Greatest Champions League runs & wins?

Pretzels81

Not Salty…
Newbie
Joined
Jun 23, 2020
Messages
1,766
City, PSG, Bayern, Juventus were lesser opponents than PSG, Chelsea, City, Liverpool. Other than Bayern, none of those other sides were comparable

Throw in the fact PSG were missing all of Zlatan, Verratti and Thiago Silva, and Bayern were without like half the team...
City, PSG, Bayern, Juventus were lesser opponents than PSG, Chelsea, City, Liverpool. Other than Bayern, none of those other sides were comparable

Throw in the fact PSG were missing all of Zlatan, Verratti and Thiago Silva, and Bayern were without like half the team...
Barcelona 2014-15 battered all 13-14 champions, and only struggled a bit during the final (Morata's 1-1). Madrid 2022 was comfortably outclassed by PSG, City, and Chelsea, yet several miraculous goals and penalties saved them; the final was defined by a GK (Courtois), hardly a footballing achievement. Madrid 2022 has been a combination of belief and luck.
 

giorno

boob novice
Joined
Jul 20, 2016
Messages
26,144
Supports
Real Madrid
Barcelona 2014-15 battered all 13-14 champions, and only struggled a bit during the final (Morata's 1-1). Madrid 2022 was comfortably outclassed by PSG, City, and Chelsea, yet several miraculous goals and penalties saved them; the final was defined by a GK (Courtois), hardly a footballing achievement. Madrid 2022 has been a combination of belief and luck.
This isn't about which team was better or won more convincingly
 

Ramos

Full Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2019
Messages
761
It has to be Real 21-22.

If you had to name the top 5 best clubs in the world right now, a lot of people would name Real + the 4 teams they beat in the knockout phase.
 

The Corinthian

I will not take Mad Winger's name in vain
Joined
Dec 10, 2020
Messages
11,467
It has to be Real 21-22.

If you had to name the top 5 best clubs in the world right now, a lot of people would name Real + the 4 teams they beat in the knockout phase.
They’re not quite Chelsea 2012, but the black mark against this current Real team is they had a healthy, healthy dose of luck. Does that count against them? They also ended up losing 4 of the 13 games they played in the competition.
 

GatoLoco

Full Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2018
Messages
3,214
Supports
Real Madrid
They’re not quite Chelsea 2012, but the black mark against this current Real team is they had a healthy, healthy dose of luck. Does that count against them? They also ended up losing 4 of the 13 games they played in the competition.
That's more losses than Liverpool in their whole season.
 

Michaelf7777777

(∪。∪)。。。zzz
Joined
Aug 27, 2018
Messages
1,650
The toughest runs to win a European Cup/Champions League are the following in my opinion:

Inter Milan 63/64 EC: Everton, Monaco, Partizan Belgrade, Borussia Dortmund, Real Madrid
AC Milan 68/69 EC: Malmo, Bye, Celtic, Manchester United, Ajax
Ajax 72/73 EC: CSKA Sofia, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Juventus
Manchester United 98/99 CL: LKS Lodz, (Group: Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Brondby), Inter Milan, Juventus, Bayern Munich
Real Madrid 99/00 CL: (Group: Molde, Olympiacos, Porto) (Group: Bayern Munich, Dynamo Kyiv, Rosenberg), Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Valencia
Real Madrid 17/18 CL: (Group: APOEL, Borussia Dortmund, Tottenham), PSG, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Liverpool
Real Madrid 21/22 CL: (Group: Inter Milan, Shakhtar, Sheriff), PSG, Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool)
 

iamking

Full Member
Joined
May 11, 2022
Messages
252
Barca in 2014/15, they only played Champions the whole way through the tournament:

Group Stage:
PSG (Champions of France)
Ajax (Champions of Netherlands)
Apoel (Champions of Cyprus)

Knockout Stages:
Man City (Champions of England)
PSG (Champions of France)
Bayern Munich (Champions of Germany)
Juventus (Champions of Italy)

Has to be this!.. Barca 2014/15 dominated the CL and had one of the toughest runs ever.

