The 3 previous intra-national UEFA Champions League finals
General View of Wembley Stadium ahead of UEFA Champions League Final in London, England. (Getty Images)
Tomorrow’s UEFA Champions League final showdown between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich will be the fourth instance of an intra-national final, where two teams from the same country have met in the championship clash. Each of the previous three instances has belonged to a different country with Spain, Italy and England as Germany will make its bow tomorrow.
Real Madrid 3-0 Valencia, 1999-2000 | Stade de France, Saint-Denis
Fernando Morientes and Raul with the Champions League trophy after Real Madrid’s 3-0 over Valencia in the final. (Getty Images)
The very first instance was when Real Madrid met Valencia in the 2000 final. This edition saw the introduction of the second group phase, where the top 2 teams from the eight groups would again be divided into four groups and another run of round-robin matches.
This was the pre-Galacticos era at Real under Vicente Del Bosque and they had a fine team made up of a lot of Spanish talent led by the likes of Raul, Fernando Morientes, Michel Salgado and Iker Casillas. Current Real Madrid assistant manager Aitor Karanka was also part of this team. Madrid topped their group suffering just one loss and in the second group phase finished runners-up behind Bayern Munich. They finished strongly though as they got past 2 very strong teams en route to the final – Manchester United, who were the defending champions, in the quarterfinals and then Bayern Munich in the semi-finals.
Valencia weren’t doing so badly themselves with arguably their ‘Golden Generation’ of Gaizka Mendieta, Miguel Angulo, Claudio Lopez and Santiago Canizares. Just like Real, they would win the first group phase, ahead of Bayern Munich and finish runners-up in the second, behind Manchester United. They trounced Lazio and Barcelona in the quarters and semis respectively scoring 5 goals against both over two legs.
The final had a tight beginning before Madrid began to exert themselves on the game and took the lead through Morientes. Steve McManaman had a marvellous game for Los Blancos and he scored the second with a spectacular volley. Raul then rounded it off with a goal on 75 minutes when Real caught Valencia napping on the counter. It was Real’s eighth European Cup.
Steve McManaman was voted the Man of the Match. Incidentally, he became the first Englishman to win the tournament with a foreign club. Raul finished joint top-scorer with 10 goals. Valencia finished runners-up again the next year when they lost on penalties to Bayern Munich after it ended 1-1 in regulation and extra time.
AC Milan 0-0 (3-2) Juventus, 2002-03 | Old Trafford, Manchester
Paolo Maldini lift the trophy after Milan beat Juventus on penalties in the final of the 2003 Champions League. (Getty Images)
Juventus came into the final fresh from being crowned Serie A champions; Milan on the other hand had finished fourth, 16 points behind the Turin club. In the season head-to-head, Juve had won the home game while drawing away at the San Siro. They had also beaten Milan in the Coppa Italia semi-finals.
The two-group phase structure was still on; Juventus topped their first group while finishing runners-up to Manchester United in the second. They ended Spanish hopes in the competition as they beat Barcelona in the quarters and Real Madrid in the semis. Influential midfielder Pavel Nedved though would miss the final after picking up a booking in the second leg against Real.
Milan came in winning both the groups including a strong second group phase pitted with Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund. After beating Ajax, they had to contend with neighbours Inter in a Milan derby semi-final. It ended level 1-1 on aggregate with Milan progressing on the away goals rule.
The final was a game of few chances and one of the dullest of the last decade and a half. Both teams had excellent defences which ensured that chances were at a premium. Andriy Shevchenko had a goal disallowed in the first half though replays showed that teamate Rui Costa had not been in an offside position.
Current Juve manager Antonio Conte came on as a sub and saw a header clatter the crossbar in what was Juve’s best chance of the game. Andrea Pirlo too struck the post for Milan.
