5) FC Porto 03/04
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The Portuguese club’s Champions League victory in the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League final remains the most shocking result of Europe’s premier club tournament. Jose Mourinho came to the limelight with superbly mastermined wins all throughout the tournament, that catapulted him and many of his squad to worldwide fame.
Porto began their Champions League campaign with a litmus test as they travelled to the Santiago Bernabeu to face Real Madrid. An early Blancos goal meant that Mourinho was staring at his players being demoralized, but Derlei struck away a penalty in the first half after Deco was fouled. Porto held on to draw the game, a defensive block that would come to be a trademark of Mourinho.
Impressive results in the intimidating atmospheres of Marseille and FK Partizan’s stadiums soon followed, including a 3-2 win at the Stade Velodrome, although a 1-3 loss to Real Madrid at the Dragao meant that Porto finished 2nd in the group behind Real Madrid, earning 11 points from 6 games.
Finishing second meant that Porto were offered a tough draw against Manchester United and were staring at an expected defeat when Quinton Fortune gave United the lead away from hom in the 1st leg. Benni McCarthy struck back twice to win the tie 2-1 for Porto, which set up the tie intriguingly when Scholes put United ahead at Old Trafford.
However, Porto dug deep and Costinha struck in the 90th minute which resulted in the iconic sight of Jose Mourinho’s celebratory run down the Old Trafford touchline.
Porto did not need to exert themselves as much when they got past Lyon in the quarter-finals, a 2-0 win followed by a 2-2 draw away from home sent the Portugues side to a semifinal fixture with Deportivo. A solitary away goal from Derlei was all that was needed to earn Porto a spot in the finals, although the rear-guard action was coupled with some blatant time-wasting.
Porto were the opposite side in the final, as Carlos Alberto, Deco and Dmitri Alenichev got on the scoresheet as AS Monaco barely offered up an answer to Porto’s bright and effervescent play in attack. The final whistle blew to spark of memorable scenes of wild celebrations that cemented the Portuguese side and Jose Mourinho firmly in UEFA Champions League folklore.
