I thought the Bayer- Madrid final was quite entertaining, all out attacking football...even though Levekusen deserved to win, Zidane's goal was simply magnificant and Cassilas really saved Real's asses. BTW, The Bayern-Valencia game NOT more boring than the Milan-Juve final, no way in hell. The FCB-Valencia game had character and superb goalkeeping as opposed to the all italian final which pretty dull all around.
Give me a break. The only thing entertaining about the Bayern Munich-Valencia final was seeing how pathetic power fussball was against Cuper's brilliant tactical substitutions (ie. putting Zahovic in when he cleary was out of his league... que honda che? even a below form Aimar of that time was 10X better). I take that back....seeing Canizares ball his eyes out at the end instead of Kaffour was quite dramatic...too bad the level of play wasn't as memorable . People can play up that Milan-Juve was the worst final, but they are simply saying it because there were two Italian teams there. But if you had two English teams or German clubs playing in the final, we would have words like "character, superb discipline, and fine defensive shape" describing the match. What a bunch of hypocrites. And for those that reply back, i have four words for THE WORST FINAL EVER ...Marseille-Red Star Belgrade....need I say more?!?! (although a good bunch of you probably never even followed football then).... p.s. Personally, I thought Real Madrid-Juventus was pretty darn good (the best club of the last half century vs the best club of that time 96-98....and it pretty much shifted los Merengues return to European Kings with their septima 98, octava 00, and noventa 02 wins). IMHO, that is....
I'm not criticising the italian game, I love Seria A, it's exciting football, as is Milan and Juventus when they play, but that final just wasn't a good example of Calcio.
For pure drama and vivid memories, of course the Manchester United/Bayern Munich and Liverpool/AC Milan matches. But, in total, those two games are really only remembered for about 10 minutes. Most enjoyable overall 90 minutes for a neutral since the inception of the Champion's League? I'd go with Dortmund-Juventus in 1997. 3-1 upset with a relatively minor club winning on their home soil, a couple of brilliant goals, and, for the most part, attacking football throughout. As someone else said, we've mainly eeither had routs or really boring close matches since the Champion's League began in the early 90s. 1997 was an exception.
I'd agree with that, Imo out of all the finals I've seen it was also one with the best atmosphere that and the Liverpool - Milan match.
That's true with the 1999 final, but no-way can you say that about Liverpool x Milan. The game had a good flow throughout the first-half. Then you had the great comeback in the second-half and the memorable save in extra-time. The game was great from start to finish and easily the best CL final in a very long time, imo.
Although that I'm a Juve fan, when the 1997 Final is looked at from a neutral perspective, it was a very good game to watch. Both teams played entertaining, attacking football and Dortmund, the underdogs, had the more threatening chances on the day. From a Juve perspective, it's heartbreaking but when it is just looked at as a match of football/soccer, it was an entertaining one.
Well said! A valid point was made. I haven't seen that final but from judging of the criticism of that match, it was one of the worst. The 1986 and 1988 Finals sound pathetic also.
I am choosing from those I was watching (all since 1990) 1. Liverpool - Milan 3-3 in 2005 2. Man Utd - Bayern 2-1 in 1999 These two were much better than the others in this period, but Dortmund - Juventus 3-1 was an interesting game too, and the score was somehow surprising.
No Paulo Sousa emerged as a player only in the 90s, playing in Benfica, Sporting, Juventus, Dortmund, Inter, Parma, Panathinaikos and finally Espanyol he never played in FC Porto. We had a player called Sousa, a great midfielder, Portuguese international, thats still holds if i am not mistaken the record for most games played in the Portuguese premier league with almost 500 games.
What a match! Just watch these amazing goals: http://www.fcporto.ws/audvid/bay-fcp-1.mpg http://www.fcporto.ws/audvid/bay-fcp-2.mpg
How can you say Borussia Dortmund are a relatively minor club? They have the biggest average attendances in all of Europe (almost 80,000 every game), have been one of the top German sides for quite a while now and actually won a European trophy many years before Juventus did (the 1966 Cup Winners Cup v Liverpool). Dortmund are no way a relatively minor club and weren't back then either.
Re: I own this game on tape We didn't pay that many money, and it was because he sells a helluva lot of shirts
Well, IMO, 1960 is still a great game, though it wasn't competitive (Real Madrid achieved a lead of 5-1 if I recall correctly) 1958 was indeed breathtaking, and I'd love to get a copy of the 1962 one. Real Madrid were kings of comeback those days. Oh, and last years was pretty exciting too.