All of us love an underdog, particularly one within the Champions League that beats the continent’s huge boys regardless of a number of hurdles positioned of their manner.
The competitors is ready as much as favour the large groups from the large international locations, making it an actual pleasure when an unfamiliar identify slips by means of the online.
We’ve ranked our favorite Champions League underdogs within the competitors’s historical past and hope this takes you down the identical neural passageways as us.
10. Leeds United (2001)
Dominic Matteo on the San Siro. Sufficient stated.
9. Villarreal (2006)
Villarreal are a part of the Champions League furnishings as of late, however their run to the 2006 semis had everybody reaching for his or her atlas.
A small city close to Valencia was placed on the European map by Manuel Pellegrini’s males, who knocked out Rangers and Inter Milan on away objectives.
Their slim 1-0 loss to Arsenal over two legs was compounded by Jens Lehmann saving a late Juan Roman Riquelme penalty at El Madrigal. Heartbreaking.
8. Dynamo Kyiv (1999)
The decline of Jap European soccer has cheapened the game, with a telling absence of ‘crack’ outfits and intimidating away days for the Champions League fats cats.
Dynamo Kyiv was the East’s final hurrah in 1999. Of the ultimate 4 that 12 months, Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Dynamo had been all chasing trebles, again when that really meant one thing.
Coached by the influential Valeriy Lobanovskyi, Dynamo boasted a younger Andriy Shevchenko and Sergiy Rebrov and genuinely might’ve made all of it the way in which.
They took 4 factors from Premier League champions Arsenal within the group levels, earlier than knocking out holders Actual Madrid within the quarters.
Kyiv held a two-goal lead over Bayern within the first leg of the semis however conceded twice late on in an exhilarating 3-3 draw within the Ukrainian capital.
A slim 1-0 loss within the second leg ended their dream. That 12 months actually was European soccer at its finest.
7. Porto (2004)
Sure, Porto really *profitable* the Champions League in 2004 ought to place them larger than seventh.
And Jose Mourinho’s knee slide at Previous Trafford is definitely worth the admission worth alone, an uncomplicated second of glee earlier than we had been totally uncovered to his methods.
However Porto didn’t play soccer to balm the soul and the semi-final line-up (together with pre-Jose Chelsea and two extra entrants on this record) was eminently winnable for the UEFA Cup holders.
Nonetheless, the likes of Deco, Ricardo Carvalho, Maniche and Vitor Baia had been a part of a moody and skilful staff who achieved one thing unlikely to ever occur once more.
Right here’s a query on your subsequent pub quiz – the place was the ultimate performed that 12 months? Gelsenkirchen. The previous actually is a special nation.
6. APOEL (2012)
Groups from Cyprus aren’t allowed to make the Champions League quarter-finals in an period of huge manufacturers and massive enterprise, however APOEL gatecrashed the celebration in 2012.
They topped a bunch with Zenit St Petersburg, Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk with two wins and 6 objectives from six matches. Johan Cruyff’s Ajax, they weren’t.
A nerve-wracking final 16 tie with Lyon went all the way in which to penalties, which APOEL gained 4-3 to spark wild scenes in Nicosia.
Mourinho’s Actual Madrid swatted them apart 8-2 within the quarters, a lot to the reduction of UEFA executives and sponsors.
5. Monaco (2004)
Fernando Morientes. Dado Prso. Ludovic Giuly. Thrashing Deportivo 8-3. Beating Actual Madrid’s Galacticos within the quarters. Out-playing complacent Chelsea within the semis.
All of it fell aside within the remaining, shedding 3-0 to Porto, and the 2017 semi-finalists with Mbappe and Falcao weren’t unhealthy both.
However there was one thing particular about Monaco’s 2004 classic, able to turning water into Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Grand Cru 1945.
4. Deportivo La Coruna (2004)
Rating Deportivo above each of 2004’s shock finalists may appear wilfully perverse. However the La Liga facet weren’t referred to as ‘Tremendous Depor’ for nothing.
Nestled in A Coruna, a salty seadog of a metropolis within the excessive northwest of Spain, Deportivo had been European stalwarts within the early 2000s.
In assault, they’d Diego Tristan and Juan Carlos Valeron, with Soccer Supervisor hero Jorge Andrade marshalling their defence.
They recovered from the aforementioned thrashing by Monaco to achieve the final 16, edging out Juventus to arrange a quarter-final with holders AC Milan.
A 4-1 paddling on the San Siro appeared to have rendered the second leg a contractual obligation, till Depor produced one of the stirring nights in European soccer historical past.
Walter Pandiani, Valeron and Albert Luque (earlier than Newcastle ruined him) worn out Milan’s lead earlier than half-time, as membership legend Fran took the roof off the Riazor with a deflected winner.
“Our opponents had been going at a thousand miles per hour all night time, even the older gamers who’d by no means precisely been identified for his or her means to mix velocity with stamina,” Andrea Pirlo spitefully described it.
“What struck me most was how they saved on operating at half-time. To a person, no exceptions”
Porto squeezed them out in a good, niggly semi-final, however the recollections stay.
3. Borussia Dortmund (2013)
Dortmund had been back-to-back German champions, however European monetary stratification and years of hardship meant they had been within the backside pot of seeds in 2012-13.
A gaggle with Actual Madrid, Manchester Metropolis and Ajax regarded unpromising, till you keep in mind their supervisor was Jurgen Klopp.
The Bundesliga facet romped by means of the competitors, though their quarter-final winner towards Malaga was very controversial and also you shouldn’t point out it in your subsequent Costa del Sol vacation.
Robert Lewandowski’s 4 objectives noticed off Actual Madrid within the semi-final first-leg at a raucous Westfalenstadion.
Alas, Bayern Munich edged a high-quality remaining at Wembley and Klopp’s staff steadily broke up.
2. Bodo/Glimt (2026)
Recency bias maybe, however a small staff from the highest of Norway beating Manchester Metropolis, Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan in succession to make the final 16 is the stuff of Soccer Supervisor fantasy.
Not solely that, Bodo/Glimt play enticing attacking soccer. Profitable on the Metropolitano and San Siro reveals it’s not totally because of the freezing circumstances and plastic pitch both.
The Norwegians earned their stripes within the Convention League and Europa League (semi-finalists in 2025), however that is their first Champions League marketing campaign.
Recover from their bizarre Tottenham hoodoo and the sky is the restrict.
1. Ajax (2019)
With respect to Spurs followers, we’re nonetheless not fairly over Lucas Moura’s late semi-final winner on the Amsterdam Area.
Ajax had been the breakout stars of the final nice Champions League season, enjoying with verve and freedom underneath *checks notes* Erik ten Hag.
A swashbuckling younger staff thrashed Actual Madrid on the Bernabeu within the final 16 – Madrid’s earliest Champions League exit since 2010 – earlier than enjoying Juventus off the park within the quarters.
They actually ought to’ve overwhelmed Tottenham, particularly after profitable the primary leg in London and taking a 2-0 lead within the return.
Ajax quickly had their brightest abilities picked off, comparable to Frenkie de Jong, Matthijs de Ligt, Donny van de Beek and Hakim Ziyech. Their transient and thrilling revival was executed.
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