Arrigo Sacchi's Milan had done it. European champions for the second year in a row, 1-0 winners over Benfica in Vienna thanks to Frank Rijkaard's solitary goal.
That was 1990. It was the 12th time in the 35-year history of the European Cup that the competition had been won by the holders. Real Madrid once won it five years in a row, Ajax and Bayern Munich three times in succession.
But in the 26 years since Milan's second triumph, not one club has managed to retain the trophy. Four (Milan 1995, Ajax 1996, Juventus 1997 and Manchester United 2009) were just one victory short, beaten in the final.
Seven have fallen in the semi-finals, while the Barcelona of 2016 were the seventh to succumb in the quarter-finals. On 11 occasions since 1990, the team who knocked out the holders have gone on to lift the trophy.
For the reigning champions, everything that could go wrong usually does. And plenty have found ways to shoot themselves in the foot too...
1. Floodlight failure? Right, we're off...
Milan fancied their chances of winning the European Cup for a third successive year in 1991, until they ran into Marseille in the quarter-finals.
The French side drew 1-1 at San Siro and Milan's brutal tactics in the second leg weren't enough to stop Chris Waddle. The wideman was concussed by one particularly feisty challenge but recovered to put Marseille 2-1 up on aggregate.
That's how it stayed until stoppage time, when some of the floodlights failed at the Stade Velodrome. The referee insisted it was still light enough to complete the match but Milan were having none of it and scarpered, hoping to force a replay.
The Rossoneri refused to return to the field and the match was abandoned, but Milan were thwarted in their hopes of being granted a replay. Marseille were awarded a 3-0 victory and Milan were banned from Europe for the 1991/92 season. Just finish the game next time, lads.
2. "I just whacked him across the backside with the golf club"
What better way to build up to a match against the European champions than with an alcohol-fuelled row ending with one member of the team being attacked with a golf club?
I wasn't going to let it go, especially after a drink. 'That ginger f***** p****, he ain't speaking to me like that,' I said. Our golf clubs were in the lounge and I'd got one out as I was stewing over what Ginge had done
Well, it certainly worked for Liverpool, as Barcelona were dispatched from Europe months after beating Arsenal in the 2006 final.
Things got out of hand when the Reds went on a brief training break to Portugal ahead of the last-16 tie with Barça, and perhaps it wasn't exactly surprising that Craig Bellamy was involved. All was going well on a night out, until the mood turned when Bellamy repeatedly insisted that John Arne Riise should sing a song in front of the squad as punishment for missing the Christmas party.
"He got s****y about it, got up and started shouting," Bellamy later recalled in his autobiography. "I wasn't going to let it go, especially after a drink. 'That ginger f***** p****, he ain't speaking to me like that,' I said. Our golf clubs were in the lounge and I'd got one out as I was stewing over what Ginge had done.
"I knew Ginge was sharing with Daniel Agger so I texted him to ask room what he was in. I let myself into the room, Ginge was in bed. I just whacked him across the backside with the club. You couldn’t really call it a swing. It was just a thwack really."
Well that's OK, then. Fast-forward a few days, and Liverpool won 2-1 at Camp Nou. The goalscorers? Bellamy and Riise, the former celebrating his strike by swinging an imaginary golf club. Barcelona won the second leg 1-0, but Liverpool progressed on away goals.
3. Redondo turns United inside out
Football, bloody hell. Manchester United won the Champions League for the first time under Sir Alex Ferguson in 1999 but their attempts to defend the trophy were undone by Real Madrid and one of the most famous pieces of skill in the history of the competition.
United drew 0-0 at the Bernabeu in the first leg of the quarter-finals but a Roy Keane own goal and a strike from Raul put Madrid 2-0 up at Old Trafford before their memorable third. Argentine midfielder Fernando Redondo left Henning Berg spinning in bewilderment with a brilliant backheeled turn on the touchline, before squaring for Raul to net again and seal the tie.
United fans were forced to relive the moment time and again after Redondo's magic was later included in the Champions League's official TV title sequence. Berg probably made sure he tuned in a couple of minutes late.
4. Red Star disintegrate in war-torn Yugoslavia
We could have gone on winning for years
"We could have gone on winning for years," was defender Miodrag Belodedici's assessment of Red Star Belgrade's prospects, had war not broken out in Yugoslavia.
Red Star won the European Cup for the first time in 1991, but conflict was already starting to take hold in the country and star players soon began to hanker after a future in Western Europe.
The brilliant Robert Prosinecki joined Real Madrid shortly after that European Cup triumph. Red Star still had enough quality to reach the group stage, the winners of which went straight to the final. But without Prosinecki they lost home and away to Sampdoria, finishing second in their group, and their hopes were over.
UN sanctions meant that Yugoslavian teams were soon banned from UEFA competition, also famously allowing Denmark to replace the national team at Euro 92 – and win the whole thing.
Dejan Savicevic, Darko Pancev, Vladimir Jugovic and Sinisa Mihajlovic departed Red Star for Italy in the summer of 1992, while Belodedici joined Valencia. Red Star have never reached the Champions League group stage since.
5. Jose makes a run for it at Camp Nou
Mourinho has often been a thorn in the side of Barca and this was perhaps his ultimate revenge on those at Camp Nou who continued to refer to him merely as 'the translator'
Few gave Inter a chance of overcoming holders Barcelona in the semi-finals in 2010, but that rather overlooked the Mourinho factor. The Portuguese boss has often been a thorn in the side of his former club and this was perhaps his ultimate revenge on those at Camp Nou who continued to refer to him merely as 'the translator'.
Barça had beaten Manchester United at Wembley a season earlier but they lost 3-1 to Inter at the San Siro, before the tumultuous second leg. Inter had to survive with 10 men for over an hour after Thiago Motta was dismissed, which at least ensured that he didn't have time to get injured.