With no result even after extra time, the match went to penalties and it was a tense, tense affair. Juventus only made 1 of their first 4 penalties as Dida saved the efforts of David Trezeguet, Marcelo Zalayeta and Paolo Montero. Gigi Buffon was doing his best to keep Juve in the game as he saved from Clarence Seedorf and Kakhaber Kaladze. Alessandro Del Piero converted the fifth spot kick for Juve, but so did Shevchenko to clinch the trophy for the Rossoneri. It was Milan’s sixth European Cup.
Paolo Maldini was named the Man of the Match for the final. Filippo Inzaghi was the second highest goal scorer with 10 goals behind Ruud Van Nistelrooy who bagged 12 for Manchester United. Shevchenko became the first Ukrainian footballer to take home a European Cup winners medal.
Manchester United 1-1 (6-5) Chelsea, 2007-08 | Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow
Rio Ferdinand and Ryan Giggs of Manchester United celebrate with the trophy after winning the UEFA Champions League against Chelsea in 2008. (Getty Images)
England’s top two teams met in the Moscow final of 2008. Manchester United had just won their 17th league title finishing two points ahead of their final opponents Chelsea. Each team had won their home game in the league, while Chelsea had the latest win after beating United 1-0 in the FA Cup final days earlier.
United went unbeaten the whole tournament. They drew just one game in winning their group comfortably. They then beat Lyon in the Round of 16, which had now replaced the previous format and Roma in the quarters. Frank Rijkaard’s Barcelona stood between United and their third European Cup final. The teams had identical records going into the semi-final, each having won eight and drawn two of their ten games, scoring 18 goals and conceding just 5. Cristiano Ronaldo missed an early penalty in the first leg at the Camp Nou and that leg ended 0-0. United edged into the finals with a tight 1-0 home win thanks to Paul Scholes’ long range stunner.
Chelsea had seen a change of manager after Jose Mourinho parted ways earlier in the season. Interim manager Avram Grant did a good job though as he kept the Blues in the title hunt in the league and guided them to the FA Cup and Champions League finals. Chelsea lost just the one game in the tournament, against Fenerbahce in the quarterfinals. After getting past Olympiacos and Fenerbahce, Chelsea took on Rafa Benitez and Liverpool. This was the fourth year in succession that these teams had met in the Champions League. After drawing the first leg 1-1 away, the Blues won a tense second leg 3-2 after extra time to make the team’s first visit to the Champions League final.
After taking time to feel each other out, the final picked up pace with Ronaldo’s opener on 26 minutes. United had two good chances to extend the lead, but Petr Cech came to Chelsea’s rescue with some magnificent saves. Frank Lampard equalised for Chelsea in the closing minutes of the first half after Michael Essien’s initial shot had deflected off Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic.
The goal swung the momentum in Chelsea’s favour and the Blues dominated for much of the second half. Didier Drogba went close to giving them the lead when his effort hit the post. Ryan Giggs had a chance to get the winner for United, but John Terry made a last ditch tackle to prevent it. It was end –to-end in extra time as both teams went looking for the winner. And ate in extra time, Drogba was sent off for a slap on Vidic.
In the shootout, Ronaldo missed his penalty which gave Chelsea the advantage. Blues captain John Terry stepped up to take the fifth and final penalty, but he would miss as he lost his footing which saw his mis-hit shot hit the outside of the right post and go wide. In sudden death, Edwin van der Sar saved Nicolas Anelka’s shot to win it for United.
van der Sar took the Man of the Match award. Cristiano Ronaldo finished top scorer with 8 goals.
Borussia Dortmund vs Bayern Munich, 2012-13 | Wembley, London
A one-sided final like the 2000 edition or nail biters like the other two? We will find out on Saturday. The two league meetings between the sides both ended 1-1 and Bayern beat Dortmund 1-0 in the quarterfinals of the DFB Pokal Cup.
Dortmund will be without star play-maker Mario Götze due to injury which means he has already played his last game for Dortmund; he will be joining Bayern Munich in the summer.