So Who Are The Best Ever European Champions?

So who are the best team ever to win the European Cup as it was, or the Champions League as it is now called.

Obvious contenders would be Real Madrid with their five consecutive wins from 1956-1960, with nine victories in total.

Or maybe it would be AC Milan with their seven victories in 1963, 1969, 1989, 1990, 1994, 2003, and 2007.

Both are great achievements, but for me not the best. These two clubs have always been big, big teams with many resources available at their disposal whether it be buckets of cash or the best trainers and coaches.

I'm more a fan of those who win things against all odds and those who emerge victorious when they really don't have the right or the ability to do so, but somehow they still defy all logic and come out on top.

Imagine you are the manager of a club and someone said you can choose any player you wish but the guy must be born within 30 miles of the ground where your club was based.  Then you must become champions of Europe!

I think you would laugh in their face and declare it's impossible.

But it's not. Glasgow Celtic did it in 1967. Every single player was born within 30 miles of Glasgow. They were the now famous Lisbon Lions.  They won the European Cup at the Estadio Nacional beating Inter Milan 2-1. 

Sporting Lisbon, whose nickname is "The Lions", play here and Celtic took the "Lisbon Lions" name as a consequence. Great stuff.

Option No. 2 would be if someone said to you that you could have a few young, untried kids and make the numbers up with some old "has beens" that no one else wanted—and again you had to become champions of Europe. 

Again, it's impossible surely. No it's not. Not for Brian Clough and Nottingham Forest anyway. I know they paid £1m for Trevor Francis I believe but the rest of the team was bought for about 30 quid and free subscription or two for the clubs fanzine magazine!

Despite this, they not only conquered England under Clough's notoriously strict regime, but they also shocked not only their own fans but the whole footballing world by trotting off into Europe and beating all before them again.

They won in 1979 and then just to rub salt into the wound they went and won it again the following year, 1980!  A bunch of "misfits" but oh my, they were hard to beat.

Okay then, here's your biggest challenge. Pick a team of any player you like BUT they must all come from your own country AND they must all play for FREE, no cash reward whatsoever no matter how well they do. Surely that is beyond anyone, no manager would ever attempt that.

Well guess what.........

Clubul Sportiv al Armatei Steaua did it!!  Who ?  Well, you will know them now as Steaua Bucharest, from my country, Romania.  Back then they were known as "Army Sporting Club Steaua" changing their name in 1998 to Steaua Bucuresti.

Under the guidance of Emerich Jenei and Anghel Iordanescu they pitched up at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán, Seville, with 16 guys all from the Romanian Army who played football for free, as communism reigned supreme at that time and under communism no sports people are paid.  As with Cuban boxers.

So these 15 guys from the Army had the unenviable task of trying to beat FC Barcelona, which theoretically they have no right to do at all.

After a goalless game it went to penalties. Helmut Duckendaum, the Steaua goalkeeper then proceeded to set a world record which still stands today, he saved four consecutive penalties to allow Steaua to win 2-0 after the shoot out.

So there you have it. My three choices as to the greatest winners of the European Cup/Champions League. Not because they were or are the best and most skillful teams you will ever see, but purely because they did it when they shouldn't have been able to do it and they did it with teams we will never see the like of again.