Xtratime Community banner

The History of the Champions League

1K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  vol  
#1 · (Edited)
The history of the European Cup and Champions League is long and remarkable, with fifty years of competition finding winners and losers from all parts of the continent.


1955-1960 THE REAL MADRID ERA

Real Madrid dominated the first five competitions, with the team led by Di Stefano, Puskas, Gento, Del Sol and Santamaria winning each of the first five finals comfortably. While this was most definitely the case, Manchester United and several Italian clubs did offer some resistance during the late 1950s. However, the combined factors of the 1958 Munich Air Crash and the unorthodox and cavalier playing style of Real meant that little real competition could be found.

This era culminated in the famous 1960 European Cup Final, at Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland, where Real Madrid obliterated Eintracht Frankfurt of the then West Germany 7-3 in front of BBC and other Eurovision television cameras and a crowd of over 135,000 - still the largest attendance for a European Cup or Champions League final.

1961 - 1966 BENFICA, A.C. AND INTERNAZIONALE

Real Madrids domination was ended by their biggest domestic rivals, Barcelona, in the first round of the 1961 competition. Barça went all the way to the final that year at the Wankdorf Stadium in Berne, Switzerland, where they were defeated in a close game by Benfica of Lisbon.

Benfica would then go on to reach a third successive final in 1963, but lost to Milan, whose city rivals Internazionale would win the trophy in both 1964 and 1965 beating Real Madrid and Benfica in the process. The 1965 competition is memorable more for the infamous and controversial semi-final between Internazionale and Liverpool, with widespread allegations of bribery and match fixing being levelled at the Italian side following a 3-0 home win in Milan.

This era was ended by Real Madrid, who defeated Internazionale in the 1966 semi-final, before going on to win a sixth European Cup with against Partizan Belgrade in the King Badouin Stadium, Brussels (then Heysel Stadium).

1967 - 1973 BRITISH AND DUTCH DOMINATION

In 1967, Celtic became the first British and northern European team to win the competition, beating Internazionale 2-1 in the Estadio Nacionale, in Lisbon, Portugal against the odds. The team, which became known as the Lisbon Lions, managed by Jock Stein, were all born within 25 miles (40 km) of Celtic Park in Glasgow, and as such remain unusual by the event's longstanding nature of attracting the best and most cosmopolitan players from all over the planet. Celtic are the only club to have won the competition with a team comprised entirely of home-grown talent.

One year later, in 1968, Manchester United became the first English team to win the competition, beating Benfica 4-1 after extra time at Wembley Stadium, London. This game was incredibly close, and though United scored three times in extra time, Benfica should have won the game in normal time when the famous Eusebio missed what should have been an easy chance (for him) in the last seconds.

The European Cup was now to spend almost the whole of the next decade and a half as the property of just three clubs - each winning at least three finals, and appearing regularly in the latter stages of the competition.

The first club to dominate was AFC Ajax, who first lost the 1969 final to Milan and then had to watch deadly rivals Feyenoord win the same title in 1970. After that though, the Total Football of Johan Cruiff, Barry Hulshoff, Ruud Krol, Johan Neeskens, Arie Haan, Gerrie Muhren and Piet Kiezer dominated for three comfortable years, despatching Panathionikios, Internazionale and Juventus in swift succession.

1974 - 1984 THE RISE OF BAYERN, ENGLISH CLUBS AND HEYSEL

Bayern Munich became the next club to dominate the competition, winning it three times consecutively in the mid 1970s.
Led by Franz Beckenbauer, and starring Sepp Maiur, Gerd Muller, Uli Hoeness and Paul Breitner, Bayern continued on from Total Football, adding their own version of rigidity and organisation to the mix to make an equally as imposing mixture.

Defeating first Athletico Madrid after a replay in 1974, Bayern then beat Leeds United 2-0 in a bad-tempered final at the Parc de Princes in 1975, and finally St. Etienne at Hampden Park, Glasgow, in 1976.
In 1977, Liverpool started a domination of the competition by English clubs which would see six consecutive victories, and a total of seven in eight years. Liverpool beat Borussia Monchengladbach 3-1 in Rome, then in 1978 became the first British club to win the trophy twice by beating the Belgian champions, Club Brugge at Wembley.

