The Champions League final is the pinnacle of any football season. With the showpiece finale set to bring the curtain down on another dazzling European campaign, it brings around a chance to look back at some of the best finals from years gone by.
While finals can often be drab affairs – the last four editions have all been decided by a single goal – the Champions League final has been no stranger to some of the most dramatic affairs over the years. Here is Football FanCast’s attempt at ranking the very best finals since the first one in 1956, based on the drama and significance of each match.
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Rank
Final
Year
Milan 3-3 Liverpool
2005
Man Utd 2-1 Bayern Munich
1999
Man Utd 1-1 Chelsea
2008
Benfica 1-4 Man Utd
1968
Real Madrid 4-1 Atletico Madrid
2014
Bayern Munich 1-1 Chelsea
2012
Real Madrid 7-3 Frankfurt
1960
Celtic 2-1 Inter
1967
Steaua Bucharest 0-0 Barcelona
1986
Bayern Munich 0-1 Aston Villa
1982
Milan 4-0 Barcelona
1994
Liverpool 1-1 Roma
1984
Bayer Leverkusen 1-2 Real Madrid
2002
Real Madrid 3-1 Liverpool
2018
Barcelona 3-1 Man Utd
2011
15 Barcelona 3-1 Man Utd (2011) Guardiola's stars beat United in the final again
Barcelona’s class of 2011 are considered one of the greatest club sides of all time, with the likes of Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta bringing Pep Guardiola’s tiki-taka philosophy to life.
The 2011 final, held at Wembley Stadium, pitted the same finalists as in 2009, when Barca overcame United 2-0 in Rome’s Stadio Olimpico.
First-half goals from Pedro and Wayne Rooney suggested this would be a more even contest, but the second half saw Barcelona’s star men come alive.
Messi put Barcelona back in front shortly after the interval, while David Villa sumptuously curled home to seal the match and the Catalans’ third Champions League triumph in six seasons. The only surprise is that their dominance didn’t exactly endure after this.
14 Real Madrid 3-1 Liverpool (2018) Karius clangers and Bale wonder-strike completes Euro hat-trick
While maybe not the most spectacular of matches, this game did provide one of the most spectacular goals in a Champions League final, while also including one of the most bizarre. Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius gifted Karim Benzema the opener in Kyiv by inexplicably rolling the ball into his path before Sadio Mane equalised for the Reds.
Gareth Bale came off the bench to score an incredible overhead kick, before the Welshman finished the job with the help of another Karius mistake. It was a third consecutive Champions League triumph for Real Madrid – a feat that hadn’t been achieved for over 40 years.
Date
26th May 2018
Venue
NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kyiv
Attendance
61,561
Goalscorers
Benzema 51′, Bale 63′, 83′ / Mane 55′
13 Bayer Leverkusen 1-2 Real Madrid (2002) Zidane's worldie wins Los Blancos' ninth CL
Another sensational Champions League final goal; another sensational volley and another Madrid victory. This time it was Zinedine Zidane who scored one of the most iconic goals in the competition’s illustrious history, sending a luscious, looping effort into the top-left corner from just inside Leverkusen’s penalty area at Hampden Park. Zidane’s goal on the stroke of half-time proved the winner, with Lucio having cancelled out Raul’s early opener.
Date
15th May 2002
Venue
Hampden Park, Glasgow
Attendance
50,499
Goalscorers
Lucio 14′ / Raul 8′, Zidane 45′
12 Liverpool 1-1 Roma (1984) Reds win on penalties to upset hosts and favourites Roma
It won’t have been often that Liverpool headed into a European Cup final as underdogs, but Joe Fagan’s Reds were up against it as they prepared to take on Roma in their own backyard, in what was just the hosts’ second European final, having won the Fairs Cup in 1961.
Phil Neal put Liverpool ahead before Roberto Pruzzo levelled things up before half-time. The teams could not be separated, leading to a penalty shootout. It is perhaps best known for Bruce Grobbelaar’s ‘spaghetti legs’ antics in goal, with Francesco Graziani blazing his effort over, handing the Reds match point.
Alan Kennedy netted the winning spot-kick, making Liverpool European champions for a fourth time.
Date
30th May 1984
Venue
Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Attendance
69,693
Goalscorers
Neal 13′ / Pruzzo 42′
11 Milan 4-0 Barcelona (1994) Johan Cruyff's Barcelona swept aside by brutal Milan display
Johan Cruyff’s swashbuckling Barcelona side were expected to wipe the floor with a Milan team shorn of several key players, including Marco van Basten and Franco Baresi, due to injury.
