Eight Great Champions League Finals Quiz

Answer: Ferenc Puskas

In a classic match that is now regarded as one of the best matches ever, Real Madrid won their fifth consecutive European Cup (on its fifth edition). The match was played at Hampden Park in Scotland. Only four players scored the ten goals of the match: Ferenc Puskas and Alfredo di Stefano for Real Madrid; Richard Kress and Erwin Stein for Eintracht Frankfurt.

Ferenc Puskas is one of football's all-time greats. Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1927, Puskas started his professional career in Budapest Honved, for which he scored over 300 goals. He joined Real Madrid in 1958 and would remain with "Los Blancos" until his retirement in 1966. Puskas played with Hungary's international team for most of his career, winning an Olympic gold medal and reaching the final of the 1954 World Cup. He also played for Spain between 1961 and 1962. FIFA awards an annual prize called the "Puskas Award" to the best, "most beautiful" goal of the year.

Answer: Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest won 1-0 with Trevor Francis scoring at the very end of the first half. The club was in great shape at that time: they had won the First Division's title in the 1977-78 season and were runners-up in the 1978-79 season. The match was played at the Olympiastadion in Munich, Germany.

Nottingham Forrest was founded in 1865, making it one of the oldest football clubs in England. Though the club's successes in the 21st century have been limited, Notts Forest enjoyed many victories in the 20th century: they won the English First Division in 1977-78, an FA Cup in 1958-59, two consecutive European Cups in 1978-79 and 1979-80, and the 1979 European Super Cup. They have the unique distinction of winning more European Cups than domestic titles (two vs. one).

Answer: Penalty shootout

Dutch side PSV Eindhoven reached the final by leaving behind Real Madrid (the aggregate score was tied, but PSV qualified because of their away goal against the Spanish team). Benfica, from Portugal, was classified to the final by defeating the Romanian side Steaua București. Both finalists played in a quite defensive style, which unfortunately for the audience, resulted in a scoreless match in regular time. This continued through extra time, which led to a penalty shootout to decide the winner.

The penalty shootout turned out to be very exciting: all five shooters from both teams managed to score their penalties. Koeman, Kieft, Nielsen, Vanenburg, and Lerby scored PSV's penalties; Elzo, Dito, Redouane, Pacheco, and Mozer did the job for Benfica. The match came down to a missed penalty by Portuguese defender Antonio Veloso. Anton Janssen, who had joined the match as a substitute in extra time, scored the winning penalty that gave PSV Eindhoven their first European Cup title.

Answer: Yes

The match took place in Vienna's Ernst-Happel-Stadion. Ajax and Milan, which had already faced each other as rivals in the group stage of the 1994-95 Champions League, faced off in the tournament's final. Milan's manager Fabio Capello waited until the last ten minutes of the match to make substitutions, while Ajax's Louis van Gaal subbed in Nwankwo Kanu at the beginning of the second half and Patrick Kluivert in the seventieth minute.

Van Gaal's second substitution would prove very valuable: Kluivert scored in the 84th minute for Ajax, which translated into the fourth European Cup win for the Dutch side. The three previous victories had been consecutively obtained in 1971, 1972, and 1973.

Patrick Kluivert broke the record for the youngest player to score in a Champions League final that day, as he was only 18. In 1997, Kluivert left Ajax to join AC Milan. He would then move to Barcelona, where he spent most of his career. Kluivert retired in 2008 playing for Lille in France.

Answer: Mario Basler

Mario Basler is a German footballer who spent most of his professional career playing in his home country. Basler played mostly as a midfielder; however, that did not prevent him from scoring goals. In fact, Basler was one of the Bundesliga's top goal-scorers in the 1994-95 season. Basler also played internationally for Germany and scored his only non-friendly goal in a 1998 World Cup qualifier against Ukraine.

Basler scored in the 6th minute for Bayern Munich. Unfortunately for the German squad, Manchester United's Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer both scored in stoppage time to give Manchester United a dramatic 2-1 last-minute win. The victory also meant that the "Red Devils" won "the Treble" (winning the Premier League, the FA Cup, and the Champions League) for the first time in the history of English football.

