- The UEFA Champions League is the biggest tournament in European football.
- Real Madrid are the club with the most titles won in this competition, with 15.
- These 5 clubs have had great success in the past but failed to make it in the tournament.
These 5 great clubs prove that even though they were the perfect, strong and consistent teams at the time, they still couldn’t lift the “Big Ear” trophy even in the peak of the club’s sweet past.
5. Valencia (1999-2001)
Back then, it was one of Valencia’s golden years. They had a great team with captain Gaizka Mendieta in the middle, and Argentine superstars Pablo Aimar, Daniel Ayala, Kili Gonzalez and Claudio Lopez under coach Hector Cuper. In the European competition in 2000, Valencia defeated the giants Lazio, the champions of Serie A, and
also passed the leading team in La Liga, Barcelona. But in the final, they lost to Real Madrid 0-3. The following year, Valencia continued their impressive performance by reaching the final for the second year in a
row. But unfortunately, the “Bavarians” lost on penalties to Bayern Munich 4-5, missing out on the championship.
4. Atletico Madrid (2013-2014 and 2015-2016)
Since Argentine manager Diego Simeone took over Atletico Madrid in December 2011, he has transformed the สมัคร ufabet club and led them to success and a place in Europe’s top footballing power. In the 2014 UEFA Champions League, Atletico
Madrid were in the final against their arch-rivals Madrid. Simeone’s team took a 1-0 lead at half-time, but Los Blancos equalised through Sergio Ramos in stoppage time and then scored three more in extra time to send Atletico to the final. However, two years later, Atletico Madrid
continued their impressive run and reached the final against Madrid again, only to be beaten 4-5 on penalties by Los Blancos.
3. Juventus (1996-1998)
The mid-90s were truly the golden age of Italian football, with many famous clubs and top players from all over the world going there to show their skills. Juventus was considered one of the superpowers of Italy. In the 1997
European Cup, Juventus, led by the great coach Marcello Lippi, had a great force such as Christian Vieri, Zinedine Zidane and Didier Deschamps, and entered the final against Borussia Dortmund, who were superior in class. However, they were surprisingly defeated by the “Yellow and Black Tigers” 1-3. A
year later, Juventus entered the final again and had to face the great team Madrid, but they were unfortunately defeated by the “Los Blancos” 0-1 with the winning goal from Pedrag Mijatović, the legendary striker of the Yugoslav national team.
2. Chelsea (2004-05)
After Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho took charge of Chelsea as a former European champion with his old club FC Porto, he immediately made a huge impact at Stamford Bridge, leading the team to the Premier League title and breaking many records. In that year’s UEFA Champions League,
Chelsea beat many giants from the group stage with teams like Paris Saint-Germain, Porto and CSKA Moscow. Then in the round of 16, they passed Barcelona with the great player Ronaldinho and in the round of 16, they beat Bayern Munich. However, in the semi-finals, Chelsea
had to face Liverpool under coach Rafael Benitez and had to stop at this round after Spanish playmaker Luis Garcia scored a mysterious goal for the “Reds” to win at Anfield before creating a miracle to win the championship in Istanbul.
1. Arsenal (2003-04)
In that year, Arsenal, under the management of legendary French coach Arsene Wenger, had a squad of Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Patrick Vieira, Gilberto Silva and Sol Campbell, winning the Premier League title without losing a single game. However, in the
European game, Arsenal started the group stage poorly by losing 0-3 at home to Inter Milan. However, they won 3 consecutive games, including visiting to take revenge and crushing the “Big Snake” 5-1 at home, impressively advancing to the round of 16 as the group champions. Arsenal defeated Celta Vigo with a score of
5-2 on aggregate in the semi-finals and met Chelsea. In the first leg, they went to hold the advantage by drawing 1-1, but what was unbelievable was that the “Gunners” came back to lose 1-2 at home and had to be eliminated in the last 8 in an incredible way.