Best ever European finals

 Best ever European finals

Ahead of Saturday's Champions League final, here's a look back at some of the great finals the European football has produced.

1960 European Cup final

 Real Madrid 7 Eintracht Frankfurt 3

Any final with 10 goals in it deserves to be in this list and this match, played in front of 135,000 fans at Hampden Park is no exception. There were thoughts that Madrid's forward pairing of Alfredo Di Stéfano and Ferenc Puskás might be passed their prime and Frankfurt's semi-final saw them beat Rangers 12-4 on aggregate.

When Frankfurt took the lead in the 18th minute, there were thoughts that a shock could occur. Within 10 minutes Madrid equalised through Di Stéfano and three minutes later his second goal gave Madrid the lead. Any doubts about Madrid's forwards were completely lost by the 60th minute as Puskas completed a 15-minute hat-trick to give Madrid a 5-1 lead.
Puskas then netted his fourth goal in the 71st minute. That was the first goal of an astounding four minutes of play that saw four goals scored; two for each team. Di Stéfano completed his hat-trick, while Erwin Stein scored twice for Frankfurt, but it was not enough as Madrid lifted the trophy for the fifth time. (Source)

1962 European Cup final

Benfica 5 Real Madrid 3

Real Madrid won the first five European Cup competitions, but that run came to an end in 1961 after they were beaten by Barcelona in the first round. Benfica went on to win the trophy that year and the two teams met in the 1962 final, with Madrid favourites to reclaim their crown.
The game started well for Madrid who were 2-0 up by the 23rd minute after two goals from the legendary Ferenc Puskás. But Benfica suddenly found there form and by the 34th minute the scores were level. Puskas went on to grab a first-half hat-trick to give Madrid the lead at half-time.
Within six minutes of the second-half Benfica were level and the Portuguese side started to enforce themselves in the match. A young Eusébio then took centre stage with two goals in three minutes, just after the hour mark and Madrid were unable to respond and Benfica retained the trophy. (Source)

1962 European Cup final

 Celtic 2 Internazionale 1

Jock Stein's Celtic team were famously all born with 30 miles of Celtic Park and travelled to Lisbon to face the mighty Inter Milan. At this stage Europe's premier club competition had only been lifted by continental teams. Real Madrid, Benfica and both teams from Milan were the only teams to have been crowned European champions and most people believed that was unlikely to change.
But they had not counted on Stein and his band of 'Lisbon Lions'. Stein set about trying to confuse and upset Inter in the lead-up to the game and encouraging his players to believe they would become the first British team to lift the trophy. After seven minutes Inter were awarded a penalty, which Sandro Mazzola duly put away. Inter's tactics were to defend, they were comfortable with Celtic coming at them, at least they thought they were.
Stein realised that Inter were very strong at defending in their box, so he encouraged his players to try and beat them from outside the box. In the 62nd minute left-back Tommy Gemmell unleashed a ferocious shot from about 25-yards, which brought Celtic level. Celtic's fitness levels seemed to astound Inter and with just five minutes remaining Bobby Murdoch hit a shot across the goal, Stevie Chalmers got a foot on the ball and directed it home, giving Celtic their historic and unlikely win. (Source)

1968 European Cup final

 Manchester United 4 Benfica 1

This was Benfica's fifth appearance in eight years in the European Cup final, while this was the first time any English team had made it to the final. This came 10 years after the Munich air disaster had robbed United of the Busby Babes. It was thought to be the last chance the survivors of the crash, Matt Busby, Bobby Charlton and Bill Foulkes had to win the trophy.
The first-half was a hard fought affair, with both big threats George Best and Eusebio man-marked out of the game. Eight minutes into the second half Charlton put United in front with a rare headed goal, but the experienced Benfica team refused to panic. In the 75th minute Jaime Graça equalised for Benfica and at that point Benfica increased their efforts and showed the class that had led them those five finals.
Late on Eusebio had a great chance to win the game, but after breaking through United's defence he blasted his shot straight at goalkeeper Alex Stepney. That late push by Benfica cost them dearly on a hot and humid night in London and they looked tired throughout extra-time. The fact that George Best finally escaped his marker three minutes into extra-time and put United in front did not help Benfica. They lost it and two more extra-time goals saw United become the first English team to lift the famous trophy. (Source)

