Marchisio Boateng
Uefa Champions League is on this week and with many teams vying to win the ultimate trophy in May 2020, we take a look at some of the great players who played in the prestigious competition but never won it.
Gianluigi Buffon: At 41, Gianluigi Buffon has returned to Juventus following a season with Paris Saint-Germain. Buffon has kept 50 UEFA Champions League clean sheets (group stage to final) and played 165 UEFA club competition games, but he is yet to win a Champions League winners medal.
Fabio Cannavaro: The former Italian captain played for Parma, Inter Milan, Juventus and moved on to Real Madrid. Yet despite playing for Parma during the peak of their European powers in the late 1990s, as well as Inter, Juventus and Real Madrid subsequently, a Champions League medal is missing from the World Cup winner’s collection.
Lilian Thuram: With misses from David Trezeguet, Marcelo Zalayeta and Paolo Montero in the shootout led to the Old Lady losing on penalties to AC Milan in 2003. Thuram was also a member of the Parma team that lifted the UEFA Cup in 1999, while he later joined Barcelona just after they won the Champions League in 2006.
Michael Ballack: The former Die Mannschaft captain played two different finals with two different clubs; Bayern Leverkusen and Chelsea but failed to win even one of those two. In 2008 he was forced to watch on as John Terry and Nicolas Anelka’s missed spot-kicks handed the trophy to Manchester United. The German at least scored his own penalty that night.
Patrick Viera: Vieira is another midfielder who played plenty of times in the Champions League – 76 in total – for three different clubs in Arsenal, Juventus and Inter.
Pavel Nedved: Nedved was part of a team that reached the Champions League final – but Juventus were edged out by AC Milan in 2003. The Czech played no part in the Old Trafford showpiece, though, as suspension prevented him from playing. That was the closest he ever came to winning the tournament.
Francesco Totti: He is well known for being one of the most loyal one–club men and one of the finest players of this era. The striker, who also plays as a trequartista, has won the Serie A Footballer of the Year twice and Italian Footballer of the Year a record five times. Totti is also the second highest goal scorer in the Serie A (highest among those still active) with 230 League goals. But The King of Rome has never won the Champions League with his beloved AS Roma.
Ronaldo de Lima: PSV, Inter, Barcelona, Real Madrid and AC Milan are among the former Brazil forward’s teams, but the man who was named the best player in the world in 1997 and 2002 was never able to scoop European club football’s top prize.
Eric Cantona: The Frenchman who made the Manchester United number 7 shirt and the captain’s armband his own was truly a cult figure in England; in spite of bans, suspensions and an arrest. But when it came to the Champions League, he was never able to establish himself or the club as an elite power. The closest he ever got was when he led Manchester United to the semi-finals in 1997, where they lost to Borussia Dortmund (who would go on to win the trophy) in both legs.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic: The ex-Manchester United striker holds the unwanted record of making the most Champions League appearances (120) without ever lifting the trophy. He left Inter a year before they won it in 2010, before doing exactly the same thing at Barcelona the following summer. He also represented Ajax, Juventus, Milan, PSG and Manchester United to no avail.
Ruud Van Nistelrooy: With 56 Champions League goals to his name, Van Nistelrooy is the highest-scoring player never to have won the tournament. The striker joined Manchester United two years after their historic 1999 treble and left two years before their next European win. He also failed to achieve any continental glory during his four years with Real Madrid.
