Top 5 greatest UEFA Champions League giant-killing runs

3. Monaco (2003-04 season)

Many might remember the 2003-04 Champions League as Jose Mourinho’s first triumph in the competition, but Monaco also had a great run that year, reaching the finals before losing to Mourinho’s Porto side.

Monaco had finished Ligue 1 in second the previous season to guarantee themselves automatic qualification to the Champions League, and topped a relatively easy group stage to set up an encounter against Lokomotiv Moscow in the Round of 16.

However, their biggest triumph was a quarterfinal victory against a Real Madrid side that boasted Zinedine Zidane, Raul, Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Luis Figo, David Beckham, and Iker Casillas, among others. Despite trailing 4-2 in the first leg, Monaco didn’t give up, and edged the La Liga giants on the away goals rule after a 3-1 home win.

They faced Chelsea in the semifinals in the first year of Roman Abramovich’s revolution, and beat them 5-3 to reach the finals, where they lost 3-0 to Porto.