1988 Uefa Cup final

 Bayer Leverkusen 3 Espanyol 3

The Uefa Cup final used to be played over two legs and in 1988 Espanyol looked set to lift the trophy after a 3-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg of the final. Almost one hour in to the second leg the score was still 0-0 and it looked very promising for Javier Clemente's side.
In the 57th minute of the second leg Brazilian striker Tita scored for Leverkusen and when Falko Götz added a second six minutes later the comeback was on. Espanyol tried to hold on to their lead but with just nine minutes remaining South Korean Cha Bum-Kun equalised for the German team.
With no goals in extra-time the final would be decided on penalties and incredibly Espanyol snatched defeat from the jaws of victory for the second time. They went 2-0 up in the penalty shoot-out, but Leverkusen, inspired by goalkeeper Rudiger Vollborn (pictured), fought back again as Espanyol missed their three remaining penalties. Leverkusen put their three away and were duly crowned Uefa Cup winners. (Source)

1994 Champions League final

 Milan 4 Barcelona 0

It is not often that such a one-sided final would be considered great, but it was such a dominant and unexpected performance by Milan that it could not be left out.
Barcelona's team included the likes of Ronald Koeman, Hristo Stoichkov and Romario, while Milan's team looked to be in turmoil. Marco van Basten and, the then most expensive player in the world, Gianluigi Lentini were missing through injury while influential captain Franco Baresi was suspended, along with fellow defender Alessandro Costacurta. Uefa regulations stated that a team could only play three foreign nationals so Milan coach Fabio Capello was forced to leave out more big names, including Jean-Pierre Papin and Brian Laudrup.
All these factors meant Barcelona were firm favourites for the match, but Milan did not listen to the script. Marcel Desailly inspired his team to victory, along with Daniele Massaro, who scored twice in the first half to give Milan a 2-0 lead at half-time. Barcelona had no response to Milan's football and when Dejan Savićević scored two minutes into the second half it was game over. Desailly capped his display with a goal on the hour mark and Milan's performance is considered one of the best by a team in the final of Europe's premier club competition. (Source)

1997 Champions League final

 Borussia Dortmund 3 Juventus 1

Juventus were the favourites for this final, despite Dortmund's impressive form throughout the competition. The Juventus line-up looked incredibly strong, containing the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Didier Deschamps and Christian Vieri; Alessandro Del Piero was on the substitutes' bench at the start of the match. The Dortmund side was captained by Matthias Sammer and also had Scotland's Paul Lambert in the starting line-up.
The Italians could not live up to the favourites tag and were outplayed by Dortmund in this incredible final. Two goals in five minutes from Karl-Heinz Riedle in the middle of the first half put Dortmund ahead and stunned Juventus. After a better start to the second, Del Piero, who had come on as a substitute, scored via a back-heel from a cross by Alen Bokšić to make the score 2-1. But it was a Dortmund substitute who wrapped up the game, Lars Ricken scored with his first touch just 16 seconds after coming off the bench. (Source)

1999 Champions League final

 Manchester United 2 Bayern Munich 1

This was the culmination of Manchester United's treble-winning season, but this match did not start well for Sir Alex Ferguson's men. Mario Basler's free-kick gave Bayern the lead in the sixth minute and the German's looked solid throughout the remainder of the first half.
United looked to be missing midfield stars Roy Keane and Paul Scholes who were suspended for the final. While they had lots of possession United couldn't really find any clear chances to equalise and Bayern started to look dangerous on the counter-attack. The second-half initially saw more of the same for United although Bayern came closest to scoring; the half did see Ferguson bring on Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Three minutes of injury time were indicated and Bayern's colours were actually put on the famous trophy.
In the first minute of injury time a Beckham corner found its way to Sheringham who fired home to equalise for United. Then after the subsequent kick-off United pressed again and forced another corner. This time Beckham's kick was headed on by Sheringham and Solskjaer stuck out his foot and connected to send the ball flying into the net. United's incredible comeback was complete, Bayern's players were completely devastated and Ferguson's side lifted their third major trophy of the season. (Source)

2001 Uefa Cup final

 Liverpool 5 Alaves 4

After beating Porto, Roma and Barcelona on route to the final, Liverpool faced Alaves who had proven themselves as an attacking and high-scoring force. The Spanish side beat Kaiserslautern 9-2 on aggregate in their semi-final. Markus Babbel headed Liverpool ahead in the fourth minute and Steven Gerrard added a second after 16 minutes.
Iván Alonso came on as a substitute in the 23rd minute and brought Alaves into the game by scoring just four minutes later. Liverpool added a third before half-time thanks to a Gary McAllister penalty. Javi Moreno led Alaves' fightback as they started the second-half in a much more positive fashion. Moreno scored twice in the first six minutes of the half to level the match. Robbie Fowler scored Liverpool's fourth in the 73rd minute and the Reds looked set to claim their third UEFA Cup, but Alaves refused to give up and Jordi Cruyff headed home a corner in the 89th minute to take the game into extra-time.
This incredible final was to be decided by a golden goal and Alaves thought they had won it but Alonso's strike was ruled out for offside. Magno Mocelin was sent off and then Fowler had a goal ruled out for offside. Alaves were down to nine men after their captain, Antonio Karmona, was sent off and from the resulting free-kick Delfí Geli headed into his own goal to give Liverpool the win. (Source)

