Which team did the free-kick specialist assist in winning the Champions League?
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1998–99 Inter Milan season Having come second in the league and winning the UEFA Cup the last year, Inter was thought as favourite for this season. There were also new arrivals such as Roberto Baggio and the young Andrea Pirlo and Nicola Ventola. Despite these introductions, manager Simoni was sacked after a 3–1 win over Real Madrid in the Champions League.
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Andrea Pirlo Andrea Pirlo, (] ; born 19 May 1979) is an Italian professional footballer who plays for American club New York City FC. Pirlo is usually deployed as a deep-lying playmaker in midfield for both his club and national sides, and he is widely regarded as one of the greatest ever exponents of this position, due to his vision, ball control, creativity and passing ability; he is also a free-kick specialist.
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2011–12 UEFA Champions League The 2011–12 UEFA Champions League was the 57th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 20th season in its current Champions League format. As part of a trial that started in the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League, two extra officials – one behind each goal – were used in all matches of the competition from the play-off round.
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1992–93 UEFA Champions League The 1992–93 UEFA Champions League was the 38th European Cup, the premier European club football tournament, and the first season with the UEFA Champions League logo (originally adopted only in the group stage).
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1997–98 Real Madrid C.F. season Real Madrid failed to retain their La Liga title, but made up for the domestic disappointment by winning the UEFA Champions League with a 1–0 win over Juventus in Amsterdam, their first European Cup since 1966. This, however, was not enough to save the job of manager Jupp Heynckes, who paid for Madrid's low league finish, just eight days after the European triumph.
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2017 UEFA Super Cup The 2017 UEFA Super Cup was the 42nd edition of the UEFA Super Cup, an annual football match organised by UEFA and contested by the reigning champions of the two main European club competitions, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League. The match featured Real Madrid, the title holders and winners of the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League, and Manchester United, the winners of the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League. The match was played at the Philip II Arena in Skopje, Macedonia, on 8 August 2017, and was the first UEFA final staged in the country.
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2014–15 FC Barcelona season The 2014–15 season was Futbol Club Barcelona's 115th in existence and the club's 84th consecutive season in the top flight of Spanish football. It was one of the most successful seasons in the club's history as they clinched the Treble by winning La Liga, Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League. By doing so, the Catalans became the first European team to twice win the domestic double as well as the highest continental tournament, after winning their first treble in the 2008–09 season. Barcelona's success was due to a large extent to their formidable forward trio composed of Lionel Messi, Neymar and summer signing Luis Suárez, who scored an unprecedented total of 122 goals in all competitions to become the trio with most goals in Spanish football history.
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Didier Deschamps Didier Claude Deschamps (] ; born 15 October 1968) is a retired French footballer and current manager of the France national team. He played as a defensive midfielder for several clubs, in France, Italy, England and Spain, such as Marseille, Juventus, Chelsea and Valencia, as well as Nantes and Bordeaux. Nicknamed "the water-carrier" by former France team-mate Eric Cantona, Deschamps was an intelligent and hard-working defensive midfielder who excelled at winning back possession and subsequently starting attacking plays, and also stood out for his leadership throughout his career. As a French international, he was capped on 103 occasions and took part at three UEFA European Football Championships and one FIFA World Cup, captaining his nation to victories in the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000.
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1998–99 UEFA Champions League knockout stage The knockout stage of the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League began on 3 March 1999 and ended with the final at the Camp Nou in Barcelona on 26 May 1999. The eight teams from each of the six groups in the group stage competed in the knockout stage. For the quarter-finals, each group winner was randomly drawn against the runner-up from another group. The four quarter-final winners were then drawn together for the semi-finals, the winners of which contested the final.
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Toni Kroos Toni Kroos (] ; born 4 January 1990) is a German professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Spanish club Real Madrid and the Germany national team.
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2006–07 UEFA Champions League knockout stage The knockout stage of the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League started on 20 February 2007 and culminated with the final match at the Olympic Stadium in Athens on 23 May. The draw for the first knockout round took place on 15 December 2006 and involved each of the top two teams from each group in the group stage. The winner of each group was paired up with the runner-up from another group.
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Marco Simone Marco Simone (born 7 January 1969, in Castellanza) is an Italian former professional footballer, who played as a striker or winger. He most prominently played for A.C. Milan, with whom he won four Italian Serie A championships and two UEFA Champions League titles, as well as French clubs Paris Saint-Germain and AS Monaco. Simone played four games for the Italian national team.
