

The bianconeri’s first over European Cup is forever devalued by the horrific events that preceded this match at Brussels’ Heysel stadium and led to deaths of 39 people. The match itself was decided by two penalty appeals-one, by Juve, given and converted by Michel Platini and one, not given, to Liverpool with 15 minutes left. Platini had made Juve champions of Europe, but could take little pleasure in it, admitting later: “That night had nothing to do with football.”


1986: CSA Steaua Bucuresti 0 FC Barcelona 0 (2-0 pens)

This final is more famous for the ineptitude of the penalty takers in the deciding shoot-out than for anything that happened on the pitch in Seville’s Pizjuan stadium. For Barca the heartbreak was probably even greater than when they lost to Benfica in 1961. Terry Venable’s side started the final as clear favourites, but could find no way past Steaua Bucharest’s well-marshalled defence and, as the game wore on, the Romanians looked the more likely to sore. In the shoot-out, Steaua’s heroic keeper Helmut Ducadam, right, saved all four spot-kicks and, with Marius Lacatus and Gavril Balint scoring theirs, as east European club won the European Cup for the first time ever.


1987: FC Porto 2 FC Bayern Munchen 1

Bayern’s president Fritz Scherer had written his victory speech in advance, such was the German club’s confidence that this final would, as their star Uli Hoeness predicted, be “the dawning of a great new era”. But Porto, even after conceding an early goal, looked the more accomplished side. In the 77th minute, Algerian striker Rabah Madjer backheeled a sublime equaliser, right, after a short pass from Juary. While Bayern were still in shock, Madjer made a goal for Juary to put Porto 2-1 ahead.


1988: PSV Eindhoven 0 SL Benfica 0

It took 37 minutes for either side to manage a shot on goal in this final, a tactical stalemate in which PSV, coached by Guus Hiddink, were the better side but couldn’t convert that superiority into goals. The shoot-out was a chillingly efficient affair, certainly compared to the Steaua-Barca duel in 1986, with the first eleven penalties all being scored. Someone had to miss eventually and, unluckily for Benfica, it was left-back Antonio Veloso. His soft shot was easily saved by PSV’s Hans van Breukelen, right. PSV had become the third Dutch side to win the European Cup. Hiddink insisted his side compared with the great Dutch teams of the 1970s, but on the evidence of this final, they were not as thrilling to watch as their predecessors.


1989: AC Milan 4 Steaua Bucuresti 0

Milan enthralled Barcelona’s Camp Nou, and the millions watching on TV, with one of the finest team performances in a European final since the heyday of Ajax and Real Madrid. The Italian champions played like the home team- possibly because there were about 80.000 rossoneri faithful in the stadium- and effectively ended the game as a in the 26th minute when Marco van Basten headed home Milan’s second. The two Dutch masters, Van Basten, left, and Ruud Gullit, got a brace apiece. On a great night for football, and for Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi, one of the funniest sights was watching Gullit race across the pitch to congratulate Van Basten for scoring Milan’s fourth. The dreadlocked genius eventually caught up with, and clattered, his team-mate and compatriot by the avertising hoardings.


1990: AC Milan 1 SL Benfica 0


A beautiful goal- a defence-splitting pass from Van Basten that Frank Rikkaard met and smashed past Benfica keeper Silvino- made AC Milan the first team to retain the European Cup since Nottingham Forest in 1980. In this final, though, it was the Eagles who did most of the swashbuckling, driven by the Brazilian midfielder Val do, while Milan were content to play coach Arrigo Sacchi’s pressing game, exploit the offside trap and make judicious use of the long back pass to their keeper Giovanni Galli. For Benfica, this marked their fifth successive defeat in a European Cup final.


1991: FK Crvena Zvezda 0 Olympique de Marseille 0 (5-3 pens)

After the final, the Yogoslav champions, better known in the west as Red Star Belgrade, admitted what, and to anyone watching had been obvious- that they had played for penalties from the start. The backdrop, the futuristic Bari stadium, created for Italia 90, proved more inspiring than the football as coach Ljupko Petrovic played a sweeper behind his back four, with another player Darko Pancev as a long striker. Marseille did most of the attacking, but neither Chris Waddle, left, nor Jean- Pierre Papin could get past Petrovic’s well- drilled defence. Pancev didn’t get a clear sight of goal until he took the fifth, and decisive, penalty to make the Yugoslavs kings of Europe.


1992: FC Barcelona 1 Sampdoria UC 0

For fans and officials, Barcelona’s failure to win the European Cup had, after 36 years of the competition, become an open wound, the apin exacerbated by the fast their fiercest rivals Real Madrid had won the trophy six times. They met Sampdoria, with Roberto Mancini, right, at Wembley and anti- climactic as this final might have seemed at times to neutrals, it was a victory that, coach Johan Cruyff said had been a long time coming. This absorbing contest was finally decided by a rocket of a free kick from Ronald Koeman in the 110th minute. The Dutch defender had won the trophy with PSV in 1988, but his elation knew no bounds as Barcelona’s European Cup hoodoo was broken, saying, “That was the most important goal of my life.”


