Every season there are some great teams that miss the chance to lift the big prize. Especially nowadays, in the era of superclubs. But it was a little bit different when lifting the European Cup was, at least, a two year process. First you had to build the team to be the best in your country, then add the extra touches to reign supreme in the continent. Which team of those that fell short do you think was the best? My list wouldn't be completed without: Reims 1959 Barcelona 1961 Leeds United 1975 Saint Ettiene 1976 Borussia Moenchengladbach 1976&1977 Anderlecht 1982 Bordeaux 1985 Dinamo Kiev 1987
Perhaps AC Milan 1958 are worth considering too. Liverpool 87/88 is a tricky case as obviously there was no gauge on them in European competition. Milan 95/96 perhaps (though they didn't get close to it in 96/97, they didn't have the opportunity in 95/96 albeit they went out the UEFA Cup - but won Serie A while Juve won the CL). Juventus 97/98 maybe (94/95 isn't really valid, just as 82/83 might not be for Liverpool, as like I say they did win it in 95/96 anyway), and Milan 03/04 or 04/05 or even 05/06 but again they won it at either end of that period anyway (the 04/05 team is an obvious option for how close they got and how well they played for a lot of the Final I suppose). Maybe St Etienne also for 80/81, but then maybe Ipswich too as they won comfortably against them. Arsenal 01/02 or 03/04 could be in the mix, and for North London balance I could add in Tottenham 60/61 or 62/63 or perhaps even 81/82 but that might be especially a stretch and the season fell apart at the end a bit I think apart from retaining the FA Cup.
I definitely agree with Arsenal 04, yes only a quarter finalist but if I rememeber two mistakes from Lehman (one in each leg) and this was thier invincible year.... Wenger will never get a better chance.
Juventus 1982/83 The starting eleven included six members of Italy's '82 World Cup winning squad (Zoff, Gentile, Cabrini, Scirea, Tardelli, Rossi), a seventh player missed out on Spain '82 due to injury (Bettega) and arguably the best ever players to come out of France (Platini) and Poland (Boniek). Everton 1985/86 Would have loved to have seen this team go up against Terry Venebles' Barcelona. 1989 Dream Final: AC Milan v Liverpool.
How Happel played with Trapattoni's mind in the 1983 final is legendary. Big big game from Lars Bastrup (before he got injured). And fantastic performance by Marco Tardelli, playing literally alone in midfield for the bianconeri. That 1989 final sounds sweet. Although 1987 Liverpool was probably better.
Disagree with Liverpool 87, speak to most Liverpool fans and they will say Liverpool 88 much better, Liverpool 86 only just won the league and Everton lead most of the season, Liverpool 88 were completely dominant, only the FA Cup final shock in 88 denied them another double. Liverpool sides of early 80s and late 80s stronger than the one that ended up doing the double.
It can be argued that Bayern Munich of the 20th century won finals they should have lost (74, 75, 76) and lost finals they should have won (82, 87, 99). Speaking of Munich... 1958 Manchester United
I'm quite saddened by At. Madrid not winning. I'm not sure how good they actually are compared to the other teams that didn't win. However, given the context, I rate them very highly. They've had to compete in an era where super clubs dominate, with far superior resources, and At. Madrid is the only team that has contested for the top prize, without having any all-time greats. Someone like Koke might go on to prove himself, but when you see the amount of players at Madrid, Bayern, Juventus, and Barcelona who will go down as generational and all-time greats, it's pretty amazing how well At. Madrid have done. Not to mention that pretty much every top team under-performed that year, which was how we ened up with a Monaco vs Porto final.