Liverpool lost in the first round of the 1979 competition to fellow English side Nottingham Forest who went on to win the tournament in arguably the most impressive rise to the top of continental football in the European game's history. Forest defeated Swedish side Malmo 1-0 in the Munich Final; then disposed of Hamburg SV in Madrid by the same scoreline to defend the trophy successfully in 1980 and remain the only side to win the trophy more times (twice) than their own domestic league (once). Liverpool returned to the final in 1981 where they picked up their third trophy with a 1-0 win over Real Madrid in Paris.

Aston Villa won the competition in 1982 with a 1-0 win over Bayern in Rotterdam. Hamburg SV won it in 1983, beating Juventus FC 1-0 in the final, in which no English side were playing for the first time in seven years. However, Liverpool were back in 1984 to defeat AS Roma on their home turf after a penalty shootout. Liverpool returned to defend the trophy in Brussels a year later, but the 1-0 defeat by Juventus was rendered meaningless due to the death of 39 Juventus fans in the Heysel Stadium. The consequence was a 5-year ban from European competition for English clubs, with a 6-year ban on Liverpool.

1986 - 1991 THE NON-ENGLISH ERA

With English clubs banned from participating in European football, the spell of dominance was well and truly over. In the few years that followed the Heysel Disaster, the European Cup was contested between other clubs. 1986, 1987 and 1988 saw the trophy lifted by Steaua Bucharest of Romania, FC Porto of Portugal and PSV Eindhoven of the Netherlands respectively.

A.C Milan won the European Cup in 1989 and retained it the following year. The Dutch trio of Marco van Basten, Ruud Guillit and Frank Rijkaard played an important part in their success. Milan missed out on a third successive European crown in 1991, when the trophy went to Yugoslav league champions Red Star Belgrade who beat Marseille on penalties after a goalless draw. The 1991 final was also the only final in the 1989-1998 period that failed to feature an Italian team. The ban on English clubs in European football was lifted for the 1990-91 season, but English champions Liverpool were unable to compete in the European Cup because they had to serve an extra year.

1992 - 1996 CONTINENTAL DOMINENCE

English clubs made their return to the European Cup in the early 1990s, but none reached even the last eight let alone the final. Arsenal (1991-92), Leeds United (1992-93), Manchester United (1993-94 and 1994-95) and Blackburn Rovers (1995-96) struggled to make an impact in Europe.
Instead, the trophy stayed with continental clubs. The 1992 final, played at Wembley Stadium, was won by Barcelona. Marseille won the 1993 final, but were later banned from defending their crown in what was only the beginning of a collapse which arose from domestic match fixing committed by chairman Bernard Tapie. The club eventually lost their French First Division status after it was revealed that Tapie had cooked the club's financial books.

In 1994, A.C. Milan reclaimed the trophy by comprehensively beating a star-studded Barcelona side, 4-0, in what many have hailed as one of the finest European Cup Final performances of the modern age. Milan also went on to reach the final in 1995 but lost 1-0 to an exciting young Ajax side powered by the brilliant 19 year-old striker Patrick Kluivert. Ajax, in turn, reached the next final in 1996, but fell to Juventus after a penalty shoot-out.

1997 - 2003 VARIED SUCCESS

Borussia Dortmund, joined the list of European Cup winners in 1997 when they upset holders Juventus in the final, having already disposed of English champions, Manchester United, in the semi-final.

In 1997-98, UEFA allowed the runners-up of top European leagues to compete in the European Cup (now officially the UEFA Champions League). UEFA's rationale was that the quality of its premier tournament increased by including more top teams from big leagues rather than minnows from the likes of Wales and Andorra. Despite the new changes, an old face claimed the crown in 1998: Real Madrid won their first European Cup since 1966 and seventh overall when they beat Juventus 1-0 in the Italian club's third straight final (and second straight defeat).

1998-99 will be forever remembered for Manchester United's superlative and unparalleled treble success. United had forged an impressive path to the Final by emerging from a group containing Barcelona and Bayern Munich unbeaten, then beating Italian giants Inter Milan and Juventus (in both legs coming from behind). They had also forged a reputation for late comebacks in England as they picked up the League and FA Cup en-route to a treble, unprecedented in English football. Their opponents, Bayern Munich, were also chasing a treble, and took the lead after just six minutes through a clever Mario Basler free-kick. It appeared to be enough for Bayern as United failed to find a way through, with goalkeeper, Peter Schemichael, (playing his last game for the club and captaining the club in the absence of skipper Roy Keane) in inspirational form to keep his team in the game. With referee Pierluigi Collina signalling three minutes of stoppage time, everyone thought the game was up, to the extent that the trophy was brought out bearing Bayern's colours.

