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Every season, if there is one story in the Champions League that is definitely going to appear, it is that Arsenal have once again managed to finish second in their group, despite all the odds favouring them to finish top. For some reason, it seems like Arsene Wenger and the Gunners dont like finishing at the top of any table, be it the Premier League or the Champions League.That explains whytheir fans keep thinking about how they are once again going to get knocked in the Round of 16, at the hands ofeither Bayern Munich or Barcelona.However, is it really necessary to finish top of your group to actually go on and win the Champions League?The majority of all the past winners seem to suggest so. But there have been 5 clubs who did manage to win the Champions Leaguedespite finishing second in their group, and perhaps Arsenal can take inspiration from that.
#1 Borussia Dortmund
Back in 1996, the Champions League was really only about the champions, and only one team was represented from each country. Dortmund joined 14 other teams and the defending champions Juventus in the 1996/97 European campaign.
Split into 4 groups, Dortmund were unable to finish top of their group, and had to settle for second place, as Atletico Madrid managed to top the group. However, they got lucky with the draw for the quarterfinals, getting Auxerre, whom they were able to beat easily to advance to the Semis.
Dortmund then did a number on Manchester United, beating them in both legs, before facing the defending champions in the final, whom they defeated 3-1 to lift the title, despite finishing second in their group.
#2 Manchester United
The season of 1998/99 will forever be part of Manchester United folklore, with the club becoming the first English team to do the treble. However, when the draw for the group was made, it wasn’t all hunky-dory as they had to face the prospect of finishing above Bayern Munich and Barcelona.
However, as a sign of things to come for that season, Manchester United did the impossible and managed to stay undefeated, finishing second in the group. They advanced to the next round by virtue of being one of the two best second placed sides where they were able to dispatch Inter Milan, who themselves were group winners.
The semifinals saw a memorable comeback win against Juventus, which was followed by yet another epic match in the final, where they scored 2 goals in the last few minutes to defeat Bayern Munich and become the champions of Europe.
#3 Porto
Jose Mourinho first came to prominence after his Porto team’s very surprising win of the Champions League. However, it did not start all that well for them that 2003/04 campaign, with a draw against Partizan Belgrade and a defeat to Real Madrid. However, they managed to get it together and produced the necessary results to finish second in the group and proceed to the next round.
They had the prospect of facing Manchester United in the first knockout round, and they almost got eliminated from the competition, but survived thanks to a fumble from goal-keeper Tim Howard that allowed them to equalise and eliminate United. It was also the game that saw Mourinho become a part of footballing folklore as he celebrated by running down the side of the pitch at Old Trafford.
The following rounds were much more comfortable, with games against Lyon and Deportivo La Coruna easily negotiated, before they defeated Monaco by 3 goals in the final to become European Champions.
#4 Liverpool
The last time Liverpool won a major European trophy was almost a decade ago, and it was the epic Champions League campaign of 2004/05. To this day, Liverpool fans talk about the miracle of Istanbul, and why not! It was one of the greatest comebacks made by a team in the final of any competition and Liverpool emerged winners thanks to their bravery and spirit.
In fact, the whole campaign was kind of miraculous, as their group stage performance was not good, and that saw them needing to win their last game by two goals to qualify for the next round. They just about managed to do that against Olympiakos, finishing second in their group.
They followed that miracle by going on to beat big names in European football like Bayer Leverkusen, Chelsea and Juventus before facing AC Milan in the final. After giving away 3 goals in the first half, it looked like game over for the club, but they came back strongly in the second half, managing to level the scores. They then held on through extra time, and then went on to win following a tense penalty shootout.
#5 Inter Milan
It seems like Jose Mourinho has a habit of winning the Champions League only if he finishes second in his group. It happened with Porto and it happened once again with Inter Milan. Their group stage went bad, as they drew three games and lost another to Barcelona. But Inter pulled themselves together and won the next two games to finish second in the group.
The Round of 16 saw Mourinho face his old side Chelsea, whom they ever able to dispatch with ease, followed by two 1-0 wins over CSKA Moscow. They faced Barcelona again in the semi-finals, winning a sensational tie 3-2, despite being down to 10 men for a majority of the second leg.
The final then saw them run out comfortable 2-0 winners against Bayern Munich, as Jose Mourinho became a two time European champion.