Real 22 played 2 decent teams in PSG and City. Chelsea were on their way down with the owner issue and they faced an overrated Liverpool side where their main strikers were gassed out after an AFCON final. Real was worse than all these sides. Losing to Sheriff something team in the group stage. They were so bad, its an extraordinary achievement they even managed to win it. The 3rd worst CL champions after Liverpool 2005, Chelsea 2012. I can't believe they are even figuring in this conversation.

Barca 2014/15 for me easily. That side ripped apart every Champion side on the way to winning the final in style.

Our 99 side has to be in the conversation. Unlike the overrated Real 22 side, we were in a genuine group of death with Bayern and Barcelona. We played a strong Inter Milan side, Juventus side before facing Bayern in Final. Also, we had an extremely difficult title run in (unlike the Real 22 side, which coasted the one team league due to Barca's demise) and still managed to win the CL. So have to say us or Barca 2014.
 
Last edited:

WR10

Correctly predicted France to win World Cup 2018
Joined
Jul 19, 2009
Messages
5,644
Location
Dream
It's Real's current one. The manner of which they went about doing it. The way Benzema looked extraterrestrial in their run and how they were considered an awkward underdog in almost every game. Not to mention the ridiculous comebacks. Imagine United's 99 win over Bayern ... but throughout each stage.
 

Jeppers7

Pogfamily Mafia
Joined
Feb 25, 2014
Messages
7,287
Insulting another member
It's really not. United 99 is overrated by names, it was a tough run but not especially so, as after a true group of death they got to go through the 7th and 8th best teams in Italy to make the final

Barcelona in '15 faced lesser teams, and conveniently got them while decimated by injuries

Ours in '18 is the only one that comes close, but i think ultimately this run was harder
Not this cock again.
 

jm99

New Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2011
Messages
4,667
Maybe 2015 was more entertaining, but 2011 would never let you back into a game once they took control, it was over.

Personally, i think 2015 Barca was a bit overrated, their final against Juventus was good, but could have gone the other way, they needed a late header against Valencia to seal the league(sort of), i'm confident we would have won the league that season had Modric not gotten that big injury.

Yes, they killed most teams on the scoresheet, but they never gave me this "invincible"-feeling that Peps Barcelona had.

10/11 Barcelona is ahead and its not even a hard decision for me.
I completely disagree with this, 10/11 barca were very dominant, in a European field that was exceptionally weak. We hadn't properly reinforced and were a shadow of the late 00s team, arsenal had fallen off to no longer being real league contenders, PSG hadn't been taken over, City weren't close to the side they are now, Liverpool had fallen away, Chelsea were still Chelsea but weren't as strong as us and we weren't that great, inter nowhere near where they were the previous year with mourinho, bayern still a season or two away and juventus not recovered from relegation.

Real and barca were very strong but besides those two it was probably the weakest field since 2003-04. You compare that to the teams that barca 14-15 faced and its no wonder the 10/11 side was so dominant, every side apart from them and Madrid were fairly poor that year
 

MVBDX

Full Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2015
Messages
782
Supports
Real Madrid
Barca in 2014/15, they only played Champions the whole way through the tournament:

Group Stage:
PSG (Champions of France)
Ajax (Champions of Netherlands)
Apoel (Champions of Cyprus)

Knockout Stages:
Man City (Champions of England)
PSG (Champions of France)
Bayern Munich (Champions of Germany)
Juventus (Champions of Italy)
"Champions" makes it look better than it actually was, as the top 2 teams in that period were Real & Atleti (by a distant margin) who were the finalists in both 2014 and 2016 (and Liga was by far the dominant league, so other league champions were far from the very best), and Barca faced none of them.