Those expectations could have not ended up being further from the truth, with the Rossoneri delivering one of the finest team performances in a single game in the history of the competition to win 4-0 and claim their fifth European crown. Dejan Savicevic’s exquisite lob over a helpless Andoni Zubizarreta was the pick of the goals as Milan ran riot in Athens.
Date
18th May 1994
Venue
Olympic Stadium, Athens
Attendance
70,000
Goalscorers
Massaro 22′, 45′, Savicevic 47′, Desailly 58′
10 Bayern Munich 0-1 Aston Villa (1982) Peter Withe winner upsets odds as Villans reign in Europe
Not very often does the European Cup final pit a David and Goliath together, but that’s what we got in 1982 when an unfancied Aston Villa set up a grand finale against Bayern Munich.
Bayern were three-time European Cup winners and boasted international stars such as Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Paul Breitner in their starting XI.
In contrast, Villa had somewhat surprisingly won the First Division a year prior, and were forced to substitute their first-choice goalkeeper nine minutes into the final, leaving Nigel Spink – who had one first-team appearance to his name – to make his European debut for a Villa side decidedly lacking in star names.
That did not deter them, and they made the breakthrough midway through the second half through Peter Withe’s strike from Tony Morley’s cross, sparking jubilant scenes on the pitch and in the stands.
Bayern then had a late equaliser ruled out for offside as Tony Barton’s side held on to create history.
9 Steaua Bucharest 0-0 Barcelona (1986) Duckadam saves four in incredible shootout
You’re probably wondering what a goalless draw is doing in a best finals piece. Well, in a great example of not needing goals to have drama and heroics, Steaua Bucharest’s only European Cup triumph can be put down to an unbelievable goalkeeping display from Helmuth Duckadam.
The Romanian saved all four of Barcelona’s spot-kicks to win the European Cup for his team. The shootout itself ended 2-0 in favour of Steaua after a goalless draw, with each of the first four attempts saved before Marius Lacatus finally converted.
Granted, some of the penalties weren’t the best, but there’s no denying the greatness of Duckadam’s exploits.
Date
7th May 1986
Venue
Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, Seville
Attendance
70,000
Goalscorers
None
8 Real Madrid 4-1 Atletico Madrid (2014) Real blitz Atletico in extra time to earn La Decima
Madrid had to wait 12 long years to claim ‘La Decima’, their tenth top-level European crown. They got the job done in style in 2014, though, beating city rivals Atletico Madrid 4-1.
Diego Godin put Atletico ahead, but Diego Simeone’s stubborn rearguard was not enough. Sergio Ramos sent the game to extra time with a last-minute equaliser, in which Gareth Bale, Marcelo and Cristiano Ronaldo scored to complete the rout for Carlo Ancelotti’s team.
Date
24th May 2014
Venue
Estadio da Luz, Lisbon
Attendance
60,976
Goalscorers
Ramos 90′, Bale 110′, Marcelo 118′, Ronaldo 120′ (p) / Godin 36′
7 Celtic 2-1 Inter (1967) Lisbon Lions come from behind to become first British champs
The famous Celtic side of 1967, dubbed ‘The Lisbon Lions’, triumphed over Inter to become the first British side to win the European Cup.
Celtic went behind through an early penalty, but from then on, it was an onslaught of green and white, with goals from Tommy Gemmell and Stevie Chalmers getting the job done. Incredibly, all but two of Celtic’s squad were born within a 10-mile radius of the club’s ground – just one of the reasons that team is still revered today.
Date
25th May 1967
Venue
Estadio Nacional, Lisbon
Attendance
45,000
Goalscorers
Gemmell 63′, Chalmers 84′ / Mazzola 7′ (p)
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ByRobin Mumford 6 Real Madrid 7-3 Eintracht Frankfurt (1960) Ten-goal final hands Madrid fifth European crown on the spin
We’ll level with you: we didn’t watch the 1960 European Cup final. But its significance remains, as does its status as one of the greatest football matches of all time.
High-scoring games weren’t as rare back in the day, with both Real Madrid and Frankfurt reaching the final having put 12 goals past the likes of Jeunesse Esch and Rangers respectively – the latter coming in two brutal semi-final demolitions.
That theme continued into the final, with four-time winners Madrid – who had won every edition of the competition to this point – responding to Frankfurt’s opener by striking six times, while there was still time for Erwin Stein to bag a consolation double either side of Ferenc Puskas’ fourth goal of the final.
Alfredo Di Stefano also netted a hat-trick for Los Blancos as they stretched their historic run in front of well over 100,000 fans at Hampden Park. As the highest-scoring final, it just had to be on this list.