Gerard Pique moved Barcelona within one goal of the final when he struck late on, but Pep Guardiola's side couldn’t find a second against an Inter defence heroically marshalled by Lucio and Walter Samuel.
Mourinho celebrated the final whistle by charging across the pitch with his finger in the air, ignoring Victor Valdes's attempts to usher him away from the Barcelona fans. Just leave it, Jose...
Inter would beat Bayern Munich in the final weeks later and Mourinho had his second Champions League trophy.
6. Deportivo's impossible comeback
Milan were European champions once more in 2003 after a penalty shootout victory over Juventus at Old Trafford, and their march to the semi-finals looked inevitable a year later when they thrashed Deportivo La Coruna 4-1 at home in the quarter-final first leg.
But then came one of the most remarkable comebacks in Champions League history. Milan's advantage didn't even last until half-time at the Riazor as Walter Pandiani, Juan Carlos Valeron and future Newcastle hero (or maybe not) Albert Luque put Deportivo 3-0 ahead. Fran completed the rout in the second half, and a stunned Milan were out.
7. Marseille get in a bit of a fix
Marseille's defence of the European Cup was never really going to go well – they weren't even in the competition the next season, after being banned by UEFA.
L'OM defeated Milan 1-0 in the 1993 final, but things quickly imploded from there. Soon it emerged that Marseille had bribed Valenciennes players to lose a French league match the week before the final, allowing them to continue their march towards the Ligue 1 title while also conserving energy and avoiding injuries ahead of the Milan clash.
The result? Marseille were banned from the Champions League a fortnight before the first round, and later kicked out of the French top flight too.
A book claimed that PSG wouldn't accept the Ligue 1 title because their owners at the time, television station Canal Plus, were worried about angering subscribers outside Paris
Paris Saint-Germain were due to be handed Marseille's Champions League spot and retrospectively awarded the Ligue 1 title, but they refused to accept either. A book later claimed that PSG took such a stance because their owners at the time, television station Canal Plus, were worried about angering their subscribers outside Paris, given the controversial circumstances involved.
Arsene Wenger's Monaco were next in line to take Marseille's Champions League berth and did so, losing to Milan in the semi-finals.
8. Di Matteo: champion in May, sacked in November
Chelsea, who finished third in their group in 2012/13 after away defeats to Shakhtar Donetsk and Juventus
Only once in Champions League history have the holders been eliminated in the group stage. That team was Chelsea, who finished third in their group in 2012/13 after away defeats to Shakhtar Donetsk and Juventus.
The 3-0 loss in Turin spelled the end for boss Roberto Di Matteo, sacked just months after guiding the club to glory against Bayern Munich. Interim manager Rafa Benitez was in charge by the time the final game of the group came around, but even a 6-1 win over Danish side Nordsjaelland wasn't enough to save their bacon.
Chelsea did go into the Europa League and in fact went on to win it under Benitez – although that didn't impress incoming boss Mourinho, who soon aimed a dig at Rafa by pointing out that winning the Europa League was no achievement, because Chelsea shouldn't have been in the competition in the first place.
Three years on and Mourinho's disastrous final season at Stamford Bridge has meant that even Europa League qualification might be out of reach for Chelsea this time around. Benitez might have remarked upon that, if he wasn't busy getting relegated right now.
9. Pep's Bayern dreams are Decima-ted
Sergio Ramos briefly turned into Cristiano Ronaldo, scoring twice in four minutes to pretty much settle the tie
Bayern Munich were already European champions in 2013 when they welcomed new boss Pep Guardiola, two-time Champions League winner with Barcelona. So they'd just go on and win it again, right?
Wrong. Everything looked good until Bayern were drawn against Real Madrid, and even then a 1-0 first-leg defeat at the Bernabeu didn't look disastrous. But things went badly awry at the Allianz Arena.
Sergio Ramos briefly turned into Cristiano Ronaldo, scoring twice in four minutes to pretty much settle the tie. Then Ronaldo stepped in and insisted that if anyone's going to be Cristiano Ronaldo, it really should be him, and added two more. Real won 5-0 on aggregate, and went on to beat Atletico Madrid in the final to claim La Decima.
10. Inter ship five at home
Edu netted twice for Schalke, who were also on target through Raul and an Andrea Ranocchia own goal
Bayern's 4-0 home loss to Real still wasn't quite as stunning as Inter's meltdown as they attempt to follow up their success under Jose Mourinho.
Leonardo was in charge by the time they faced Schalke in the quarter finals, only to crash 5-2 at home in the first leg. Dejan Stankovic and Diego Milito had actually twice put them in front, either side of a Joel Matip goal. But Edu netted twice for Schalke, who were also on target through Raul and an Andrea Ranocchia own goal. Where are Lucio and Walter Samuel when you need them?
Instead Inter's defence contained Cristian Chivu, who helpfully got himself sent off late on. Cheers, Cristian. Schalke won the second leg too, to progress 7-3 on aggregate.
11. "Fernando Torres. Oooooooooooooooooooh!"
There's no doubt that Chelsea's semi-final victory over holders Barcelona in 2012 was a magnificent achievement.
It could have been remembered for the way the Blues brilliantly held out in the first leg at Stamford Bridge, allowing Didier Drogba to bag the only goal of the game.
It could also have been remembered for the way Chelsea heroically responded to first-half goals from Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta in the second leg, either side of a John Terry red card.
Alternatively, it could have been remembered for Lionel Messi's missed penalty, or the way Fernando Torres shook off months of Stamford Bridge misery to score the goal that put Chelsea into the final.
But no, let's be honest, it's remembered for the frankly weird piece of commentary that accompanied that Torres goal. Ladies and gentleman, Gary Neville:
