The Champions League is without question the biggest club competition on the planet.
Every single year, the very best players in world football do battle with one another and European nights seem to always provide a ridiculous amount of entertainment.
It's the competition that all footballers are desperate to win and there are some, like Cristiano Ronaldo, who've held the coveted trophy aloft as many as five times.
That's a seriously impressive achievement and it's one that's even more remarkable when you look at how many all-time greats have not triumphed in the Champions League.
In fact, you can create an entire XI of world-class footballers, past and present, who've never tasted European success.
Don't believe us? Well, here's the evidence...
GK - Gianluigi Buffon
Buffon is one of the greatest goalkeepers in history, winning a ridiculous number of trophies at Juventus and a World Cup with Italy. But in the Champions League, he was never able to go all the way. Buffon tasted defeat in the 2003, 2015 and 2017 finals, which is just heartbreaking for him.
RB - Lilian Thuram
The most capped player in France's history and a World Cup winner, yet Thuram never got his hands on the Champions League trophy. Like Buffon, the versatile defender was part of the Juventus side that lost in the 2003 final on penalties to AC Milan.
CB - Fabio Cannavaro
Cannavaro might be the last defender to win the Ballon d'Or - a feat he achieved in 2006 - but Champions League success always eluded him. The small, yet powerful, centre-back never even had the privilege of playing in a final, despite donning the jerseys of Inter Milan, Juventus and Real Madrid.
CB - Laurent Blanc
Blanc was a world-class centre-back in his heyday and even finished fourth in the voting for France's best player of the 20th century. But the World Cup and European Championship winner couldn't reach the summit of club football in his career, with an appearance in the 2002/03 semi-finals with Manchester United the closest he ever came.
LB - Gianluca Zambrotta
Similar to fellow full-back Thuram, Zambrotta had to make do with a runner-up medal in the 2003 final with Juventus and then joined Barcelona in the summer of 2006, which was just after the Catalan side had beaten Arsenal to get their hands on the Champions League. Tough luck, Gianluca.
CM - Lothar Matthaus
Another Ballon d'Or winner who never secured club football's most prestigious honour. Matthaus couldn't have come any closer, though. He was part of the Bayern Munich side who thought they were about to win the 1999 final, only for Manchester United's Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to spoil their party. Ouch.
CM - Michael Ballack
Ballack might just be the unluckiest footballer in history. Sure, he won plenty of honours at Bayern Munich, but he also famously finished as a runner-up in the 2001/02 editions of the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and Champions League while at Bayer Leverkusen. Ballack also experienced heartbreak in the 2008 final when he was with Chelsea.
AM - Pavel Nedved
The third Ballon d'Or winner to miss out on Champions League glory. Had Nedved not got himself suspended for the 2003 final, Juventus may very well have won and the spine of our XI would be VERY different. Sadly, the Czech superstar picked up a yellow card in the semi-final against Real Madrid and had to watch Milan's victory at Old Trafford from the sidelines.
AM - Francesco Totti
Due to the fact that he represented boyhood club Roma for his entire career, the legendary figure that is Totti never got close to winning the Champions League. In fact, the competition's oldest ever goalscorer never even reached the semi-finals. Ironically, Roma reached the final four less than a year after he retired...
ST - Zlatan Ibrahimovic
He might have 554 senior goals to his name, but ol' Big Ears hasn't ever been in Zlatan's possession. Had he not left Barcelona after just one miserable season, the Swedish striker would have got his hands on the trophy in 2011, but he and Pep Guardiola didn't exactly get on.
ST - Ronaldo Nazario
The fourth and final Ballon d'Or winner in the XI. Despite being possibly the greatest number nine ever, a World Cup winner and the main man at the likes of Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Barcelona, El Fenomeno somehow didn't win the Champions League. It's an absolute travesty, isn't it?
