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The UEFA Champions League groups together some of the finest teams in European football and it always produces some memorable moments. We get the chance to watch some of the best players in the world going head to head competing to win the biggest trophy in club football.
Former Real Madrid winger Paco Gento was able to win an amazing six European Cup medals in his playing career with the Spanish giants between 1962 and 1971.
Players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Paolo Maldini and the great Alfredo di Stefano managed to win five Champions League medals during their careers (with Ronaldo still going strong), but some great names in football, although coming close, have not been able to achieve ultimate glory in European football.
Here are 10 of the best players who have never been able to win the Champions League.
#1 Laurent Blanc
Throughout his 20 years as a player, defender Laurent Blanc collected plenty of silverware at club level and with the French International team.
With the national team, he reached the pinnacle when he won the 1998 FIFA World Cup and the UEFA European Championships in 2000. He was never able to match the top prize at club level as he never won the European Cup.
Blanc did manage to win the European Cup Winners Cup with Barcelona in 1997, but the closest he ever came to winning the big one was in the 2001/02 season with Manchester United.
His dream of winning a Champions League medal under Sir Alex Ferguson ended in the semi-finals. United were unable to repair the damage they had suffered in the home leg of the tie. A 1-1 draw ensuring that Bayer Leverkusen went through on the two away goals they scored in the 2-2 draw at Old Trafford.
#2 Ruud van Nistelrooy
Ruud van Nistelrooy was one of the most prolific goal scorers to have played the game in modern times.
Having started his professional career in the Dutch Eredivisie, he moved to European giants Manchester United in 2001 to play under Sir Alex Ferguson. Like Laurent Blanc, van Nistelrooy never got any further than the semi-finals and he was a part of that Manchester United team who were beaten by Bayer Leverkusen in 2002.
After 5 years at Old Trafford, he joined Real Madrid, who at the time was considered to be the best team in the world. Real Madrid went through a spell of losing in the knockout stages of the competition.
Despite being the competition’s top scorer in three different seasons, the flying Dutchman was never able to win the Champions League and a year after leaving Old Trafford for the Bernabeu, Manchester United won the Champions League when they beat Chelsea in Moscow.
#3 Pavel Nedved
Pavel Nedved's best chance to win the Champions League trophy came in the 2002/03 season.
The midfield enforcer was having the season of his life with Juventus as they met AC Milan in the final at Old Trafford. It was a bittersweet moment for the player and his club as he was unable to play due to a yellow card suspension from the previous round.
A boring 0-0 draw after extra-time saw Juventus go on to lost the game 3-2 on penalties and that was the closest the Czech player ever came to winning the Champions League, even though he never gave up trying.
The season ended with Nedved winning the Ballon d’Or, but that one illustrious trophy was never in his grasp.
2009 was his last season as a professional player and Juventus were eliminated by eventual finalists, Chelsea in the round of 16.
#4 Gianluigi Buffon
Gianluigi Buffon is without a doubt one of the best goalkeepers to ever grace football, and with an incredible career, he was only missing one medal, the Champions League.
The Italian goalkeeper had an impressive resume and no matter where he played during his career, he was successful. The shot-stopper won the UEFA Cup with Parma in 1999 and during his time with Juventus, he added an amazing eleven Serie A league titles.
The 2006 World Cup winner managed to play in the final of the Champions League on three occasions, losing every single one.
In 2003, he lost a penalty shoot-out against AC Milan and in 2015 he lost again as Barcelona beat Juventus 3-1 in Berlin. Finally, in 2017, Cristiano Ronaldo's Real Madrid demolished the Italians 4-1 in Cardiff.
He'll be hoping to make amends and win the Champions League with Juventus this year.
#5 Michael Ballack
Michael Ballack played in the Champions League with four different clubs. The German got to the final with two of those teams, Bayer Leverkusen in 2002 and Chelsea in 2008, dramatically losing both games.
The midfielder's first final was in the 2001/02 final when Leverkusen played against Real Madrid after they overcame Manchester United in the semi-finals. Ballack and his team put up a hard fight but Real Madrid ended up winning the game 2-1.
Six years later, in Moscow this time playing in the final with Chelsea, he was just one penalty away from winning the trophy. John Terry famously slipped taking his penalty and Manchester United capitalised by scoring the decisive spot-kick as they won the shootout and the trophy.
#6 Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is arguably one of the best goalscorers ever in the game. At one stage of his career, he was getting recognition across the world for his goal-scoring exploits and was considered to be the best striker in football.
However, he did not have much luck in his attempt to win football's biggest prize, even though throughout his career he played for some of Europe's greatest powerhouses.
The Swedish hitman played for the three biggest clubs in Italy; Juventus, AC Milan, and Inter Milan but couldn’t win the crown with any of them.
