For three Italian teams, the Champions League final already seems within touching distance. There are just three games to go, but only one of Inter, Milan or Napoli can survive until the final game of the competition.
With all three on the same side of the draw, only one can qualify for the final, but with that, there’s a 75% chance of an Italian team playing for the Champions League title. If Inter make good on their two-goal advantage over Benfica, that chance will become a guarantee.
However, with favourites Manchester City and Real Madrid as well as recent winners Bayern Munich and Chelsea still in the mix, some believe that the Italian sides would be classed as the underdogs in the final.
With that in mind, here’s a look at the previous ‘underdogs’ who went all the way to winning the most prestigious trophy in European football.
Porto 3-0 Monaco, 2004
Jose Mourinho’s introduction to the wider footballing audience came about after he led Porto all the way to the Champions League final in 2004.
On their route to Gelsenkirchen, Mourinho’s robust Portuguese outfit conceded just twice in their final five games in the competition and eliminated PSV, Real Madrid and Claudio Ranieri’s Chelsea in the process.
In the final, Porto were met by Didier Deschamps’ Monaco who could not break down Mourinho’s resilient defensive side and were pegged back three times courtesy of Carlos Alberto, Deco and Dmitri Alenichev.
Mourinho moved to Chelsea, recently acquired by Roman Abramovic, shortly afterwards and began his journey in the Premier League. The rest, as they say, is history.
Borussia Dortmund 3-1 Juventus, 1997
Dortmund were handed a quarter-final tie that was considered to be comparatively easy against Auxerre in 1997, although the Borussen later shocked the rest of Europe by defeating Manchester United at Old Trafford in the semi-final.
The Germans stayed relatively close to home for the final, which was played at the since-disused Olympiastadion in Munich against Marcelo Lippi’s Juventus.
Former Lazio striker Karl-Heinz Riedle netted a first-half brace in the final before a 23-year-old Alessandro Del Piero pulled one back for the Bianconeri.
Lars Ricken, a one-club man with Dortmund restored the two goal lead six minutes later and ensured the Germans had a comfortable margin to see the rest of the game out.
Chelsea 1-1 Bayern Munich (4-3 on penalties), 2012
All the odds were stacked against Chelsea when they met Bayern Munich in the 2012 edition of the Champions League final.
Roberto Di Matteo was in charge, only on an interim basis having picked up the job from Andre Villas-Boas in March of that year, whilst Bayern had already won the title before the game had even kicked off in the eyes of some.
The game was played at the Allianz Arena in Munich and Bayern even won the coin toss that decided who would get to use the home-team dressing room on the night.
A heroes performance from Didier Drogba and an unforgettable bullet header to draw Chelsea back level after falling behind in the second half sent the Blues on their way to their first ever Champions League title.