The Holy Grail of European football - the Champions League trophy
Ever since 1956, 22 different clubs have won the Champions League (previously known as the European Cup until 1992). It's a very difficult tournament which has only become tougher and recent decades have proven that only teams with adequate resources make it all the way to the final.
Europe's most prestigious competition has seen the birth of legends. At the same time, it has also seen many legends fail to get their hands on the trophy over the course of their entire careers.
In these 63 years, only six players (representing only three of those 22 clubs) have won the trophy five times.
#6 Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United and Real Madrid): 5 Titles
Cristiano Ronaldo became the sixth player to win five European titles
As much as Cristiano Ronaldo was responsible for Manchester United winning their last Champions League title in 2008, they almost lost it because of him. The Portuguese star had opened the scoring in the final against Chelsea with a towering header before Frank Lampard equalised and took the game to penalties.
In the ensuing shootout, Ronaldo was the only player to miss for the Red Devils. Had it not been for John Terry's slip and Edwin van der Sar psyching out Nicolas Anelka, Chelsea would have gone home with the trophy. As the United players ran to the goalkeeper to celebrate, Ronaldo broke down in tears, more out of relief than anything else.
He was only 23 then, still a youngster carving a name for himself. By the time he had moved to Real Madrid for a world record fee, he was slowly becoming a man, keeping his emotions in check and working harder than any teammate, nay, any player in Europe.
Since then, Ronaldo has been the top goalscorer of the Champions League seven times - a record. And he has helped Los Blancos win the precious trophy four times. That included their much-coveted La Decima (Real's 10th Champions League crown) in 2014 and an unprecedented hat-trick of Champions League titles between 2016 and 2018.
As of the end of the 2017/18 season, Ronaldo has scored 120 goals in the competition. It is his consistency in finding the back of the net that prompted Juventus - a two-time champion and seven-time runners-up - to bring a 33-year-old player on board for €100m to break their duck in the 21st century.
#5 Alessandro Costacurta (AC Milan): 5 Titles
Alessandro Costacurta spent 20 seasons at AC Milan
If there ever was a centre-back AC Milan could depend on, it was Alessandro Costacurta. The Italian defender's career spanned 21 years and, barring a season on loan at Monza, he played with the red-and-black stripes of the Rossoneri.
Alongside Mauro Tassotti, Franco Baresi, and Paolo Maldini, they formed arguably the greatest back-line in Italy and Europe in the late '80s and early '90s. He was a versatile defender capable of playing in numerous positions and was well known for his timing in the tackle.
He made 663 appearances for the club in all and was a force to reckon with. A centre-back by trade, he even played as a makeshift right-back, most notably in the 2003 final against Juventus.
With Alessandro Nesta and Paolo Maldini playing as centre-backs, Costacurta played on the right side of the defence and helped Milan keep a clean sheet as he kept Gianluca Zambrotta in check while also helping Nesta deal with Edgar Davids and Alessandro Del Piero.
From his first European title in 1989 to his last in 2007, Costacurta has won the trophy in three different decades. However, he wasn't in the squad for two finals (1994 and 2007).
#4 Hector Rial (Real Madrid): 5 Titles
Hector Rial spent 7 years at Real Madrid (Image: soccerladuma]
Real Madrid were obsessed with signing Pele and Bobby Charlton but those moves never came to be. But in 1954, they signed an underrated Argentina striker Hector Rial who would go on to win 10 trophies with the club - including five European Cups.
Rial was a striker with great vision and quite strong in aerial duels. He was a hard-working player in the forward line and he also had an eye for the final ball.
Although he wasn't a great goalscorer, he scored when it counted the most. HIs brace against Reims in the first European Cup final in 1956 sealed the win for Real Madrid.
And it was his equaliser against Milan in the 1958 final saw the game go into extra time where Real won again.
Sadly, towards the end of his Real career, he was mostly used as a substitute before he was loaned out to Chile side Union Espanola for half a year in his final season.
#3 Paolo Maldini (AC Milan): 5 Titles
Paolo Maldini spent his entire career at AC Milan
902 games in 25 seasons. Paolo Maldini was AC Milan through and through, having joined the club's academy and making his senior debut aged just 16. By the time he was 17, he had already established himself as the starting full-back and handed the no.3 shirt.
Although Maldini never realised his full potential as an Italy international (his best finish was as runners-up in the World Cup and Euros), he forged a name for himself in Serie A and the Champions League, winning trophies across three different decades - just like his teammate Costacurta.
His first two European triumphs came in 1989 and 1990 when Milan defended their title with the legendary Arrigo Sacchi at the helm. He would help the Italian club keep a clean sheet in both finals as they beat Steaua Bucuresti and Benfica.
"Paolo Maldini is the best I’ve played against." - Ronaldo Nazario
The 1993/94 triumph is arguably his greatest as Milan beat a highly-fancied Barcelona which had the likes of Pep Guardiola, Ronaldo Koeman, Hristo Stoichkov, and Romario. Again, they kept a clean sheet in a 4-0 thrashing.
In fact, Maldini has helped keep a clean sheet in four of the five finals when Milan has won the European Cup/Champions League. The only team to score against Milan were Liverpool, who famously beat them in 2005 despite going 3-0 down, which included a Maldini goal inside the first minute.
#2 Alfredo Di Stefano (Real Madrid): 5 Titles
Alfredo Di Stefano won five European Cups
If things had gone Barcelona's way, Real Madrid may never have won five European Cups when the competition first began. The Argentinian forward, who scored 49 goals in just 58 appearances in Europe, was the subject of a transfer tussle between two of Spain's biggest clubs.
Back then, South American football was not as organised as it is today and De Stefano played for Colombian club Millonarios even though Argentine club River Plate owned the rights to the player.
As Barcelona reached an agreement with River Plate (Di Stefano even played for Barcelona in a friendly), Real negotiated with Millonarios and they soon reached an impasse. Ultimately it was decided that he would play alternate seasons for the two clubs but it was something Barcelona were unwilling to do and they relinquished their rights to the player.
Di Stefano would spend 11 seasons with Los Blancos and help them win five European Cups in a row, scoring seven goals in finals alone.
#1 Francisco 'Paco' Gento (Real Madrid): 6 Titles
No player has won more European Cups than former Real Madrid winger Paco Gento
The only man in the world who needs two hands to show the number of European Cups he has won is Paco Gento. Six titles is a record that has stood for 52 years now. And the only man who can equal him now is Cristiano Ronaldo.
A serial winner of trophies, he won 20 major titles which also included 12 LaLiga titles. Signed by Real Madrid in the same year as Alfredo Di Stefano, it was his signing that saw Real build a legendary forward line that later included Raymond Kopa, Hector Rial, and Ferenc Puskas.
Paco was so quick that he was nicknamed Galerna - which literally translates to 'Gale', the fierce winds that blew through his native Cantabria. He was so fast that he often ran into hoardings behind the goal while even Di Stefano had to instruct his teammates not to play the final ball too soon because they simply couldn't catch up with him.
Not only was Gento's speed so terrifying to opponents, his ability to decelerate and leave defenders running past him made for some comical moments.
He scored twice in European finals, including the extra-time winner against Milan in 1958. Although he wasn't exceptionally gifted at striking the ball at first (Real lost a lot of balls in training due to his erratic shooting), he worked at it and ended up scoring 178 goals for Los Blancos in 18 seasons at the club.
No comments:
Post a Comment