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#4 Kevin De Bruyne
Pep Guardiola’s obsession with elegant and prolific midfielders was instrumental in helping him achieve Champions League glory twice with Barcelona. To give you a recent instance of how highly he rates Kevin De Bruyne, the Manchester CIty boss said:
“Even a blind man can see Kevin’s quality.”
This was after City’s thrilling 6-3 win against RB Leipzig in their Champions League Group A opener earlier this week.
The Belgian joined Chelsea in 2012 when the west London side were Champions League winners. But that spell at Chelsea never gave him enough time to express himself on the pitch.
De Bruyne’s fate was to wear and represent the Sky Blues. Since 2015, the midfielder has worn City’s jersey with great pride.
In his six seasons at the Etihad, he has cemented his legacy as one of the greatest midfielders to ever play in the Premier League. The 30-year-old shares the record for most assists in a Premier League season with the great Thierry Henry.
Since Guardiola’s arrival at City, he has turned the team into serial winners. Three Premier League titles, an FA Cup and five EFL titles is what De Bruyne’s glittering trophy cabinet is composed of. However, the Champions League trophy has eluded him and he fell agonizingly close during City's defeat to Chelsea in the 2020-21 final in Porto.
City lost their prolific midfielder to an injury midway through the game. The Belgian left the field teary-eyed and with him, the hope of City’s Champions League dream faded. Will fortune favor De Bruyne and City this season? Only time will tell.
#3 Giorgio Chiellini
If your life were to depend on a game of football where all your team had to do was defend, there aren’t many names you would think past Giorgio Chiellini. There is nothing more joyful for Chiellini than going shoulder to shoulder with any forward out there and coming out on top.
At 37 he is still going strong and proved that age is just a number by leading Italy to their second European Championship (2020) triumph after 1968.
Arsene Wenger, who in the early 2000s was signing talented youngsters in Europe for fun, made a contract offer to Chiellini in 2001. But Chiellini’s love for boyhood club Livorno did not allow him to leave.
Chiellini told French magazine So Foot:
“In hindsight I was a fool to decline that offer. I was 16 years-old, I played in Serie C, I got a huge offer.”
The Old Lady enjoyed outright domination in the last decade, where they won nine consecutive league titles from 2012 to 2020. Chiellini had the opportunity to win the Champions League in two separate instances when Juventus reached the finals in 2015 and 2017. On both occasions they proved inferior to Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively.
As things stand, Max Allegri, who took Juventus to those Champions League finals, is back at the helm. However it’s a complicated situation for the Old Lady. Cristiano Ronaldo has left the club and, at the time of writing, they are yet to register their first win in Serie A this season.
The Italian defender sure loves his club but it seems like this season they will hardly be able to progress deep into the knockout stages. Undoubtedly, when Chiellini draws curtains on his illustrious career, the dying breed of no-nonsense defenders from Italy would have died a little more.
#2 Sergio Aguero
It is 2012 and the two Manchester clubs are fighting to clinch the title with just one point separating them. Since its inception in 1992, Manchester City have never been crowned Premier League champions. On the other side of the Manchester divide was Manchester United. The Red Devils have accumulated 12 Premier League titles.
Manchester United won their final battle against Sunderland and were fingertips away from lifting the trophy. Then at the 93:20 mark, “AGUEROOO!” happened. Manchester City were no longer just the noisy neighbors. Sergio Aguero initiated a remarkable journey of success for the club.
Fast forward to 2021, Manchester City are all set to honor Aguero with a statue outside the Etihad Stadium. In his ten years at the club, Aguero became City’s top goalscorer and also the highest scoring overseas player in the Premier League -Two records that will not be broken anytime soon. The Argentina international has scored 20 or more goals in six seasons at City.
Aguero’s stint at the Etihad yielded five Premier League trophies. This helped him pip fellow City legends David Silva and Vincent Kompany to become the player with the most league titles for the club. But his heart remains hungry for the Champions League trophy. The previous campaign was marred by an injury for the striker.
This forced Pep Guardiola’s side to play without a striker for a major part of last campaign. There were some unusual decisions that Guardiola made in the final of the Champions League, starting with both Gabriel Jesus and Aguero on the bench. Could a fully fit Aguero have fulfilled Cityzens’ ambitions of a Champions League title? We’d never know.
Now the Argentine is at Barcelona. Although he is yet to make his debut due to an injury, there is no doubt that he will be involved whenever he returns. Can he end the drought for a Champions League winners' medal?
#1 Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Yes, everyone knows it and everyone talks about it. Zlatan Ibrahimovic hasn’t won a Champions League trophy, which is an astonishing fact, but it’s a fact nonetheless.
Ibrahimovic has a CV that would make most footballers in Europe highly envious, at least on paper. He has proudly worn jerseys at Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan, Paris-Saint Germain and Manchester United.
It would have taken some destiny to be at those powerhouses and yet avoid winning a Champions League trophy. The Swedish striker definitely has bad timing when it comes to moving clubs. He decided to end his three-year stay at Inter Milan in favor of a move to Barcelona in 2009.
Just after his departure, Jose Mourinho led Inter Milan to win the Champions League in 2009-10. Now we all know Ibrahimovic is known for his utterly savage style and swagger. But he has always been a man with a temper.
In his first season at Barcelona, he admitted that in the presence of Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi and others football felt unreal. But his relationship with manager Pep Guardiola was nowhere near healthy. The two clearly did not see eye to eye.
Soon, Ibrahimovic wanted to leave and saw his wish fulfilled in the form of a loan to AC Milan, where he permanently joined. Unfortunately for him, the cost of forcing his move out came at the price of a Champions League title.
Barcelona went on to win the Champions League in 2010-11 and Guardiola’s philosophy turned out just fine. Well, Zlatan is a brand in himself and considers himself no lesser than Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Does he really need a Champions League winner's medal after all?
Remarkably at the age of 39, Ibrahimovic is now back in the Champions League with AC Milan. Although the chances of him winning the trophy look bleak, he is expected to remain unapologetically box-office. Most fans would take that too.