United threw everyone forward for a David Beckham corner, and were rewarded when substitute Teddy Sheringham turned home the equaliser after Ryan Giggs mishit a shot at goal. Bayern hearts were broken, but the worst was yet to come no more than a minute later. Another Beckham corner again provided the danger as Sheringham headed it on to fellow substitute Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The Norwegian striker flicked out his boot to send the ball into the roof of the net and win the European Cup for Manchester United. It was the club's first success since 1968 and marked the first English winner since Liverpool in 1984.

Real Madrid started the 21st century in similar fashion to their 20th century exploits by defeating Valencia 3-0 to lift the European Cup again. This was the first final to feature two teams from the same country.

Valencia returned to the Final again in the 2001 only to lose again, this time to Bayern Munich, who finally erased the memory of their 1999 final defeat. That win also gave coach Ottmar Hitzfeld the distinction of winning the European Cup with two different teams, having lifted it in 1997 with Borussia Dortmund.

There were echoes of Real Madrid's legendary 1960 final victory when they faced another German team (Bayer Leverkusen in the 2002 final at Glasgow's Hampden Park. Bayer became the first finalist never to have won their domestic league.

That season they added multiple FIFA World Player of the Year winner, Zinedine Zidane, to their ranks for a world record fee of €71 million. Zidane and Madrid lived up to the hype; the Frenchman displayed textbook skill to acrobatically volley home the winner in their 2-1 victory that gave the club its ninth European Cup.

The following season, however, saw three Italian semi-finalists—and a final between A.C. Milan and Juventus. Milan won their sixth European Cup when they beat their old rivals 3-2 on penalties following a dull 0-0 draw. The victory was especially sweet for captain, Paolo Maldini, who lifted the trophy in Manchester exactly forty years after his father Cesare had done so for Milan in London.

2004 - 2005 THE YEARS OF THE UNEXPECTED

There was a major upset in 2004 when FC Porto defeated Monaco 3-0 to win the European Cup. Goals were scored by Carlos Alberto, Deco and Dmitri Alenichev. Neither team had been tipped for any success in the competition, but between them they managed to claim the scalps of Manchester United, Real Madrid and Chelsea as European football's big names tumbled out. FC Porto and their charismatic manager, Jose Mourinho, achieved the rare feat of following up a UEFA Cup victory by winning the European Cup the next season

There was a similar surprise in 2005. This time it involved two of Europe's most successful clubs. Six-time European Champions A.C. Milan faced four-time winners Liverpool in what could be considered one of the most dramatic finals in the competition's history. Milan were the overwhelming favourites, having claimed the crown two years previously and boasting a star-studded lineup that included the ageless Paolo Maldini and Ukraine's Andriy Shevchenko. Liverpool, on the other hand, had struggled through a domestic league campaign that saw them only finish fifth, but produced an incredible series of performances in Europe.

Milan broke through after just 52 seconds, Maldini striking the fastest goal in European Cup Final history. The Italians, buoyed by a sensational showing from Brazilian star Kaka, took control of the game. Shevchenko fed Hernan Crespo five minutes before half-time to make it 2-0, only for Crespo to add another two minutes later after a defence-splitting pass from Kaká. At 3-0 down at half-time, Liverpool looked dead and buried.
Liverpool's Spanish manager Rafael Benitex changed the course of the game when he introduced German midfielder Dietmar Hamman.

After Liverpool goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek made a fine save from a Shevchenko free-kick, the European Cup Final's greatest ever comeback began. Gerrard scored with a header before Vladimir Smicer's long-range drive made it 3-2 just two minutes later. And on the hour mark Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso completed the comeback by converting the rebound from his saved penalty kick to make it 3-3.

Milan almost won it at the end of extra time when Shevchenko was twice denied in quick succession by Dudek. That proved crucial as they moved on to a penalty shoot-out where Liverpool triumphed 3-2 when Dudek again saved from Shevchenko. Liverpool had captured their most unlikely European Cup victory, and as five-time winners earned the honour of keeping the trophy.

2006 - ?????

--Information gathered from Wikipedia and Uefa.com--
 
#3 ·
Before it changed to the Champions League in 1992 it was called the European Cup. Before the European Cup was established in 1955 the only equivelent was the Mitopa Cup, which i believe was only contested by Eastern European clubs. However i am not 100% sure on the last comment.
 
#4 ·