Meanwhile Real faced both finalists of last year, and top 3 EPL sides (the current dominant league). There's literally no other "favorite" that Real could face, maybe Bayern, but they were kinda meh.
 

thepolice123

Full Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2008
Messages
12,179
Barca in 2014/15, they only played Champions the whole way through the tournament:

Group Stage:
PSG (Champions of France)
Ajax (Champions of Netherlands)
Apoel (Champions of Cyprus)

Knockout Stages:
Man City (Champions of England)
PSG (Champions of France)
Bayern Munich (Champions of Germany)
Juventus (Champions of Italy)
Tbf it didn't felt like a very tough run at that time probably because that Barca side was far superior than their oppositions.

City 21/22 > City 14/15
PSG 21/22 > PSG 14/15
Liverpool 21/22 > Juventus 14/15
Chelsea 21/22 < Bayern 14/15

Not to discredit Barca as you can only beat what's ahead of you but Real's run was definitely the tougher one.
 

Red the Bear

Something less generic
Joined
Aug 26, 2021
Messages
9,127
The toughest runs to win a European Cup/Champions League are the following in my opinion:

Inter Milan 63/64 EC: Everton, Monaco, Partizan Belgrade, Borussia Dortmund, Real Madrid
AC Milan 68/69 EC: Malmo, Bye, Celtic, Manchester United, Ajax
Ajax 72/73 EC: CSKA Sofia, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Juventus
Manchester United 98/99 CL: LKS Lodz, (Group: Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Brondby), Inter Milan, Juventus, Bayern Munich
Real Madrid 99/00 CL: (Group: Molde, Olympiacos, Porto) (Group: Bayern Munich, Dynamo Kyiv, Rosenberg), Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Valencia
Real Madrid 17/18 CL: (Group: APOEL, Borussia Dortmund, Tottenham), PSG, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Liverpool
Real Madrid 21/22 CL: (Group: Inter Milan, Shakhtar, Sheriff), PSG, Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool)
Truly a formidable opponent.
Nice list.
 

thepolice123

Full Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2008
Messages
12,179
Best run:

1) 21/22 Real taking over the whole of England.

2) 13/14 Real 1 Germany 0
 

led_scholes

Full Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2012
Messages
2,418
Definitely the greatest run through CL history. Nobody ever run a gauntlet like this, and there weren't even many significant lucky breaks to make it considerably easier
With a group of Sherrif and Donetsk? Definitely? Not even close.

Not to mention other exogenous factors (no challenger in the league, outplayed in every game etc).
 

giorno

boob novice
Joined
Jul 20, 2016
Messages
26,144
Supports
Real Madrid
With a group of Sherrif and Donetsk? Definitely? Not even close.

Not to mention other exogenous factors (no challenger in the league, outplayed in every game etc).
4 of the 5 best teams in the world in the KO stages
 

didz

Full Member
Joined
May 17, 2014
Messages
1,278
Genuine question: has any other team ever beaten both finalists from the previous season and a finalist from the season before in order to then win the final?
 

led_scholes

Full Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2012
Messages
2,418
4 of the 5 best teams in the world in the KO stages
How is PSG or Chelsea better than Bayern? Still, taking into account;

1) two really weak oppositions
2) the unchallenged league run
3) being outplayed by everyone

Its really far from the greatest. You can claim the second luckiest run after Chelsea 2012. But thats all.

Btw, I have seen some peole saying this PSG is better than previous ones. PSG between 2013-2016, were less of a circus and more of a team. It was harder to beat them.
 

Red the Bear

Something less generic
Joined
Aug 26, 2021
Messages
9,127
Genuine question: has any other team ever beaten both finalists from the previous season and a finalist from the season before in order to then win the final?
I can't remember right but Madrid did something very similar on two other occasions, they beat us and munich in 2000 on route to victory and did the same again to munich and BVB in 2014.
 

