Barcelona's nights to remember ... and forget

Wembley is the stage for FC Barcelona's seventh European Champion Clubs' Cup final – and their third in six years. UEFA.com charts the three-time winners' fortunes in the showpiece game.

1960/61 SL Benfica 3-2 FC Barcelona
Barcelona had become the first team to knock Real Madrid CF out of the European Cup when beating their arch-rivals in the first round, but they fell at the final hurdle at Berne's Wankdorf Stadium. While Sándor Kocsis gave Enrique Orizaola's Azulgrana a 20th-minute lead, they conceded twice in quick succession after the half-hour – one an Antonio Ramallets own goal – and by the 55th minute it was 3-1. Although another of Barcelona's Hungarian contingent, Zoltán Czibor, narrowed the deficit, the victory was Benfica's.

1985/86 FC Steaua Bucureşti 0-0 FC Barcelona (2-0 pens)
Terry Venables' Barcelona could have been forgiven for thinking their name was on the trophy: they overturned a 3-0 first-leg deficit against semi-final opponents IFK Göteborg with the help of a famous Ángel 'Pichi' Alonso hat-trick to reach the final on 'home' soil in Seville. However, their hopes deflated in anti-climactic fashion as they not only failed to break down Steaua over 120 minutes; they then missed four straight spot kicks in the concluding shoot-out.

1991/92 FC Barcelona 1-0 UC Sampdoria
"Go out and enjoy yourselves," were Johan Cruyff's final words to his orange-shirted players before they stepped out beneath the old Wembley Twin Towers and made it third time lucky for the Spanish club. After Andoni Zubizarreta had foiled Attilio Lombardo with a brilliant save, a tight game exploded into life in extra time as a Barcelona side featuring a 21-year-old Josep Guardiola pushed for a winner. Hristo Stoichkov struck a post before Ronald Koeman's spectacular free-kick flew past Gianluca Pagliuca with eight minutes remaining.

1993/94 AC Milan 4-0 FC Barcelona
A second final in three years for Cruyff's dream team swiftly turned into a nightmare as they were blown away by Fabio Capello's Milan in Athens. Daniele Massaro registered twice for the Rossoneri before the interval and any prospect of a fightback vanished two minutes after the restart when Dejan Savićević made it 3-0. Marcel Desailly salted the wound with a fourth goal before the hour.

2005/06 FC Barcelona 2-1 Arsenal FC
If Frank Rijkaard's men gained a numerical advantage with the 18th-minute sending-off of Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann, that seemed to count for nothing when Sol Campbell headed the Londoners in front before half-time. Future Barcelona forward Thierry Henry missed a chance to double Arsenal's lead before the introduction of Henrik Larsson turned the match, the Swede helping set up Samuel Eto'o's 76th-minute equaliser and Juliano Belletti's winning strike four minutes later.

2008/09 FC Barcelona 2-0 Manchester United FC
Guardiola crowned a superb first term in charge at Camp Nou by becoming only the sixth man to lift the European Cup as player and coach. For Barcelona it was sweet revenge for their semi-final loss to United 12 months earlier as they dethroned the holders comfortably in Rome. Eto'o fired them in front after ten minutes and they underlined their supremacy with a collector's item from Lionel Messi – a towering header from the little Argentinian with 20 minutes remaining.