5 teams who bucked the odds and went on to win the Champions League

#1 Liverpool, 2005

Liverpool defied the odds right until the final moments to win the coveted trophy

Topping the list is another English side, Liverpool who were extremely unlikely to win the Champions League even in the final with AC Milan. The Reds lost to Grazer AK at Anfield in the third qualifying round before making it through to the group stages. In the group stages, Rafa Benitez's side looked set for an early exit before Steven Gerrard's thunderous strike in a 3-1 win against Olympiakos helped them barely make it to the knockouts.

In the knockouts, Liverpool dispatched Bayer Leverkusen with ease and set up their first-ever meeting with Juventus after the Heysel disaster in 1985. Benitez's side put on a tactical masterclass as his team won 2-1 at Anfield before a valiant defensive display led to a 0-0 draw in Turin, propelling the unlikely contenders into the semifinals.

Liverpool came up against Mourinho's Chelsea in the last four and a fiercely-contested all-English affair, saw the Reds win the tie 1-0, thanks to Luis Garcia's now-famous 'ghost' goal. This pitted the Merseyside club against Serie A champions, AC Milan, who possessed an all-star team consisting of the likes of Cafu, Maldini, Nesta, Pirlo, Kaka, Crespo and Shevchenko. As one would expect, the Italian side raced away to a 3-0 lead in the first-half, a scoreline good enough to win any final.

However, spurred on by their own fans, the Reds were a different team altogether in the second-half and then, the miracle of Istanbul happened. In six unbelievable minutes, Liverpool scored thrice. Milan was shocked and their attempts to regain the lead were thwarted by a certain Jerzy Dudek, who dealt with every shot on goal from then on until the end of extra time.

In the penalty shootout, Dudek took a bit of inspiration from another European Cup-winning Liverpool goalkeeper, Bruce Grobbelaar, and confused the Milan players with his wobbly legs antics. The ploy worked and Liverpool completed arguably the greatest comeback in the history of the illustrious tournament.

From losing to Grazer AK in qualifying to defeat the mighty Milan after going 3-0 down in the final, Liverpool truly bucked the odds at every stage to become the kings of Europe.