7 Champions League performances to rival Bayern v Barca featuring Liverpool and Man United
Bayern Munich's 4-0 win over Barcelona marks the first time a side has gone toe-to-toe with the Catalans in recent years and outplayed them at their own game, serving up a dish of lethal attacking football to sink Tito Vilanova's side. The performance is likely to go down in history as one of the great Champions League displays, and that got talkSPORT thinking about other great performances in the competition to rival it...
Milan 4-0 Barcelona: 1994 Champions League final
Milan, without the suspended Alessandro Costacurta and influential captain Franco Baresi were given no hope against a Barcelona attack containing Romario and Hristo Stoichkov. However, Daniele Massaro stunned everyone with two goals to put the Italian club 2-0 up going into the break and a magnificent Dejan Savi?evi? lob made it three, with Marcel Desailly's neat finish sealing the trophy and the stopper's second successive winners medal following his triumph a year earlier where he was part of the Marseille team that beat Milan. Left-back Paolo Maldini, a winner in 1994, was still in the squad when the Serie A giants were victorious in 2003 and again in 2007.
Juventus 2-3 Man United: 1999 Champions League semi-final second leg
Juventus were Europe's dominant force in the late 90s, so when they took an away goal back to Turin following a 1-1 draw with Man United at Old Trafford, few saw the Red Devils reaching their first European Cup final in 31 years. After Pippo Inzaghi's double early on, those chances appeared even slimmer, but a Roy Keane header and a Dwight Yorke goal put the Red Devils ahead on away goals before the end of the first half. Keane was majestic and appeared to be on a personal mission to send his club to the final despite knowing he would not be taking part after a yellow card ruled him out. Andy Cole sealed their place seven minutes from time and then the club stunned Bayern in the final in Barcelona with a late comeback, but the display in Turin was the match that showed just how good the team was.
Real Madrid 3-0 Valencia: 2000 Champions League final
It was the first time two sides from the same country contested the Champions League in the modern incarnation of the tournament, when Real went head-to-head with Valencia. Vicente del Bosque had taken charge of the nine-time European champions in the middle of the season, and after a poor domestic run, few would have imagined how much of a mark the current Spain gaffer would leave on the club. Against Valencia in the final, however, Real were rampant, putting three goals past Los Che through Fernando Morientes, Steve McManaman and Raul. Zinedine Zidane's spectacular volley in Del Bosque's second Champions League win with Madrid in 2002 will go down in football history as a great moment, but the triumph two years earlier, overseen by the understated coach, was the most comprehensive team display and was also notable for the presence of Real's promising 19-year-old goalkeeper, Iker Casillas.
Barcelona 2-0 Man United: 2009 Champions League final
Barcelona were in a state of turmoil in the summer of 2008, with Frank Rijkaard's team falling apart at the seams. President Joan Laporta took a gamble on the inexperienced Pep Guardiola, a former Barca player, whose only previous role as a manager was with Barcelona's B team in the Spanish third division. It paid off, though, and the spectacular team he put together would reach its culmination in Rome, where they completed an historic treble after demolishing Man United.
Going into the tie, much of the talk had been about the then best player in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo, and the challenger to his throne, Lionel Messi. The Argentine had always shown the raw talent necessary to rise to the top, but frequent injury worries coupled with the dishevelled nature of Barcelona in Rijkaard's latter days had prevented him from fulfilling his potential, while the sky was the limit for Ronaldo, who lifted the Ballon d'Or at the start of the year. In Rome, there was only one winner. Messi was all over the pitch, linking up in mesmerising passing triangles with Xavi and Andres Iniesta, with the cherry on the cake being his header - his one weakness apparently - to make it 2-0 following Samuel Eto'o's earlier goal. The win announced Guardiola's Barcelona on the world stage, and though they have gone on to play more intricate football, particularly in their 5-0 domestic demolition of Real Madrid in 2010, Barca were arguably never more complete and balanced than in that first glorious season under Pep.
Ajax 5-2 Bayern Munich: 1995 semi-final
The spectre of Ajax's great teams in years gone by will always hang over the club, so when a young side featuring the likes of the De Boer brothers, Clarence Seedorf and Edgar Davids made it to the semi-final of the 1995 Champions League, the pressure on them must have been immense. Bayern Munich were their opponents, and after a 0-0 draw in the first leg, the tie was very much in the air. Ajax quashed any doubts about their maturity in Amsterdam, however, going ahead after 11 minutes through Jari Litmanen, then reacting quickly to Marcel Witeczek's leveller for the Germans when Finidi George rattled in a response five minutes later and Ronald de Boer put more distance between the two sides when the defender finished like a striker just before half time. Litmanen added a second almost immediately after the restart and though Bayern pulled one back through a penalty, Marc Overmars crushed any Bavarian hopes in the 88th minute. Ajax would go on to win the competition after defeating Milan in the final, and to date, it looks like a final hurrah from one of Europe's most influential teams.
Liverpool 4-0 Real Madrid: 2009 last 16
Real Madrid were already being hammered by Pep Guardiola's Barcelona in the 2008/09 La Liga, but the European Cup has always been a safe haven for Los Blancos, so expectations were still high when they drew Liverpool in the knockout round. The Reds, meanwhile, had the fresh memories of Istanbul as well as Athens as proof of how their fortunes could contrast on the European stage, and with Rafa Benitez taking on the club where he learned the ropes, there was plenty on the line for both teams. Liverpool left the Bernabeu with a 1-0 first leg win, but the best was yet to come, as Rafa's team produced one of their most dominant European displays. At Anfield, the Reds whitewashed Real, opening the scoring through a particularly motivated Fernando Torres given his Atletico Madrid past, with Steven Gerrard doubling the lead before the first half was over. Gerrard was at it again minutes into the second half, before Andrea Dossena gave them a 5-0 aggregate win. Real were humiliated, and their humbling European exit partly contributed to the return of club President Florentino Perez the following summer, ushering in a new era of Galacticos at the Bernabeu.
Borussia Dortmund 3-1 Juventus: 1997 Champions League final
Juventus were the reigning European champions and had been undefeated in two years on the continent leading up to the 1997 Champions League final in Munich and with the likes of Zidane, Alessandro Del Piero and Didier Deschamps in their ranks, they looked firm favourites to overcome the Germans. Things didn't go to plan for Marcello Lippi's side, however and Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert as well as former Juve players, Julio Cesar, Jurgen Kohler, Paulo Sousa and Andreas Moller played major a part in Dortmund's powerful and dominant display. Karl-Heinz Riedle scored a brace early on to stun the Italians, and after substitute Del Piero helped cut the deficit, Dortmund's own trump card, 20-year-old Lars Ricken, put the game out of sight with a brilliant goal from distance. Germany had its first Champions League winner since the European Cup's reformat in 1992, and better still, it was done in Munich, but it wasn't Bayern.
Are there any other great Champions League displays we missed out? Let us know below...