2005 Champions League final

 Liverpool 3 AC Milan 3 (Liv win on pens)

After a thrilling win over Chelsea in the semi-final Liverpool headed to Istanbul to face the mighty AC Milan. It all went wrong for the Reds early on with Paolo Maldini scoring in the first minute. Hernan Crespo added two more goals before half-time and at 3-0 to Milan the game looked over before the second half had even began.
Liverpool started the second half in a much more positive frame and when Steven Gerrard scored less than 10 minutes into the half, there was a glimmer of hope. Six minutes later that glimmer had become a burning beacon after Vladimír Šmicer and Xabi Alonso added Liverpool's second and third respectively. Both teams had chances to win the game, notably Andriy Shevchenko who was denied by a double save from Jerzy Dudek.
The match went to penalties and when Dudek saved Shevchenko's spot kick Liverpool were crowned European champions for the fifth time and their incredible comeback was complete. (Source)

Top 10 worst Premier League signings

Top 10 worst Premier League signings

 With the struggles of big-money duo Fernando Torres and Edin Dzeko and Benni McCarthy's expensive release by West Ham in the public eye, we list some of the Premier League's big-money flops.

McCarthy will have cost the Hammers around £6 million in total after he was paid off to get out of Upton Park, the portly South African having long lost the physique and ability to be a top-flight player.
Torres and Dzeko are expected to eventually come good for Chelsea and Manchester City - they are young, gifted and surely recoverable - but some of the megabucks signings in the modern era quite literally went to waste.

Steve Marlet didn't know whether he was a striker or a winger or even a footballer, Afonso Alves was comically flaky and Tomas Brolin was, well, big-boned.
So in no particular order, we give you our top 10 Premier League flops...

Afonso Alves (Heerenveen to Middlesbrough, 2007, £12.7m)

The mercurial Brazilian striker seemed like money well spent at the time, having scored 45 goals in 39 Eredivisie matches, including seven in one game - a Dutch record. But, along with Chelsea flop Mateja Kezman, he remains a cautionary tale about strikers from Holland: it is a lower standard and the ability won't always translate. Alves started reasonably, but inconsistently, netting six goals in 11 games after joining at the end of the January transfer window: however, five of those goals game in two matches. The next season he was straight-up awful, clearly lacking the stomach for a relegation fight - he only scored four times as Boro went down. Since then he has plied his trade in the Gulf, a graveyard for washed-up pros that simply does not count.

Steve Marlet (Lyon to Fulham, 2001, £11.5m)

When France forward Marlet arrived, he openly admitted he had moved for the money, saying: "It's a fantastic offer for any player and too good to refuse." A bad start got worse as the forward took over four months to score his first goal, and ended with a tally of just 11 Premier League strikes in two seasons as he transpired to be not particularly quick, not particularly strong, not particularly skilful and not particularly good. His disastrous spell ended in litigation, as Fulham owner Mohamed Al Fayed refused to pay the final instalment of Marlet's fee, accusing manager Jean Tigana of deliberately inflating his price, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport ordered Fayed to pay up. A half-decent spell at Marseille followed but he slid into obscurity afterwards and now plays for an amateur side in France.

Andriy Shevchenko (Milan to Chelsea, 2006, £30m)

This deal brought great personal embarrassment upon Shevchenko's greatest advocate, Roman Abramovich. Having scored 83 goals in his final three seasons at Milan, Sheva netted just 22 in two seasons for Chelsea - only nine in the Premier League - while his prickly relationship with Jose Mourinho contributed to both men's downfall. He was sent on loan back to Milan but could not manage a single goal in half a season, having clearly lost the edge required at the highest level: Sheva's problem was that, at 30, he had lost a yard of pace when he arrived at Chelsea, which was horribly exposed by the quicker tempo of the England game. A sorry tale ended when Shevchenko left Chelsea for former club Dynamo Kiev on a free transfer, where he finds the back of the net more frequently from deeper positions.

Corrado Grabbi (Ternana to Blackburn, 2001, £6.75m)

Most will remember Grabbi as having been totally unable to adapt to life in England after his big-money move. He was also not really very good, a lower-league striker who rose to prominence after a 20-goal season in Italy's second division. But that campaign made him hot property, leading to a move that, it later transpired, he did not want: after refusing to sign with the agent son of since-jailed Juventus crook Luciano Moggi, transfers to other Italian clubs mysteriously fell apart, forcing him abroad. He scored one league goal in his first season at Rovers and ended up back in Italy's lower leagues, playing for Ancona, Genoa and Arezzo as he drifted into obscurity, hardly helped by a rare foot disease that resulted in extended periods out of the game.

