Remembering the last Juventus team to win the Champions League final

1 The last Juventus side to win the Champions League – better than the current crop?

Juventus are Italy’s most successful team domestically, but when it comes to the European Cup/Champions League, they are lacking in medals.

The club are closing in on their ninth appearance in the final, but have been successful on just two occasions, while in Serie A they have been crowned champions 32 times.

By comparison, AC Milan have won 18 Italian titles but can boast seven European Cups, while Inter have won the continent’s premier prize three times.

Juve first won the trophy in 1985 when they beat Liverpool, though that victory was tragically overshadowed by the Heysel Stadium disaster, in which 39 fans lost their lives.

The Old Lady had already lost the 1973 and ’83 finals to Ajax and Hamburg respectively, and Juventus fans had to wait until 1996 to see the team win the competition again.

In that Rome final, holders Ajax were beaten on penalties after a 1-1 draw in normal time, following goals from Fabrizio Ravanelli and Jari Litmanen.

“We have waited a long time [to win the European Cup again],” former Juve forward Roberto Bettega said following that success. “We never really considered 1985 as a victory because of Heysel.”

Along the way to that success, Juventus beat Spanish champions Real Madrid, French champions Nantes as well as the champions of Germany (Dortmund), Scotland (Rangers) and Romania (Steaua) in the group stage. Since victory in 1996, though, the Bianconeri have lost finals in 1997, 1998, 2003 and 2015.

Could 2017 be their year?