English clubs in European finals
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Liverpool face Sevilla tonight in the Europa League final looking to break the recent dominance of European competitions by Spanish clubs.
The recent record of English clubs in Europe isn’t fantastic, but clubs from England have had European success in finals over the years.
We’ve taken a look back at how teams from England have done in major European finals over the last 20 years:
Chelsea - 1998 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final: Winners
Chelsea won the now defunct UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup back in 1998 with a 1-0 win over Stuttgart in Stockholm.
Gianfranco Zola scored the only goal of the game in the 71st minute, just seconds after coming on as a substitute.
Manchester United - 1999 Champions League Final: Winners
Manchester United made it to their first Champions League final in 1999 when they were at the peak of their powers.
They beat Bayern Munich 2-1 thanks to two stoppage time goals from Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjær.
Arsenal - 2000 UEFA Cup Final: Losers
Arsenal met Galatasaray in Copenhagen for the 2000 UEFA Cup final but were unable to claim victory.
The game ended 0-0 and went to penalties. Misses from Davor Suker and Patrick Vieira meant the Gunners would leave Denmark without the cup.
Liverpool - 2001 UEFA Cup Final: Winners
Liverpool met Spanish side Alaves in the 2001 UEFA Cup final in Dortmund and were cruising at 3-1 up before Alaves pegged them back to 3-3.
A goal from Robbie Fowler looked to have secured victory but a late Jordi Cryuff goal took the tie to extra time.
An own-goal by Delfí Geli was enough to give the Reds victory thanks to the competition’s Golden Goal rule.
Liverpool - 2005 Champions League Final: Winners
In arguably the greatest European Cup/Champions League final of all time, Liverpool came from 3-0 down at half-time to 3-3 against AC Milan in Istanbul.
The game went to penalties and Jerzy Dudek was the hero as the Reds won their fifth European Cup.
Middlesborough - 2006 UEFA Cup Final: Losers
Middlesborough faced Sevilla in the 2006 UEFA Cup final in Eindhoven and were in the game at 1-0 down with half an hour to play.
However, the Spanish side put Boro to the sword with three more goals in quick succession.
The game was the only time a team has won by four goals in a single match UEFA Cup/Europa League final.
Arsenal - 2006 Champions League Final: Losers
Despite going down to ten men early on after Jens Lehmann was sent off, Arsenal took a first-half lead against Barcelona in Paris thanks to Sol Campbell.
The Gunners looked like they might hold on for a famous win, but two goals in four minutes from Samuel Eto’o and Juliano Belletti gave Barca the win.
Liverpool - 2007 Champions League Final: Losers
Two years after the miracle in Istanbul, Liverpool faced AC Milan in another European Cup final, this time in Athens.
Milan got revenge for the loss in Turkey two years earlier thanks to two goals from Filippo Inzaghi.
Dirk Kuyt scored late for the Reds but it wasn’t enough to mount a comeback.
Chelsea and Manchester United - 2008 Champions League Final: Chelsea Losers, Manchester United Winners
The 2008 Champions League final in Moscow was the first all-English club final in the history of the competition.
Rather fittingly, the goals in the game were scored by two Englishmen, Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard.
The tie ended 1-1 and went to penalties.
Chelsea skipper John Terry had the chance to win the cup but slipped as he took his penalty, and Chelsea eventually lost when Edwin van der Sar saved Nicolas Anelka’s spot-kick.
Manchester United - 2009 Champions League Final: Losers
Man United got back to another Champions League final the next season as they faced Barcelona in Rome.
United put up a decent fight but goals from Eto’o and Lionel Messi meant they left Italy empty handed.
Fulham - 2010 Europa League Final: Losers
Fulham defied the odds to make it to the Europa League final against Atletico Madrid in 2010 and they gave a great account of themselves in Hamburg.
Atletico took the lead thanks to Diego Forlan but Simon Davies equalised shortly after.
The tie went to extra-time and Forlan got a late winner to break Fulham hearts.
Manchester United - 2011 Champions League Final: Losers
Manchester United played Barcelona at Wembley in the 2011 Champions League final and were unable to overcome the Catalan side once again.
The score was level at the break after Rooney cancelled out Pedro’s opening goal, but strikes from Messi and David Villa saw Barca once again defeat English opposition in a European final.
Chelsea - 2012 Champions League Final: Winners
Chelsea were up against it having to beat Bayern Munich in Munich to win their first Champions League title.
A late Thomas Muller goal looked to have won Bayern the game but Didier Drogba’s equaliser took the game to extra time and eventually penalties.
Drogba was the hero again as he scored the winning spot-kick to secure victory for the Blues.
Chelsea - 2013 Europa League Final: Winners
Benfica and Chelsea both finished third in their Champions League Groups and went into the Europa League and ended up meeting in the final in Amsterdam.
Fernando Torres’ goal was cancelled out by an Oscar Cardozo penalty and the game looked to be heading for extra-time.
However, in stoppage time, Branislav Ivanovic headed home a corner from Juan Mata to give Rafa Benitez’s side victory.