1993: Olympique de Marseille 1 AC Milan 0

This was the first season of the UEFA Champions League, the successor to the European Cup, and, for the first time, a French club were crowned
champions of Europe. This final was a clash between two of the most
expensively assembled and talented teams in Europe. Milan dominated for
the first half hour, but it was Bernard Tapie’s Marseille who found the net in the 43rd minute, defender Basile Boli rising to head an Abedi Pele corner
into the net. Milan never really recovered, though Marco van Basten should have equalised in the 48th minute from eight yards out. For Marseille coach Raymond Goethals, who had watched his side on penalties
in 1991, success was especially sweet. Yet Marseille’s euphoria would soon
evaporate amid revelations of bribery and corruption. The club is yet to recover fully.


1994: AC Milan 4 Barcelona 0

As one-sided as a firing squad, this final was over as a contest before half-time, when Daniele Massaro volleyed home his, and Milan’s second goal.
Dejav Savicevic, who had made Massano’s first, scored with a delightful
20-yard angled lob over Barcelona Keeper Andoni Zubizaretta, a fine goal
that capped a marvellous performance and Marcel Desailly, right, made it
four. Barcelona coach johan Cruyff had tried to characterize the final as a
clash between two footballing philosophies – his team’s attacking flair v
Milan’s defensive organization – but in the event all it proved was that Fabio Capello’s men had, on the night a much greater will to win.


1995: AFC Ajax 1 AC Milan 0

As a Juventus player, Fabio Capello had lost a European Cup final to Ajax
1 – 0. The same outcome in Vienna’s Ernst Happel stadium had the Milan
coach holding his head in his hands. True, his team had badly missed Dejan Savicevic, but it looked as if they had earned extra time, until substitute Patrick Kluivert started a sweet fine-man move that culminated,
despite a challenge from Franco Baresi, with him slipping the ball past Milan Keeper Sebastiano Rossi in the 85th minute. Kluivert, just 38 days shy of his 19th birthday, became the youngest player ever to score in the final. Ajax, boasting Jari Litmanen and Kanu, left, were kings of Europe
again and their fan’s ecstatic choruses of Always Look On The Bright Side
Of Life were heard by half a billon people.


1996: Juventus 1 AFC Ajax 1 (4 -2 pens)

If revenge truly is a dish best served cold, it must have tasted delicious for
Juventus, who finally avenged their 1973 European Cup final defeat by Ajax after a thrilling game and a dramatic penalty shoot-out. The bianconeri could, probably should, have won the game before, with Alessandro Del Piero and Gianluca Viali both missing golden opportunities.
Europe’s reigning champions Ajax had started as slight favourites but
Fabrizio Ravanelli above, exploited a moment’s confusion between Edwin van der Sar and Frank de Boer to score from an impossible angle in the
12th minute, Jari Litmanen equalised for Ajax half an hour later, but as the
game wore on Juve created the most chances. The Italian side scored all four of their penalties while Angelo Peruzzi saved from Davids and Sonny
Silooy. The final confirmed that Marcello Lippi’s Juventus, rather than Louis
van Gaal’s Ajax, would be dominant force in European football in the late 1990s.


1997: BV Borusssia Dortmund 3 Juventus 1

Juventus surprisingly lost this final, in Munich’s Olympiastadion, to a Borussia Dortmund side that included four ex-bianconeri: Jurgen Kohler,
Stefan Reuter, Andreas Moller and Paulo Sosa. As the game started, the
new Juve looked destined to defeat their former team-mates, but after half
an hour of solid defending, Dortmund won two corners in five minutes and
scored from both of them through Karlheinz Riedle, right Juventus coach
Marcello Lippi gambled for the second half, replacing a centre-back with Del Piero, and he got his reward when il Pinturricchio flicked past Stefan Klos, Juve’s hopes lasted just seven minutes – until Dortmund substitute
Lars Ricken struck a beautiful lob from 35 yards to restore his team’s
two-goal cushion. The Juve players looked stunned as the final whistle
blew on a classic contest that Dortmund just deserved to win.


1998: Real Madrid CF 1 Juventus 0


Third time unlucky for Juve in a final that marked the dawning of the age of Real Madrid’s galacticos and ended the club’s 32-year wait to be crowed
European champions again. The only goal of the game came 24 minutes from time from Juve’s bad luck. Roberto Carlos belted a shot that hit Juve’s defender Mark Iuliano who, in his struggle to control it, simply rolled it in the direction of Real striker Predrag Mijiatovic who rounded
Peruzzi to score, left. The goal was just reward for a dazzling display by
Mijiatovic who was arguably the best player in a Real side that included
the likes of Fernando Hierro, Raul, Clarence Seedorf and Fernando Morientes. The joy was short-lived for Real coach Jupp Heynckes, however: a month after winning the European Cup he was fired, Zinedine
Zidane, who went close for Juventus would become the definitive galactico
three years later.


