Having lifted five European Champion Clubs' Cups between them at AC Milan, and seven in total, Giovanni Trapattoni, Arrigo Sacchi and Dejan Savićević received UEFA awards recognising their contribution to the competition before the Rossoneri's last-gasp quarter-final victory against Olympique Lyonnais at the San Siro.

Champions plaques
UEFA is celebrating 50 years of European Cup football this season, culminating in the UEFA Champions League final in Paris on 17 May, and is awarding specially-designed plaques to those players and coaches who have left an indelible mark on the tournament as 'Champions of Europe'. Trapattoni won the competition twice as a Milan player in 1963 and 1969, adding another crown in 1985 as coach of Juventus. He and Udo Lattek are the only coaches to have tasted glory in all three UEFA club competitions.

'The genius'
Sacchi was at the helm of the magnificent Milan side that dominated the European Cup in 1989 and 1990, while Savićević - nicknamed 'Il genio' - won the tournament in 1994 under the guidance of Sacchi's successor Fabio Capello. It was the second time the Serbo-Montenegrin had claimed the famous trophy, having been part of the FK Crvena Zvezda team that beat Olympique de Marseille in the 1991 final.

Maldini dream alive
The Maldini name links all three men. Cesare Maldini captained Milan to their 1963 final triumph at Wembley, while son Paolo blossomed under Sacchi and was a team-mate of Savićević in Athens 12 years ago. Now 37, Maldini Jr is targeting his fifth European Cup success having missed out in last season's loss to Liverpool FC, when he opened the scoring in Istanbul. He started Tuesday's second leg against Lyon on the bench, but had come on by the time Filippo Inzaghi and Andriy Shevchenko scored to keep the veteran's dream alive.