How one Champions League campaign helped create a legend
This is the latest in our 'big discussion' series of articles.
Here, we will examine Porto's Champions League success in 2004 and ask whether a similar type of success can happen again.
Over the last twenty years, the Champions League has been dominated by a relatively small pool of teams from a limited number of countries. However, it wasn't always like this. Teams like Porto have a proud record in European competition, with their last Champions League victory in 2004. At that time, they were led by a man with a growing reputation. This was José Mourinho.
How big an achievement was this in 2004?
Porto has struggled to compete with the best in Europe in recent seasons. It is often anticipated that they may struggle to get out of the group stage on occasion. During the upcoming campaign, if you were betting on the Champions League, you would have seen that they were considered huge outsiders.
Since Porto's triumph in 2004, teams outside of England and Spain have struggled to gain a real foothold in the competition since 2010. Only Bayern Munich, with their two titles in 2013 and 2020, have posed any real opposition to the dominance of the big English and Spanish clubs. AC Milan's win in 2007 and Inter Milan's success in 2010 are also anomalies. Even those great Italian sides have struggled.
Celebrating at Old Trafford
The main game credited as the catalyst for Porto and Mourinho's success was a last-16 tie at Old Trafford. United weren't in the best form at the time and had recently lost defender Rio Ferdinand to a suspension. Nevertheless, they were still expected to win comfortably. A battling performance from the Portuguese side saw them take a 2-1 first-leg lead to Old Trafford. A dramatic late goal sealed it for Porto, and Mourinho celebrated as if he had won the competition—something he managed a few months later.
The following season, he was up against United again, only this time as the manager of Chelsea. This marked the beginning of a wonderful period for Mourinho. He achieved great things with Chelsea before moving to Inter Milan, where he won the Champions League again in 2010.
What can a team at Porto's level do in this modern Champions League era?
Some believe that teams without the financial muscle of Manchester City or Paris St-Germain can challenge Europe's elite. Ajax came very close in 2019 when they reached the last four. Real Madrid appears to be dominating the competition at the moment and very few sides look capable of stopping. Especially, a team with a more modest budget like Porto have.
Looking closer at that Ajax run in 2019, their ultimate demise was perhaps more evidence of how difficult it is for an unfancied side to win the competition. They had already beaten Real Madrid and Juventus as they progressed to the last four but they couldn't get over the line.
Champions League: 2024/2025 (eurosuperfootball.blogspot.com)
