Champions League spiced by surprises

FC Rubin Kazan pulled off the result of the UEFA Champions League so far with their 2-1 victory over holders FC Barcelona at Camp Nou last Tuesday. With FC Unirea Urziceni winning 4-1 at Rangers FC on the same night and FC Zürich beating AC Milan 1-0 away on Matchday 2, this season's competition has certainly had the shock treatment. Rubin, Zürich and Unirea joined a proud band of clubs to have defied the odds in the UEFA Champions League. Here uefa.com pays tribute to the tournament's giant slayers.

AS Roma 1-2 CFR 1907 Cluj, 2008/09 group stage
Juan Culio wrote a little piece of UEFA Champions League history as his two goals gave the Romanian champions victory at Roma on their competition debut. A run to the UEFA Intertoto Cup final had been the Transylvanian side's greatest achievement in Europe prior to their trip to the Stadio Olimpico, and Roma were expected to win comfortably in their Group A opener. Led by Italian coach Maurizio Trombetta, Cluj had other ideas, Culio scoring twice after Christian Panucci had put the Giallorossi ahead. "It was a night you can only dream of," Culio said. To prove it was no fluke, Cluj drew at home to Chelsea FC a fortnight later.

Anorthosis Famagusta FC 3-1 Panathinaikos FC, 2008/09 group stage
The Cypriot titleholders celebrated national independence day on 1 October 2008 by beating the former European Champion Clubs' Cup finalists in Nicosia to record their country's first UEFA Champions League victory. Having already stunned Greek champions Olympiacos FC in qualifying, Anorthosis made it an Athens double with this win. They also came within ten minutes of beating FC Internazionale Milano on Matchday 4, eventually having to settle for a 3-3 draw. "It is a historic day for the country and we marked it with a historic day for our club," coach Temuri Ketsbaia said after the Panathinaikos scalp. "The whole of Europe will talk about Cyprus and Anorthosis."

FC Porto 2-3 FC Artmedia Petržalka, 2005/06 group stageIn seeing off former European champions Celtic FC, Artmedia had already achieved the biggest shock in qualifying since Helsingborgs IF defeated FC Internazionale Milano in 2000/01. The Slovakian titleholders were not finished though. After falling 2-0 behind at the Estádio do Dragão they stormed back in the second half with goals from Peter Petráš, Ján Kozák and Balázs Borbély to record a famous victory that would ultimately deny the 2004 winners a place in the knockout stage. "There is pride in Bratislava and all over Slovakia after this win over great opponents," Artmedia coach Vladimír Weiss.

AC Milan 1-2 Rosenborg BK, 1996/97 group stage
Rosenborg are the competition's giant killers par excellence. Their greatest conquest came in their final group game of the 1996/97 edition when Vegard Heggem's 70th-minute strike eliminated the Rossoneri and sent the Norwegian champions through at their expense. Having enjoyed that taste of the high life, the Trondheim outfit promptly beat eventual champions Real Madrid CF in the 1997/98 group stage, BV Borussia 3-0 away in 1999/2000, and drew with Chelsea FC in 2007/08 to hasten manager José Mourinho's dismissal.

Manchester United FC 0-1 Fenerbahçe SK, 1996/97 group stage
Turkish sides were not the force in Europe they are today, so little was expected of Fenerbahçe against a United team that had not lost a European home game up to that point – a record run of 56 matches. Elvir Bolić's 79th-minute effort turned the tables at Old Trafford, however, and wrote the Yellow Canaries into history. Hot on the heels of some impressive performances by Galatasaray AŞ, including knocking United out on away goals in the second round in 1993/94, Turkey's clubs were never to be taken lightly again.

IFK Göteborg 2-1 FC Barcelona, 1994/95 group stage
IFK went into the UEFA Champions League brimming with confidence following Sweden's third-place finish at the FIFA World Cup the previous summer, and it showed as they emerged surprise winners of a tough section including Barcelona, Manchester United and Galatasaray. Göteborg overcame both United and Barça en route to the quarter-finals, recovering from a Hristo Stoitchkov strike to down the European champions. Winger Jesper Blomqvist hit the winner against the Catalans and so impressed Sir Alex Ferguson that the manager bought him in 1998. United won the UEFA Champions League the season after.

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