As we sit here on the day of the Champions League final between Chelsea and Bayern Munich, I decided to take a look back down memory lane at the great European Cup finals of all time. There have been some classic finals in the past decades and we can hope tonight’s showpiece in Munich proves to be another one of those occasions.
Manchester United 4 Benfica 1 (1968)
The Red Devils became the first English side to win the European cup, and what made it sweeter was the fact it was won at Wembley (perhaps a good omen for SAF tomorrow). The game is remembered for European footballer of the year and football writer’s Footballer of the Year, George Best’s ‘wonder’ goal, but it could have been so different for United if goalkeeper Alex Stepney hadn’t saved from Eusebio, when the score was 1-1, when the Benfica forward broke through in the final moments. United sealed an emphatic win in extra time, with ‘that’ goal from Best, another from 19 year old Brian Kidd and another from Bobby Charlton.
Celtic 2 Inter Milan 1 (1967)
Celtic broke Britain’s European duck, in a remarkable game of attack versus defence, with the Scottish club managing 42 attempts on goal, with the Italians only achieving a measly five. Inter Milan took the lead on seven minutes via a Sandro Mazzola penalty, but that is as good as it got for the Italians, with Celtic unleashing wave after wave after attack, which eventually paid dividends with Tommy Gemmell and a deflected Bobby Murdoch shot, sealing the win.
Manchester United 2 Bayern Munich 1 (2000)
Everyone related with the German giants started to celebrate when the clock ticked over the 90 minute mark but 36 seconds later, the party was abruptly halted thanks to a Teddy Sheringham equaliser. Everybody began readying themselves for extra time but somebody forgot to tell Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who scored a dramatic winner on 92 minutes and 17 seconds to clinch the Treble for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side.
Liverpool 3 AC Milan 3 (Liverpool win 3-2 on pens) (2005)
AC Milan fans are still recovering from this historic night in Istanbul, where Liverpool achieved, what was deemed impossible at half time. 3-0 down against a stereotypical Italian defence, the game basically over, but in a mad seven minute spell Liverpool showed us all why we love the beautiful game with Gerrard, Smicer and Alonso completing a sensational come back, to take the game to extra time and eventually penalties, which of course the Merseyside outfit won.
Real Madrid 7 Eintracht Frankfurt 3 (1960)
This cup final is viewed by many as the greatest European final ever, and it is hard to argue against with ten goals, two hat tricks (Ferenc Puskas 4 and Alfredo di Stefano 3) and world record number of fans at Hampden Park (127,261). This victory was Real Madrid’s fifth consecutive European Cup final victory in a row.
Benfica 5 Real Madrid 3 (1962)
Real Madrid were looking to reclaim their European dominance after Benfica had taken the trophy the year before, and with two early goals from Puskas it looked like Madrid would do just that. However within ten minutes Benfica were level again, only for Puskas to complete his hat trick before half time. Benfica managed to draw level in the second half and eventually went on to retain their crown with two goals in four minutes from Eusebio.
Nottingham Forest 1 Malmo 0 (1979)
Just two seasons earlier Forest were playing in the old second division, something of a fairytale football story. If that wasn’t enough of a story for you, UEFA rules meant that Trevor Francis Britain’s first £1 million signing couldn’t play in European matches for three months, which meant the Cup final was the former Birmingham City man’s Euro debut, a huge gamble by Old Big ‘Ead but one that paid off with Francis netting the winner.
Milan 4 Ajax 1 (1969)
This Milan performance destroyed the cliché of Italian football being negative and defensive, with Pierino Prati scoring the last hat trick in a European final to date. This Ajax side would eventually go on to be European Champions three years in a row in the early 1970s.
Real Madrid 2 Bayer Leverkusen 1 (2002)
A very close encounter with Raul opening the scoring after eight minutes for Madrid but Leverkusen’s Lucio levelled the score only five minutes later. It is what happened in the 45th minute that gets this game onto such lists, arguably one of the greatest UEFA Champions League goals was scored by Zinedine Zidane who volleyed a high arcing cross from Roberto Carlos into the top corner from the edge of the area, a goal worthy to win any match, especially a cup final.
Borussia Dortmund 3 Juventus 1 (1997)
Everyone loves an underdog and the German’s duly obliged in giving us a victorious one. The German’s went 2-0 up before Del Piero (who else) pulled a goal back but Dortmund sealed the win with a Lars Ricksen goal, 16 seconds after he came on as a substitute, which was and still is the faster goal by a substitute in the Champions League ever.
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