Pintu

Full Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2015
Messages
3,980
Location
Sweden
Genuine question: has any other team ever beaten both finalists from the previous season and a finalist from the season before in order to then win the final?
Ancelotti's Madrid in 2014 did beat the 2 finalists from the previous season (Dortmund and Bayern), and since Bayern was also a finalist in 2012, they technically did exactly what you are asking (although this time Bayern was coached by CL bottler in chief Pep, instead of Heynckes who had taken Bayern to the 2 finals in 2012 and 2013). So technically they did. But at the same time it was a different Bayern.
 

Pintu

Full Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2015
Messages
3,980
Location
Sweden
I can't remember right but Madrid did something very similar on two other occasions, they beat us and munich in 2000 on route to victory and did the same again to munich and BVB in 2014.
Exactly but they didn't beat the finalists from 97/98. That was Juventus and Real. They can't beat themselves and Juventus was in Intertoto Cup or something like that, following their 7th place finish in 98/99 serie A.
 

TuzlaUnited

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Apr 5, 2022
Messages
102
And were almost beaten by Olympiakos. That win is like Ajax vs us in '19. Great win, but ultimately everybody knows they didn't beat a great real madrid side


I actually disagree that serie A was the best around honestly. In fact that was the season La Liga became overtook it imo. Milan won the league with a team that was honestly nothing special
That Inter team was stacked.And La Liga was nowhere to Seria A.
 

Red the Bear

Something less generic
Joined
Aug 26, 2021
Messages
9,127
Exactly but they didn't beat the finalists from 97/98. That was Juventus and Real. They can't beat themselves and Juventus was in Intertoto Cup or something like that, following their 7th place finish in 98/99 serie A.
There must be one looking further back,gotta take a look.
 

Red the Bear

Something less generic
Joined
Aug 26, 2021
Messages
9,127
Before 2000 it was less likely to face previous finalists since they weren't always qualified for the next season.
The winner would obviously qualify but yeah the chances of it were much lower.
 

Boavista

Full Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2021
Messages
528
The problem is do you just go by opponent's "names", squads, and their previous season's achievements, or do you take into account the opponent's more recent form and performance on the day?

Because some runs look a lot more impressive on paper than they really were, but then again that might also apply a lot of hindsight to come to that conclusion.
 

didz

Full Member
Joined
May 17, 2014
Messages
1,278
Ancelotti's Madrid in 2014 did beat the 2 finalists from the previous season (Dortmund and Bayern), and since Bayern was also a finalist in 2012, they technically did exactly what you are asking (although this time Bayern was coached by CL bottler in chief Pep, instead of Heynckes who had taken Bayern to the 2 finals in 2012 and 2013). So technically they did. But at the same time it was a different Bayern.
Oh nice one. Love me a technicality!
 

GuybrushThreepwood

Full Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2019
Messages
1,159
Supports
Blackburn Rovers
One two (pretty big) side notes, while I’m not ranking it as the greatest CL run overall, Bayern beating both Utd and Real home and away in the quarter-finals and semi-finals in 2001 was incredibly impressive.

After the nature of their defeat against Utd in the 1999 final, and then the fact that they beat Real 3 times in 1999/2000 (8-3 on aggregate in the 2nd group stage) but were still eliminated by them, it was probably fitting that they overcame both those teams in impressive fashion to finally win the competition for the first time since the 70s.

And all things considered, Real’s 4-1 win over Juve in 2017 was the most impressive display / result that I’ve seen in a CL final. Juve had only conceded 3 goals in their 12 matches en-route for the final, and were 1 match / win away from a treble (I think they were in 2015 as well).
 

tomaldinho1

Full Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2015
Messages
17,374
City, PSG, Bayern, Juventus were lesser opponents than PSG, Chelsea, City, Liverpool. Other than Bayern, none of those other sides were comparable

Throw in the fact PSG were missing all of Zlatan, Verratti and Thiago Silva, and Bayern were without like half the team...
Juve 14/15 were a very good team. Feel like a bit of a disservice to suggest they weren’t at least at Chelsea’s level comparatively. I’d personally put them higher.