1999: Manchester United FC 2 Bayern Munchen 1

For Bayern, who hadn’t been European champions since 1976 and Manchester United, champions only once in 1968, winning the UEFA
Champions League had begun to resemble a quest for the Holy Grail.
On what would have been Sir Matt Busby’s 90th birthday, United famously
Won in a denouement so cruel that in Germany even fans of Bayern’s
rivals briefly felt sorry for them. United had been below par, missing both
Roy Keane and Paul Scholes through suspension, and couldn’t have protested too much had they lost to Mario Basler’s sixth-minute goal.
But Sir Alex Ferguson saved the day from the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer,
Scoring in a frantic finale that still seems implausible even today.


2000: Real Madrid CF 3 Valencia CF 0

This is the final that sealed Luis Figo’s move from Barcelona to the Bernabeu. The future galactico watched on a TV at home, like hundreds of millions around the world as, for the first time ever, two teams from the same country disputed Europe’s greatest footballing honour. Real Madrid played the final with a caretaker coach, Vicente del Bosque, who had been a distinguished defensive midfielder for the club in the 1980s. This comprehensive victory, inspired by Raul and Steve McManaman, but made possible by the midfield pressing of Ivan Campo, Ivan Helguera and Altor Karanka, earned Del Bosque his gob, just as defeat, by Juventus in the 2002/03 semi- finals, would cost him. The scoreline didn’t really do Valencia justice. The outcome remained in doubt until the 66th minute when McManaman’s beautiful struck shot put Real 2-0 up. After that, Real ran riot, with Raul rounding off the scoring following a solo run from 70 yards.


2001: FC Bayern Munchen 1 Valencia CF 1 (5-4 pens)

Three penalties in normal time two scored, by Gaizka Mendieta and Stefan Effenberg, and one missed, by Mehmet Scroll, were followed by nine in the penalty competition that Bayern won 5-4. Oliver Kahn, left, was probably the world’s best keeper at the time and he earned the plaudits, not just for his shoot-out save from Mauricio Pellegrino, but for his reflexes when he snatched the ball from Valencia’s Zlatko Zahovic who looked certain to score late on. A game of drama, if not quality, it ended- for the second year running- in Champions League heartbreak for Valencia. Their players lay on the San Siro turf stricken by the same blend of disbelief and anguish the Bayern players had experienced two years before at Camp Nou.


2002: Real Madrid CF 2 Leverkusen 1

With Real Madrid returning to Hampden Park for a European final, it was inevitable the media would look back in wonder at the team of Di Stefano and Puskas that had won 7-3 on the same ground in 1960. This final wasn’t quite the same class, but the volley from Zinedine Zidane, left, that clinched Real’s crown certainly was. It wasn’t just the shot- it was the sweet pass down the left from Santiago Solari perfectly placed and timed for Roberto Carlos to run on to and sweep the ball to the edge of the area where Zizou watched it carefully, drew his left foot back and fired home a stunning volley that gave the Leverkusen keeper Jorg Butt no chance. The German side had, up to that point, matched Real, but although they created chances in the second half, they never quite looked like equalizing. While such eminent judges as Fabio Capello and Arsene Wenger applauded, Bayern Leverkusen coach Klaus Toppmoller could only roll his eyes in frustration.


2003: AC Milan 0 Juventus 0 (3-2 pens)

Old Trafford was treated to a masterclass in football’s subtler arts with the meeting of these two Italian giants. The drama was reserved, largely, for the penalty shoot-out, but the match was, as Henry Winter noted in The Daily Telegraph, ‘goalless not soulless’. Milan edged it in normal time, but couldn’t find a way past the world’s most expensive goalkeeper, Gianluigi Buffon, in the Juventus goal. All of Rui Costa’s clever prompting for the rossoneri was negated by defenders like Ciro Ferrara who always seemed to be on hand to flick away danger. Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko scored the vital spot-kick, Pippo Inzaghi threw his shorts into the crowd with joy and captain Paolo Maldini was piggybacked around the stadium.


2004: FC Porto 3 AS Monaco 0

Finals can turn on injuries and as Monaco winger Ludovic Giuly limped off in the first half, the French side’s hopes went with him. Porto, coached by Jose Mourinho, left, had left little to chance, stifling Monaco much as they had stopped Manchester United, Lyon and Deportivo from expressing themselves during their run to the final. There was only one shot on target in the first half and Carlos Alberto scored from it. Monaco pressed for an equaliser, only for Porto to hit them on the counter. Deco’s goal was a cameo that encapsulated his side superiority. He made a difficult chance look easy to give Porto a decisive 2-0 lead. Dimitri Alenichev’s late goal was slightly unfair on a Monaco side whose own heroic campaign deserved a better finale.

2005: Liverpool FC 3 AC Milan 3 (4-2 pens)

Fifty years of European finals… but few have been quite as dramatic as this. Carlo’s Ancelotti’s star- encrusted Milan, inspired by Kaka, were three goals up by half time in Instabul. But Rafael Benitez cannily reshaped his Liverpool team and Steven Gerrard’s header gave the Red hordes hope. Six amazing minutes later, Vladimir Smicer and Xabi Alonso had restored parity. Dudek’s impossible double save denied Andriy Sevchenko in the final seconds, before he summoned the spirit of Globbelaar to deny him again in the shoot-out, left. Against all odds, the cup was Liverpool’s to keep.