Best performers in the Champions League
The Champions League has been running since 1955, then under the name of The European Cup - as some people still call it. Being Europes - if not the worlds - top club competition, it has always had the greatest players in the world taking part. To find out more about this fascinating heritage of players and teams read on! Currently 4 clubs from in the English premiership get a chance of qualifying.
There was only really one team in the 1950's and nobody could touch them, the team I talk of was the marvelous Real Madrid. The team had an embarrassment of great players including Ferenc Puskas, Alfredo Di Stefano and Jose Santamaria. Of these Di Stefano is probably the most famed. From Buenos Aires, he scored a record 216 league goals for Real. More recently he has been voted as the most outstanding player to play in Spain in the last 50 years. It should be mentioned that Manchester United were one of Madrid's closest rivals at the time and many tipped them to over take Madrid, but disaster struck in 1958 when 8 members of the team died in the Munich Air Disaster. Of the deceased Duncan Edwards was probably the greatest. He only played 12 European games in his short life but many who witnessed them have gone on record saying that he was the greatest player they have ever seen.
The early 60's saw Madrid's dominance being broke. Benfica went on a run of three sucessive finals, winning only two. Vital to this Benfica side was the amazing Eusebio, who dazzled defences with his skill. The first British team to win the competition were Celtic defeating the favourites Internazionale 2-1 in the final. That team has gone on to be fondly remembered as the 'Lisbon Lions'. Eusebio was the main attraction in Europe for most of the 60's, until a young boy from Belfast came along called George Best. Who had rock star looks to match his unbelievable footballing talent. Best played a huge part in united winning the trophy in '68, fittingly enough against Eusebio and Benfica. Sadly though, Best suffered from the intense media glare on him, and that great united side didn't manage to win another European Cup.
In the early 70's Europe was enchanted by the total football of Johan Cruijff, Ruud Krol, Johan Neeskens and . Players who could and did play anywhere! Cruijff was the shinning light though. He created a skill that is deployed widely today; the 'cruijff turn'. Football had seen players achieve the status of 'great' after mainly attacking players showcased their skills. But some can argue that until Franz Beckenbauer, we hadn't seen how sensational a player can be without taking on players. Showing unrivelled poise and timing when on the ball. Later in the 70's the world was shown the mercurial talents of the Dane Allan Simonsen, Simonsen was lethal in front of goal scoring in between a third a half of the games he played in. He duely became the first Danish player to win the European Player of the Year award.
Greatest players and clubs in the champions league
The 90's saw the emergence of Zinedine Zidane – who in the eyes of many was head and shoulders above any other player in Europe. It is hard to recall a game in which he was dispossesed of the ball. Another player who thrive in Europe in the 90's was Roy Keane. Fiercely determined; it was Keanes goal to bring United to the top of Europe again. And he almost single handedly did so in '99 taking on Juventus (with Zidane) and coming back from 3-1 down to win on away goals, cruelly though Keane picked up a booking and was subsequently ruled out of the final. The noughties and the modern game has seen a re-emergence of the flash player who can take on and beat defenders. Kaka, Ronaldinho, Messi, Rooney and Ronaldo make European football nights as good as ever before! The champions league is an excellent competition which showcases the best soccer talent within European clubs!
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AC Milan returned to the fore emphatically in the 80's. The dutch trio of Marco Van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard comprized the heart of the great side. Van Basten many believe was the pinnacile player. Scoring goals that defied physics at times. The Milan team of 1994, beat Barcelona when nobody fancied them 4-0.
