Top 5 Greatest Players Who Have Never Won The Champions League
Champions League title is the most precious and noblest in Europe that everyone dreams of. It’s not only because of a long history of the league but here is also the place where giants and powerful clubs compete against each other.
However, big clubs don’t mean they can get this cup easily. Some players could never have a chance to touch the gold medal of the Champions League even though they played in a great team.
In this article, we will give you the list of the top 5 greatest players who have never won the Champions League in their life. We may feel regrettable for them, but that’s football where everything can happen.
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5. Gianluigi Buffon
Who never knows this legendary excellent goalkeeper in the world?
The Italian legend has been through ups and downs in his career. He’s got numerous big and small titles, but none of them is Champions League trophy. This cup is also his biggest obsession as there were a couple of times he touched one hand to it, but he couldn’t make it eventually.
Buffon had himself a total of 125 games in the UEFA Champions League and 50 clean sheets, which is an impressive number for a goalkeeper.
The Italian keeper has achieved almost all precious titles at the club and national level. They are notably 10 Serie A titles, 1 World Cup champion, and 2 Coppa Italia cups. He attended C1 finals three times (2003, 2015, 2017), but all of them ended up with the silver medals for the poor old man.
Young-faced Buffon had the first biggest match in his career in 2003 when he played against AC Milan at Champions League final. His team – Juventus couldn’t make it to the win after penalties were lost.
In 2015 and 2017, Juventus of Buffon lost easily against two giants Barcelona and Real Madrid, at C1 finals. Nevertheless, the Italian legend did his best at that time. Buffon once again missed the Champions League trophy, while he is close to retirement.
4. Ruud van Nistelrooy
The deadly assassin Dutch striker had a wonderful time at Manchester United when he achieved a couple of titles with the Red Devils. However, he had never touched the noblest Champions League trophy.
The highest stage he reached in the C1 league was a semi-final of MU vs. Bayer Leverkusen. The Red Devils had an excellent squad at that time, but they couldn’t manage to advance to the final.
The Germany club played two great games with draw results and 3-3 on aggregate, which forced MU out of the tournament due to away goals rule.
Ruud van Nistelrooy was the top scorer in three consecutive Champions League: 2001–2002, 2002–2003, and 2004–2005. He had a total of 56 goals in this honor league, which was an excellent number that not many strikers can do. Besides, van Nistelrooy played 73 games in C1 league with PSV Eindhoven, Manchester United, and Real Madrid
3. Michael Ballack
The brilliant Germany footballer had been through several big clubs in Europe, but he could never manage to win a Champions League title. He was also the one to attend the C1 finals with two different teams: Bayer Leverkusen and Chelsea.
Ballack missed the chance to lift the noblest cup twice (2002 and 2008). The first time was with Bayer Leverkusen when his team faced the dominant Real Madrid with Raul, Zidane, and Figo.
Los Blancos went ahead with an early goal of Raul, before the Germany club equalized by Lucio’s effort. However, Bayer Leverkusen couldn’t keep the result until the end of the first half, when Zidane scored one of the most sensational goals in his career. The score was kept till the end, and the C1 cup belonged to the Royal football club.
Six years later, Ballack played the second Champions League final in his career against forceful Manchester United. The Red Devils, at that time, had the deadly three strikers: Ronaldo, Rooney, and Tevez, who could beat any team in the world.
Indeed, the match was so dramatic, with many chances, attempts, two goals, injuries, and even a red card. When it came to penalties, Man Utd proved that they deserved to win the C1 cup at that time with only a failed shot by Ronaldo, while Chelsea had two failed ones.
2. Zlatan Ibrahimović
I mean, we don’t have to talk much about this guy as the world knows him well. However, you may not know that the wanderer Ibrahimovic has never won a Champions League title. Sounds interesting?
The excellent Swedish footballer has played for seven different big clubs in the world: Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United.
He also holds the record of most C1 appearances without a title, which is so regrettable. He had a total of 122 games in the Champions League with 48 goals. The highest stage he has ever reached in C1 was the semi-final with Barcelona in 2010 when he faced his former team – Inter Milan.
However, he couldn’t make it to the final as Inter Milan of Mourinho beat Barcelona in a dramatic game.
1. Ronaldo
The “Alien” has got numerous trophies in his career, but C1 title ain’t one of them.
Two World Cup champions, two La Liga titles, and two Ballon d’Or doesn’t seem to be enough for the great Brazilian legend. Everyone thinks he deserved to win a Champions League title, but he couldn’t achieve it.
He could only advance to the semi-final with Real Madrid in 2003 and then lost against Juventus. Nevertheless, Ronaldo attended 40 games of Champions League and scored 14 times, which was also an impressive number for a Brazilian player.
Final words
Above are the top 5 greatest players who have never won the Champions League in their careers. They were all great and talented players who deserved a gold medal of the noblest league. However, that’s life, and that’s football. Great talent doesn’t mean you can win anything. There needs to be a little luck to make the dream come true. For more other football news and football odds, go soi kèo now.
