Analysis

The UEFA Champions League is a competition that, despite existing to crown the absolute best team in Europe, is no stranger to deep runs from underdog sides – some of which being clubs that cannot even call themselves the best of their own country, let alone the continent. Just last season, Villarreal, who qualified for the competition as Spain’s fourth-best team, upset German and Italian giants Bayern Munich and Juventus to reach the best four of Europe’s elite competition. 150 minutes into their semifinal tie against Liverpool, Villarreal were level on aggregate with the Merseyside outfit and dreamed of scoring a winner to book themselves a ticket to the final – it was only in the last 30 minutes that their dream was crushed and their Cinderella story was brought to an end. Villarreal...

Without a moment's hesitation, Vincenzo Montella sprayed the most audacious of diagonal switches in behind for his revered strike partner. The weight of the pass was so perfect that the receiver required just two touches to outwit a Parma defender and beat Gianluigi Buffon at his near post. An already raucous Stadio Olimpico burst into a heightened state of frenzy. Gabriel Batistuta's 20th goal of the 2000/01 Serie A season all but sealed Roma's third Scudetto on a sweltering mid-June afternoon in the capital. Fabio Capello was a champion again, and the Giallorossi had reached the pinnacle of calcio for just the third time in their storied history.  For Roma supporters, such success was necessary following an albeit brief period of Biancocolesti supremacy. Their fiercest rivals ha...