Every UEFA Champions League Final Ranked From Worst To Best

Juventus went into the 1998 final in Ajax’s Amsterdam Arena as overriding favourites. Under cigar-chomping manager Marcello Lippi, the Bianconeri had emerged as the dominant force in European Football with this their third consecutive appearance in a Champions League final.

Juve boasted a frontline to savour too with strikers Alessandro Del Piero and Filippo Inzaghi racking up a club record 59 goals between them in all competitions that year and Zinedine Zidane pulling the strings from midfield.

They looked near-certainties for victory over a talented but disjointed Real Madrid side who had gone 32 years without lifting the European Cup but had been buoyed in recent years by the emergence of Raul.

Yet despite a strong start from the Turin club, Real succeeded in stifling the Italian’s attacking intent and gradually grew into the game in a tactical success that made for decidedly drab viewing.

For all the Spaniards' defensive solidarity, Juventus were guilty of wasting several big chances with Inzaghi the main culprit, missing two gilt-edged opportunities at 0-0.

They were eventually made to pay when a deflected Roberto Carlos shot fell to Yugoslav striker Predrag Mijatovic unmarked and just six yards out. He succeeded in delicately dancing around goalkeeper Angelo Peruzzi and clipping a shot into the unguarded net, despite questions of offside.

Juventus continued to attack but never looked like scoring, with Madrid happy to hold on for the scruffiest of European Cup wins.