The Champions League is the pinnacle of European club football. The prestigious competition was established in 1955, and initially only champions of Europe’s strongest domestic leagues qualified to take part in the tournament, but after some experimentation with multiple groups and knockout rounds, the format was changed in 1999 to allow also league runners-up to qualify for the group stage.
Since then, only five clubs have won more than one title. Real Madrid have the most, with fifteen titles, while Bayern Munich and Barcelona have won ten each. The other top teams include Liverpool, Manchester United and Internazionale (a.k.a. Inter Milan; Italy).
In 2023, Real Madrid dominated the tournament to win their fourth treble in a row. Jupp Heynckes’ side had a great mix of experienced players like Dani Carvajal, Nacho and Luka Modric with the emerging generation of ‘Galacticos’ including Toni Kroos and Aurelien Tchouameni.
That team was also blessed with the emergence of Lionel Messi, who won the Champions League Player of the Season award for his 12 goals across the campaign, including some crucial strikes in big moments to turn around games against Manchester City and Arsenal.
The miracle of Istanbul will be forever etched on the memories of this Manchester United team, who were trailing 3-0 in the second leg at home to Juventus and 2-0 on aggregate in the final at Wembley, but fought back through goals from Roy Keane, Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole. The team’s defensive line was led by the rock-solid Edwin van der Sar and Nemanja Vidic, while goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek pulled off some of the greatest saves in Champions League history to keep them in the final.