Real Madrid is the team with the longest tradition in the UEFA Champions League. That is not in dispute, because it is enough to review their record, in which 14 championships are registered, to ratify them as a team that has dominated the continental tournament.
However, Carlo Ancelotti’s team was not the favorite team to win the title, at least in this 2022 edition, as there were other rosters that dazzled with big names.
But since football is about results, Madrid was able to raise its head against teams that, in theory, had better chances of winning the tournament.
With this in mind, it’s worth going over five champions who were underdogs.
José Mourinho achieved something that seemed incredible: winning the Champions League with a Portuguese team. The 2004 FC Porto dominated the competition and were able to take out one of the favourites, like Manchester United. Players like Ricardo Carvalho, Deco, Maniche, Paulo Ferreira, among others, gave a great blow on the table and beat Monaco in the final, with a categorical 3-0. After that Mourinho made the leap as one of the best coaches in Europe.
The Real Madrid of the year 2000 was a team with many ups and downs. They won the final in Paris 3-0 against Valencia CF, with goals from Fernando Morientes, Steve McManaman and Raúl. What was surprising was not the Madrid title, the revelation was that in LaLiga that season they were fifth and did not have a great run, as they did in the continental tournament. In that season, Deportivo La Coruña, known as “Super Depor”, won the title of the local competition.
In one of the most renowned finals in history, Liverpool FC were able to beat the clear favorites to win the competition, Carlo Ancelotti’s AC Milan. Liverpool had not been able to compete with the greats in Europe for several years and in their local competition they also had a great drought. With Rafa Benítez at the helm, they managed to come back from a final that they were losing 3-0 at the break, after beating the Italian team on penalties, one of the most consistent teams of that decade in the European tournament.
José Mourinho was able to win his second Champions League with Inter Milan in the 2009-2010 season, a campaign in which Pep Guardiola’s FC Barcelona was the big favourite. In fact, Inter was able to eliminate Barça, in a season in which the Catalan team won LaLiga with 99 points, being the best harvest in history up to that moment. Messi was awarded the Golden Boot that year but was unable to lift the “Orejona”, which remained in the hands of the Nerazzurri team.
France’s only UEFA Champions League title belongs to 1993 Marseille, a team capable of beating favorites AC Milan 1-0 in that edition’s final. With a goal from Basile Bolli, the Ligue 1 side lifted the trophy and since then, not even the multimillionaire team PSG have been able to lift the trophy. Marcelle Desailly and Didier Deschamps were the great figures of this surprising champion.