Champions League winners: Every edition's winner since 1992/93

1998/99 – Manchester United

Manchester United pulled off a dramatic comeback in the 1998/99 final

In one of the most famous Champions League finals of all time, Manchester United left it late to overcome Bayern Munich, beating them 2-1 with both of their goals coming in added time after they’d trailed to a Mario Basler goal scored in the 6th minute. Legend has it that Bayern’s ribbons were even tied onto the trophy at the time of United’s first goal.

The victory made United the first English club to win the tournament since 1984, and was their first triumph in the competition since 1968. Alex Ferguson’s side – built around his ‘Class of 1992’ players like Ryan Giggs and David Beckham – won the trophy without losing a single match, notably overcoming Italian giants Internazionale and Juventus in the knockout stages.

1999/00 – Real Madrid

Real Madrid picked up another Champions League in 1999/00

The 1999/00 edition of the Champions League saw yet another format change; this time there were two group stages, with the winners and runners up of the 8 groups in the first one going through to a second that eventually decided the 8 sides in the knockout stages. And for the first time, Spain, Italy and Germany could enter 4 sides, while England, France and the Netherlands could enter 3.

And it turned out that Spanish sides dominated the tournament – Real Madrid won the final, beating Valencia 3-0 in a relatively one-sided final that marked the first to feature both sides from a single country. Fellow Spaniards Barcelona also made the semi-finals before being beaten by Valencia – meaning La Liga sides were clearly the best in Europe that year.

2000/01 – Bayern Munich

Bayern Munich claimed their first Champions League since its rebranding in 2000/01

2000/01 saw German giants Bayern Munich win their first Champions League trophy since the tournament had been rebranded, as they overcame Valencia after a dramatic penalty shoot-out that followed a 1-1 draw in the final. Both sides ended up taking 7 penalties before Bayern finally came out on top following Mauricio Pellegrino’s miss.

It was Bayern’s 4th victory in the tournament overall, and their first since 1976, while poor Valencia suffered the agony of losing two finals in a row after overcoming Arsenal and Leeds to make it to the San Siro. The tournament overall was dominated by sides from England and Spain – who made up 6 of the 8 quarter-finalists.