I agree on "La Quinta", especially 1988. I don't on Netzer's Borussia, not because it wasn't a very good side, but because those European Cups were not "winnable": Ajax was such a superior team.
valencia's 2000 & 2001 especially, 2000 one when they demolished 2 top favourites cl's team, lazio (qfinal) & barcelona (sfinal) with the same aggregate, both 5-3 sadly, del bosque's tactic spot on in the end
1972 Gladbach - Demolished Internazionale on 7-1, but it was annulled 1980 Hamburg - Best 1980 european team by elo rating 1982 Bayern - Who could predict Villa beat Breitnigge? 1983 Juventus - 6 World champions & Platini & Boniek & Bettega 1988 Real Madrid - Noche negra de Eindhoven 1990 Marseille - Vata's goal in SF 2nd leg was one of worst call
Not sure about dominance. I remember them having many lucky wins (admittedly, all champions do.) Their defense was far more impressive than their attack.
1991 - 1993 version of AC Milan most probably in terms of "best" (per 'ClubElo' certainly). At one occassion Marseille stood in the way.
When Capello started the "turnover system" their squad was amazing. If we take in account all the rule changes, number of foreign players allowed, etc, that roster is probably the best of all time. Aldo Serena and Fernando De Napoli, who were important players just two years before during the World Cup, were the last men on that rotation. But, as you pointed out, there were some really good teams during that period, such as Red Star, OM, Barcelona or Sao Paulo.
Chelsea 04/05 had the best defense at that time. Surely incredible. The way they won the league,imo,was more impressive than Arsenal 03/04.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...-odds-results-schedule-fixtures-a7632886.html The attached article in yesterday's Independent by Miguel Delaney may be of interest. It claims that only 12 times in the past 24 years has the best team won the Champions League. At one point in the article it is stated that the number is 10 times out of 24, but the accompanying table and narrative give a total of 12.
Tend to agree with a lot of the years of selection for the best team, RM in last few years when they won and also Barca being best team for four in a row, Juve three times in the late 90s and Arsenal in 04 too.
For me its Borrusia 72 aswell. They may very well have beaten Ajax in the final, as they truely murdered Facchetti's team.
Following on from this, listed below are European Cup /Champions League winners each year with selected other leading contenders. The winners are shown first. Where no number appears, the winning team had the highest European club ELO rating at the time. The ratings are taken the day after the final. A number against the winning team indicates its European ELO ranking when it was not first. In these cases the positions of the highest ranked clubs above the winning team are shown. Brackets indicate that the other club(s) did not enter the European Cup/Champions League that year. Suggested top team for each year is in bold. Comments welcome. For example, in 1956 Real Madrid wins the first European Cup with the third highest ELO rating at the time. Honved is the highest ELO ranked club, followed by Barcelona, but neither entered the competition. Honved is the proposed top team. In each of the next four years Real Madrid wins the trophy, has the highest ELO ranking, and is proposed top club. 1956: Real Madrid 3. (Honved 1), (Barcelona 2). 1957: Real Madrid 1958: Real Madrid 1959: Real Madrid 1960: Real Madrid 1961: Benfica. 