Maybe we’ve all just been suckered into the PL marketing as well to be honest - City and Pool are great teams but are they that good? You’re literally saying Juve under Allegri who won the double and were runners up on the CL weren’t on the level of City, Pool or Chelsea, the latter of which, finished 3rd by a distance and won nothing of note.
 

Red the Bear

Something less generic
Joined
Aug 26, 2021
Messages
9,127
One two (pretty big) side notes, while I’m not ranking it as the greatest CL run overall, Bayern beating both Utd and Real home and away in the quarter-finals and semi-finals in 2001 was incredibly impressive.

After the nature of their defeat against Utd in the 1999 final, and then the fact that they beat Real 3 times in 1999/2000 (8-3 on aggregate in the 2nd group stage) but were still eliminated by them, it was probably fitting that they overcame both those teams in impressive fashion to finally win the competition for the first time since the 70s.

And all things considered, Real’s 4-1 win over Juve in 2017 was the most impressive display / result that I’ve seen in a CL final. Juve had only conceded 3 goals in their 12 matches en-route for the final, and were 1 match / win away from a treble (I think they were in 2015 as well).
It was a fun era to be sure, we bayern and real partook in the the most exciting matches of that 4 year period (although I felt Madrid wasn't as good as us and bayern but they just have that extra something in europe).

I would say barca's win over us was more impressive as while we were an inferior team to that juve side we didn't have a meltdown as if rumors are to be believed juve had a half time meltdown involved bonouci and dani alves which observedly affected their performance (they were on quite an even footings in the first half and I thought they started to get a grip towards the end but then it all gone to shit).
 

giorno

boob novice
Joined
Jul 20, 2016
Messages
26,144
Supports
Real Madrid
How is PSG or Chelsea better than Bayern? Still, taking into account;

1) two really weak oppositions
2) the unchallenged league run
3) being outplayed by everyone

Its really far from the greatest. You can claim the second luckiest run after Chelsea 2012. But thats all.

Btw, I have seen some peole saying this PSG is better than previous ones. PSG between 2013-2016, were less of a circus and more of a team. It was harder to beat them.
I said 4 out of 5. Bayern would be said 5th team

Not saying it's the greatest necessarily, but the hardest. Greatest would be any one of the treble runs, given it came as part of a treble. Bayern 12/13 and 19/20 the most dominant of all imo, although Barcelona 14/15 is right up there. United's was perhaps even more impressive in a way because it came in an era were it was harder to pull off

Emotionally though, with all the comebacks and everything? Oh yeah. Nothing beats this. Imagine Barcelona in '99, only repeared across 4 ties. It's the most iconic ever for me. Has to be. I'm obviously biased though

Only speaking CL, not whole history of European Cup

Juve 14/15 were a very good team. Feel like a bit of a disservice to suggest they weren’t at least at Chelsea’s level comparatively. I’d personally put them higher.

Maybe we’ve all just been suckered into the PL marketing as well to be honest - City and Pool are great teams but are they that good? You’re literally saying Juve under Allegri who won the double and were runners up on the CL weren’t on the level of City, Pool or Chelsea, the latter of which, finished 3rd by a distance and won nothing of note.
Nah, that Juve side was really really good, I'd put them on the same level as this Chelsea maybe, though I'm not so sure. Definitely weaker than City and Liverpool. And yes, they really are that good imo. Very clearly so.

Speaking of PSG: 14/15 was perhaps the one time they were actually really great and didn't vomit and shit all over themselves in CL. They just got to the Barcelona game missing Zlatan, Verratti, then lost Thiago Silva 10 minutes into the game. Soon as Thiago went out, David Luiz took over as defensive leader and promptly reminded the world what happened the last this had happened :lol:
 

Zen

Full Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2008
Messages
14,445
It's Barca 14/15 - on the pure basis of genuine dominance throughout. No questioning of any of their ties. RM, for some of their runs, every year, people are saying something about them... their 99/00 run is probably the best one, but then Bayern do the identical run the next year too, except flip the Bayern-RM result.