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Steven Gerrard Steven George Gerrard {'1': ", '2': ", '3': ", '4': "} (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football coach and former professional footballer who serves as an academy coach at Liverpool. He spent the majority of his playing career as a central midfielder for Liverpool and the England national team, with most of that time spent as club captain. Regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of his generation, Gerrard was awarded the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year award in 2005, and the Ballon d'Or Bronze Award. In 2009, Zinedine Zidane and Pelé said that they considered Gerrard to be the best footballer in the world. A versatile and well-rounded player, highly regarded for his leadership, Gerrard is the only footballer in history to score in an FA Cup Final, a League Cup Final, a UEFA Cup Final and a UEFA Champions League Final, winning on each occasion.
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AFC Ajax in European football AFC Ajax is one of the most successful football clubs in Europe. There are only three clubs in the history of the game to have won the European Cup/Champions League titles (won four times by Ajax) three times consecutively. Only Real Madrid and Bayern Munich have achieved this feat aside from Ajax. Furthermore, Ajax have won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup once, the UEFA Cup once, the UEFA Super Cup three times, the Intercontinental Cup twice and the International Football Cup once. The club has also appeared in three additional finals finishing as runners-up. In the 1979–80 season, Ajax player Søren Lerby was top scorer of the European Cup with 10 goals. Below is a list of all official European matches contested by Ajax.
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Helgi Sigurðsson Helgi Sigurðsson (born 17 September 1974 in Reykjavík, Iceland) is a retired international footballer and manager of Fylkir. During his career he played for clubs in Iceland, Germany, Norway, Greece and Denmark. He has 10 champions league goals to his name.
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Marek Jankulovski Marek Jankulovski (] ; born 9 May 1977) is a retired Czech footballer who played as a defender. His most notable achievements include winning the UEFA Champions League with A.C. Milan and being voted the 2007 Czech Footballer of the Year. He earned 77 caps for the Czech Republic, and represented them at three European Championships, the 2000 Olympics and the 2006 World Cup.
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2004 UEFA Super Cup The 2004 UEFA Super Cup was an association football match between Porto of Portugal and Valencia of Spain on 27 August 2004, held at the Stade Louis II in Monaco. The match was the 29th annual UEFA Super Cup contested between the winners of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup. Porto were appearing in the Super Cup for the third time; they won the competition in 1987 and lost in 2003. Valencia were appearing in the competition for the second time; their previous appearance in 1980 resulted in a victory.
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1995–96 UEFA Champions League knockout stage The knockout stage of the 1995–96 UEFA Champions League began on 6 March 1996 and ended with the final at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on 22 May 1996. The top two teams from each of the four groups in the group stage competed in the knockout stage. For the quarter-finals, each group winner was randomly drawn against the runner-up from another group. The four quarter-final winners were then drawn together for the semi-finals, the winners of which contested the final.
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2008–09 UEFA Champions League The 2008–09 UEFA Champions League was the 54th edition of Europe's premier club football tournament and the 17th edition under the current UEFA Champions League format. The final was played at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on 27 May 2009. It was the eighth time the European Cup final has been held in Italy and the fourth time it has been held at the Stadio Olimpico. The final was contested by the defending champions, Manchester United, and Barcelona, who had last won the tournament in 2006. Barcelona won the match 2–0, with goals from Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi, securing The Treble in the process. In addition, both UEFA Cup finalists, Werder Bremen and Shakhtar Donetsk featured in the Champions League group stage.
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Christian Poulsen Christian Bjørnshøj Poulsen (born 28 February 1980) is a Danish former footballer. After starting his career with Holbæk, he played for a number of European clubs as a defensive midfielder, winning the Danish Superliga championship with F.C. Copenhagen, the German DFB-Ligapokal trophy with FC Schalke 04, and the European UEFA Cup with Spanish team Sevilla FC, later also playing for Italian Serie A club Juventus, as well as Premier League side, Liverpool, French side Evian, and Dutch side Ajax.
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Lisbon Lions The Lisbon Lions is the nickname given to the Celtic team that won the European Cup at the Estádio Nacional near Lisbon, Portugal on 25 May 1967, defeating Inter Milan 2–1. All but one member of the 15 man squad were born within 10 miles of Celtic Park in Glasgow, Scotland (Bobby Lennox was born 30 miles away in Saltcoats). Celtic's style was the antithesis of the cynical, but highly effective, defensive style of Inter. Jimmy Johnstone described the team's style as "like the Dutch speeded-up."
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1998–99 UEFA Champions League group stage The group stage of the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League began on 16 September 1998 and ended on 9 December 1998. Eight teams qualified automatically for the group stage, while 16 more qualified via a preliminary round. The 24 teams were divided into six groups of four, and the teams in each group played against each other on a home-and-away basis, meaning that each team played a total of six group matches. For each win, teams were awarded three points, with one point awarded for each draw.