Answer: A goal was scored

AC Milan decisively earned their spot in the 2005 final by ending as the leaders of Group F. Liverpool had a good group stage performance too, but they classified as runners-up of Group A behind Monaco. Milan beat PSV Eindhoven in the semi-finals; Liverpool beat Chelsea. The match, held in Istanbul's Ataturk Olympic Stadium, started off in a very exciting fashion: veteran Paolo Maldini scored for Milan in the very first minute (this match is often called the "Miracle of Istanbul" due to Liverpool's incredible comeback). This set the tone for the rest of the match by giving the Italian squad an early advantage. Argentine Hernan Crespo capitalized and scored two more goals for Milan in the first half.

Knowing what was at stake, Liverpool came out willing to leave it all on the field for the second half. With goals by Steven Gerrard, Vladimir Smicer, and Xabi Alonso, Liverpool had unbelievably tied 3-3 and stripped Milan of their hefty advantage.

Answer: Andriy Shevchenko

After an amazing 120 minutes of play and Liverpool's incredible comeback, the final had to be decided by the always-dramatic penalty shootout. Milan started off terribly, with Serginho and Andrea Pirlo missing the first two penalties. Differently, Didi Hamann and Djibril Cisse scored Liverpool's first two. A miss by John Arne Riise was a glimmer of hope for Milan. With Liverpool leading 3-2 after four penalties per team, striker Andriy Shevchenko had a big weight on his shoulders.

Shevchenko, who had previously missed a dramatic chance in the last minutes of extra time, missed the decisive penalty. Polish goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek blocked the shot and gave Liverpool fans a new championship to celebrate. Shevchenko is one of Ukraine's best-ever football players, having scored over 100 goals in his time with Milan. Shevchenko also played for Chelsea for some time, as well as for Dynamo Kyiv in different stages of his career.

Answer: Manchester United

The two English clubs offered an amazing show for those present in Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium. Cristiano Ronaldo scored the first goal of the match with a header, putting Manchester United in the lead. At the end of the first half, Chelsea's Frank Lampard tied the game with an emotional goal (his mother had recently passed away). Despite exciting back-and-forth action in the second half, no team managed to score and the match went to extra time. Still scoreless (and with Didier Drogba being sent off late in extra time), the match went to penalties.

Chelsea scored their first four shots, while Cristiano Ronaldo was the only Manchester player to miss. Ryan Giggs scored the winning goal following misses by Chelsea's John Terry and Nicolas Anelka. This was Manchester United's third Champions League.

Answer: Diego Godin

Under Argentine manager Diego Simeone, Atletico de Madrid enjoyed great success in the early 2010s. Atletico won the domestic Spanish league title for the 2013-14 season, as well as a Copa del Rey in 2013 and the 2014 Spanish Super Cup. Both Atletico and Real were in great shape in the Champions League tournament, having classified as group leaders with an impressive 16 points each. The final, played at Lisbon's Estadio da Luz, was set to be a very exciting one.

Diego Godin scored the first goal in the 36th minute. Godin, a defender, scored Atletico's only goal of the match after a corner kick that allowed him to hit the ball with his head. The Uruguayan player is no stranger to scoring through headers, as he has made other important goals the same way (for example, his header against Barcelona ensured Atletico's league title in 2014). Godin also scored his first World Cup goal in 2014 when Uruguay beat Italy 1-0.

Answer: Sergio Ramos

It seemed inevitable that the title would escape from Atletico's hands since Real Madrid had been unable to score for the entire match. Incredibly, Sergio Ramos capitalized on a cross by Luka Modric to equalize the game in the second half's stoppage time. The goal was a devastating blow to Atletico's morale. Once the match went into overtime, Real Madrid became unstoppable: Gareth Bale would score a second goal at 110', then Marcelo at 118', and finally, Cristiano Ronaldo would score a last-minute penalty for a final score of 4-1. The match was quite physical, with a total of 12 yellow cards given. Atletico coach Diego Simeone was sent off close to the end of extra time as well.

Sergio Ramos is a Spanish defender who spent most of his career with Real Madrid. He debuted in Seville before making the move to "Los Galacticos" in 2005. After 16 years with the club, Ramos left Real Madrid in 2021 to join Paris Saint-Germain. Ramos was part of the Spanish national team that won the 2010 World Cup and the 2008 and 2012 Euros.