Adrian Mutu (Parma to Chelsea, 2003, £15.8m)

Six goals in the striker's first five games and the Stamford Bridge faithful were singing both his name and his praises. But all that ended when he tested positive for cocaine amid lurid tales of blood-sucking sex parties. A bizarre early-morning police chase through the streets of Bucharest and a failed attempt to engineer a transfer to Juventus later, Mutu was finally sacked, and subsequently ordered to pay Chelsea a ridiculous £14.6m for breaching his contract. Has since rebuilt his career at Fiorentina, although keeps getting in trouble for nightclub scrapes and recently served a ban for an apparently accidental positive drug test (dietary, not recreational). Probably more suited to being a rock star than a footballer, he is still talented and - remarkably given his lifestyle - in good shape for 32.

Massimo Taibi (Venezia to Manchester United, 1999, £4.5m)

Sir Alex Ferguson does not usually get it wrong, but the post-Schmeichel era saw some hapless goalkeeping displays, none more so than Taibi's against Southampton. The Italian, highly rated in a homeland blessed with top shot-stoppers, allowed a Matt Le Tissier daisy-cutter to squirm through him a la Robert Green, leading to jibes such as the ‘blind Venetian'. He wasn't all that great in the three other league matches he played in, conceding five against Chelsea, and Fergie quickly decided it was enough, shipping him back to Italy at a loss of £2m where he served with relative distinction for several clubs before retiring in 2009. At least Fabien Barthez was good for a bit, and at least Mark Bosnich was free.

Pierluigi Casiraghi (Lazio to Chelsea, 1998, £5.4m)

There is a lot of Chelsea on this list, unsurprising given how they have spent money since the late 1990s, and it is possibly harsh to include Casiraghi given that his 10-game Chelsea career was ended by injury. But it has to be remembered that he arrived as a lauded Italy international striker and that he only scored once in those 10 games, sliding the ball into the net after winning a race with Phil Babb, whose tear-inducing legs-akimbo collision with the post was more memorable than the goal. Not long after Casiraghi collided with West Ham keeper Shaka Hislop, destroying his knee - after 10 operations he gave up and his career was over. He has since become a moderately successful coach with the Italy U21 team.

Ade Akinbiyi (Wolves to Leicester, 2000, £5.5m)

Akinbiyi makes this list despite having rebuilt his career after this disastrous spell. Akinbiyi was one of the best players outside the Premier League, with searing pace and a powerful physique. His exploits for Wolves, Bristol City and Gillingham led Peter Taylor to take a punt after the sale of Emile Heskey to Liverpool. Akinbiyi's problem was a case of wrong man, wrong club, wrong time: Leicester were on a downward spiral after the departure of Martin O'Neill, their limitations exposed when one of the game's top bosses left what was in reality an over-achieving Championship squad. Akinbiyi's first season was by no means a disaster - he scored nine in the league - but his second saw him lose confidence as his team's plummeted. He failed to score in his first nine games which, while not unheard of, was accompanied by some terrible misses until he finally broke his duck against Sunderland. The damage was done though and the club sold him in February; they went down at the end of the season. Maybe they would have stayed up had they persisted with him but Akinbiyi's name was forever associated with Leicester's relegation, even though he did well with Stoke, Burnley and Sheffield United afterwards.

Marco Boogers (Sparta Rotterdam to West Ham, 1995, £1m)

The striker insisted he wasn't mad, but clearly he was. Anyone who rejects a Premiership footballer's lifestyle in favour of a Dutch caravan park has to be. Signed by Harry Redknapp, Boogers's career got off to a terrible start when he committed a horror tackle on Manchester United's Gary Neville in his second game for the Hammers. The resulting red card allegedly forced him into hiding (in the aforementioned mobile home) before being offloaded on loan to Groningen soon after. Redknapp claimed he bought him on a whim after watching some videos. There have been no confirmed sightings of Boogers in this country since, although he did play on in Holland, claiming the caravan report was a fabrication.

Tomas Brolin (Parma to Leeds, 1995, £4.5m)

Possibly the chubbiest player ever to grace a Premiership pitch, Brolin's fall from grace is the stuff of legends. George Graham watched the Swede's devastating performances at Euro '92 but waited until 1995 to bring him to Leeds, by which time the rot had already set in. A series of training ground bust-ups and continual speculation over what exactly he was eating ended with Brolin leaving for Crystal Palace after making just 19 appearances. He is now a businessman back in Sweden and an international-level poker player.

Source : Yahoo Sports