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#4 Manchester United, 1999
The first English team on this list is Manchester United, as teams from the Premier League have won the coveted trophy more often than not as underdogs. Manchester United’s first-ever Champions League win under Sir Alex Ferguson in 1999 is undoubtedly one of the greatest success stories in football.
The Red Devils were drawn into a “Group of Death” with Bayern Munich and Barcelona in the Champions League group stages. Despite failing to beat either of the top teams, United inflicted heavy defeats on Danish side, Brondby, to get through based on other group results.
United then faced two Italian sides in the knockout stages as they tried to break the jinx of not winning in Italy. Ferguson’s side saw off Inter Milan with a win at Old Trafford and a draw at San Siro. This was followed by an even tougher test in the form of Juventus consisting of the likes of Del Piero, Zidane, Edgar Davids and Antonio Conte.
The current Chelsea boss clinched a valuable away goal at Old Trafford before United brought out their famous resilience to equalize through Ryan Giggs. However, Filippo Inzaghi scored twice in the space of 11 minutes to dent the English side’s chances in the second leg. Nevertheless, led by a Roy Keane masterclass, they not only clawed back into the match but also completed the comeback to engineer their first-ever win in Italy.
In the final, Bayern Munich earned themselves an early lead and held on to it for most of the game as United were without their first-choice midfield duo, Keane, and Paul Scholes, through suspension. However, super substitutes Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer had other ideas as they scored twice in injury team to break German hearts and make history.
Thus, that Manchester United team were not deemed as favorites right from the group stage but kept believing in themselves to create a campaign to remember.
