A Balon D’Or as well as the European Footballer of the Year Winner in 2003, the Czech Fury took Juventus to the 2003 Champions League final but had to watch the finals from the stands as an accumulation of yellow cards meant that he was suspended for the final match.
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It was a cruel ending to a fabulous run in the tournament by Nedved and without him to steer the midfield, Juventus were defeated by Milan. Sadly, Nedved would not reach the tournament final again and thus never appeared in the finals of the tournament.
Even though Nedved won a host of trophies during his long and fruitful career, that night at Old Trafford in 2003 was the closest the legendary midfielder had arrived to winning the acclaimed tournament and Nedved ultimately retired without getting his hands on the Champions League Trophy.
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Central Midfield – Francesco Totti
AS Roma v Genoa CFC - Serie A
Players like Francesco Totti are a rare gem in the world of football. One of the greatest midfielders of his generation, he could have fit into any top team during the prime of his career. He was also wanted by a lot of clubs, but his allegiance to Roma and his love for his club was rock solid.
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The Italian maestro played his entire club career for AS Roma and retired at the end of the 2017 season. He finished his career with one Serie A title, 2 Coppa Italia and 2 Supercoppa Italiana. Unfortunately, Roma never reached the UEFA Champions League finals during his time and as such, Totti never appeared in the finals of the tournament.
However, Totti is a World Cup winner, winning the 2006 World Cup with Italy. He retired at the end of the 2016/17 season and is one of the finest players to have never won the Champions League.
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Deepungsu Pandit
Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over six years at Sportskeeda. He has written close to 9000 articles for the website, and has garnered over 19.5Million reads.
Deepungsu holds a PG degree in Microbiology and an MBA degree in Total Quality Management. He has an extensive two-decade long writing experience, which includes a decade of sports blogging. His writing prowess has even led his work getting cited on the legendary Franz Beckenbauer's Wikipedia page.
Inspired by Diego Maradona, Deepungsu played as an attacking midfielder for his local club at subdivision level in his initial years and scored an important goal or two. However, his all-time favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and evidently, he feels Argentina's glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment for fulfilling his long-standing dream. He is also an ardent East Bengal fan.
Deepungsu has been a Manchester United supporter since the year 2000. Unsurprisingly, his favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson and the Scotsman helped him get through some of the toughest days of his life. Like the fiery Scot, Deepungsu also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to accuracy in articles and only relies on credible sources.
Despite believing in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to create an iconic rivalry, Deepungsu reckons no one can match the longevity of Messi and Ronaldo. He spends his leisure time writing about life on his blog, reading books, and playing the guitar.
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