6. Real Madrid 1, Barcelona 2 1962: Benfica 5. Real Madrid 1, (Barcelona 2), (AC Milan 3) 1963: AC Milan 3. Real Madrid 1, Inter Milan 2 1964: Inter Milan 2, Real Madrid 1 1965: Inter Milan 1966: Real Madrid 1967: Celtic 3.Real Madrid 1, Inter Milan2 1968: Manchester United 5. Celtic 1, (AC Milan 2), Real Madrid 3 1969: AC Milan 1970: Feyenoord 15. (Everton 1), Celtic 2 1971: Ajax 3. (Leeds 1), (Arsenal 2) 1972: Ajax 1973: Ajax 1974: Bayern Munich 2. Liverpool 1 1975: Bayern Munich 3. (Borussia Monchengladbach 1), Feyenoord 2 1976: Bayern Munich 4. (Liverpool 1), Borussia Monchengladbach 2 1977: Liverpool 1978: Liverpool 1979: Nottingham Forest 2. Liverpool 1 1980: Nottingham Forest 9. Hamburg 1 1981: Liverpool 5. Bayern Munich 1, (Hamburg 2) 1982: Aston Villa 15, Liverpool 1, (Hamburg 2), Bayern Munich 3 1983: Hamburg. [Runners-up Juventus strong on paper but ELO ranking only 19th]. 1984: Liverpool 1985: Juventus 5. Liverpool 1 1986: Steau Bucharest 15. (Liverpool 1 banned), (Everton 2 banned), (Real Madrid 3), Bayern Munich 4 1987: Porto 6. Bayern Munich 1 1988: PSV Eindhoven 6. Real Madrid 1 1989: AC Milan 2. (Liverpool 1 banned) 1990: AC Milan 1991: Red Star Belgrade 11. AC Milan 1, (Arsenal 2 banned) 1992: Barcelona 7. (AC Milan 1 banned), (Juventus 2), Sampdoria 3 1993: Marseille 4, AC Milan 1 1994: AC Milan 1995: Ajax 4. (Juventus 1), AC Milan 2 1996: Juventus 3. Ajax 1 1997: Dortmund 4. Juventus 1 1998: Real Madrid 9. Juventus 1 1999: Manchester United 2. (Lazio 1) 2000: Real Madrid 5. Manchester United 1, Valencia 2 2001: Bayern Munich 3. Valencia 1, Real Madrid 2 2002: Real Madrid 2. (Valencia 1) 2003: AC Milan 13. Manchester United 1, Real Madrid 2, Juventus 3 2004: Porto 5. (Valencia 1), Arsenal 2, Barcelona 3 2005: Liverpool 13. Chelsea 1, Arsenal 2, AC Milan 3 2006: Barcelona 2007: AC Milan 6. Barcelona 1, Chelsea 2, Manchester United 3 2008: Manchester United 2009: Barcelona 2. Manchester United 1 2010: Inter Milan 5. Barcelona 1, Manchester United 2 2011: Barcelona 2012: Chelsea 8. Real Madrid 1, Barcelona 2, Bayern Munich 3 2013: Bayern Munich 2014: Real Madrid 2015: Barcelona 2016: Real Madrid 1. Barcelona 2, Bayern Munich 3 [This is the only instance when the winners have the highest ELO but it is suggested that another team was top] Grand totals for top clubs, with difference from actual wins in brackets. Totals: AC Milan 9 (+2), Real Madrid 9 (-2), Barcelona 7 (+2), Liverpool 7 (+2), Ajax 5 (+1), Bayern Munich 5, Manchester United 4 (+1), Juventus 3 (+1), Borussia Monchengladbach 2 (+2), Celtic 2 (+1), Hamburg 2 (+1), Inter Milan 2 (-1), Arsenal 1 (+1), Benfica 1 (-1), Chelsea 1, Honved 1 (+1). Aston Villa 0 (-1), Dortmund 0 (-1), Feyenoord 0 (-1), Marseille 0 (-1), PSV Eindhoven 0 (-1), Red Star Belgrade 0 (-1), Steau Bucharest 0 (-1), Nottingham Forest 0 (-2), Porto 0 (-2) According to this, the top team has won 33 times out of 61. On five of the other 28 occasions, the top club did not enter the competition, despite in four of those cases having the highest ELO.
I don't know what you think mate, but although biased lol, I do feel it would be a bit harsh (verging on 'wrong') to conclude Liverpool were better than Forest in both 77/78 (when Forest's ELO hadn't had chance to build up) and 78/79 (when Forest knocked Liverpool out of the EC fair and square). Objectively, although it's hard to be clear I might feel even though Trevor Francis (added after that EC tie) surely added quality and ability, and by all accounts had some impressive games in 1979 before his winning goal in the Final, that giving it to Liverpool for 78/79 is a fair call given the league table at the end of the season. But on that basis I think Forest could take 77/78 instead (they also won the League Cup Final vs Liverpool and went far in the FA Cup). Or looking another way, one each seems fair, while two to one of the teams looks a bit unbalanced perhaps?