He left Internazionale to play for Spanish side Barcelona and during his time at the Nou Camp it was his old club Inter managed by Jose Mourinho who eliminated them in one of the most dramatic semi-finals of the competition.
Protecting a first-leg 3-1 lead, the Italians went to Spain and lost 1-0 to Barcelona, but that was enough to end Zlatan's dream.
Ibrahimovic moved to French Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain and later Manchester United. Finally, he gave up his dream to win the tournament when he moved to the MLS to play for LA Galaxy. Now back with Milan, it doesn't look as though the Swedish striker will get a shot at winning the prestigious competition again.
#7 Francesco Totti
Italian forward Francesco Totti's playing career spanned from 1992 until he retired in 2017 and he will always be remembered as the player who decided to remain loyal to the team he loved, AS Roma.
Totti had everything in his favour to achieve big things in his career but never managed to win the Champions League, due to the fact Roma were never really true contenders.
The Italian striker won one Serie A championship with Roma and in 2006 won the FIFA World Cup with Italy, but the one main medal was always missing.
Roma were never able to make it past the quarter-final stages of the competition and suffered some of the biggest defeats in the history of the tournament, most notably the 8-3 aggregate defeat to Manchester United in 2007.
#8 Roberto Baggio
Roberto Baggio was one of the most gifted attacking midfielders to ever play the game.
Despite dominating teams in Serie A and International level for years, he was never able to get his hands on the most coveted prize.
Baggio scored an impressive 27 goals in 57 matches for the Italian national team and he did win the UEFA Cup with Juventus back in 1993. The final was contested over two legs and the Italians won by a 6-1 aggregate against German side Borussia Dortmund with the 'Divine Ponytail' scoring one of the goals.
The pinnacle of his career arrived when he took Italy to the 1994 FIFA World Cup final. Baggio scored five goals in the tournament as the Azzurri met Brazil in the final. It was a bore 0-0 draw and the Italians lost in a shootout with the striker missing his penalty.
He certainly had a wonderful career, but he just couldn't get his hands on the Champions League trophy. Baggio moved to AC Milan and was part of the team in the 1996/97 season that couldn’t get any further than the group stages.
He transfered to Inter Milan during the 1998/99 season and made it to the quarter-finals before losing 3-1 on aggregate to eventual treble winners, Manchester United.
#9 Lothar Matthaus
Lothar Matthaus was a talented midfielder and one of the best of his generation, winning 7 Bundesliga titles and 4 DFB-Pokal Cups with Bayern Munich. Matthäus was part of the winning squad in the European Championships in 1980 and ten years later we added the FIFA World Cup to his collection.
'Loddar' as he was known in Germany, won the Ballon d’Or in 1990 while playing for Inter Milan, but his name joined a list of winners who were never able to lift the Champions League trophy.
It was in the 1998/99 season that the German maestro made the Champions League final with Bayern Munich as they faced Manchester United. Just like Michael Ballack, Lothar ended his season on a very painful note to Manchester United
Bayern were just minutes from winning the greatest prize for the first time in the clubs history, but the game ended in heartbreak for both Bayern and Matthaus. Manchester United pulled off the miracle of miracles in the dying seconds scoring twice to win the trophy and achieve the treble.
The midfield dynamo retired from the game in 2000 and much to his misfortune, Bayern Munich went on to win the Champions League the following season after beating Spanish side Valencia 5-4 in a penalty shout out and a 1-1 draw.
#10 Ronaldo
One of the best strikers in history, Ronaldo managed to destroy teams at club and international level every week, but he is probably the biggest name in world football to never win the Champions League title.
In the 1996/97 season, while playing for Barcelona, Ronaldo won the UEFA Cup Winners Cup when his Spanish side beat Paris Saint Germain 1-0 with the striker scoring the decisive goal in the 38th minute.
After just one season at the Nou Camp, he moved to Serie A side Inter Milan. In his first season in Italian football, he won the UEFA Cup scoring one of the goals in the final helping his team to a 3-0 win against Lazio.
Ronaldo's best attempt to win the main trophy came when he signed for Spanish giants Real Madrid in 2002.
That season his Madrid side took on Juventus in the semi-finals of Europe's biggest competition. The LaLiga team won the first leg 2–1 at the Bernabeu a game that saw the Brazilan score.
Sadly for Ronaldo, they lost the second leg 3–1 in Turin and it was Juventus who went on to the final to play fellow Italians AC Milan at Old Trafford.
For the gifted Brazilian goal scorer that was the closest he ever came to playing in the final, as Real Madrid went through a phase of not getting any further than the Round of 16 between 2005 and 2011.
Ronaldo parted ways with Los Blancos in 2006, moving to AC Milan where he played for two seasons. 'Il Fenomeno' ended his chances of trying to win the coveted trophy when he headed back to his home nation and finished his playing days with Brazilian side Corinthians.
