The teams with the worst track record at the Champions League final

Reaching the Champions League final is a difficult task and few teams can boast of having achieved it. Reaching the final and suffering defeat is a dagger that remains forever stuck in the hearts of players and fans.

When this happens more than once, it starts to generate a bit of hoodoo around the side, and shake the foundations of the club, regardless of how impressive the roster might be. We've compiled a list of teams that have lost a Champions League final on most occasions.

Juventus Turin have lost many more finals than they have won, with a record of 2 wins and 7 losses. The last, in Cardiff (Wales), in 2017, when Real Madrid won 4-1.

You have to go back to 1973 to find Juve's first defeat in a Champions League final. It was against Ajax 1-0. The same result would occur 10 years later, this time against Hamburg.

Borussia Dortmund (3-1) and Real Madrid (1-0) would win the 1997 and 1998 finals, respectively, against 'Le Zebre'. Milan (by penalties) in 2003, Barcelona (3-1) in 2015 and the aforementioned Real Madrid in 2017 complete the list of defeats in Juventus finals.

Bayern Munich have six cups  to their name but that could have well been more, after having lost up to five finals.

In 2012, they lost the final on penalties against Chelsea. Two years earlier, José Mourinho's Inter Milan beat the Munich side 2-0.

Legendary is Manchester United's comeback in the 1999 final, with two consecutive goals to end up beating Bayern Munich 2-1.

Porto (2-1) in 1987 and Aston Villa (1-0) in 1982 are the other teams that have defeated the German giant in the Champions League final.

After winning his first two consecutive Champions League finals, with Béla Guttman on the bench, in 1961 and 1962, the Hungarian coach decided to leave the club, due to financial discrepancies. Before leaving, he cursed: "Without me, you won't win a European title in 100 years."

The curse began to take effect in 1963, when Benfica lost 2-1 to Milan. Two years later, in 1965, they would lose again in the final against Inter Milan 1-0. And in 1968, another 4-1 defeat in extra time, against Manchester United.

It would take 20 years for Benfica to play a Champions League final again. It was in 1988 and the result was the same again: defeat against PSV Eindhoven on penalties. Two years later, again Milan, would snatch the trophy with a solitary goal from Rijkaard.

Since 1990, Benfica has not played a Champions League final again. The good thing is that there are less than 40 years left before the curse of Béla Guttman is broken.

With seven trophies in their cabinets, AC Milan is a noble name in the Champions League. Of course, their first final came soon, in 1958, the third edition of the tournament, where they lost against the legendary Real Madrid of Di Stefano 3-2.

During the first half of the 1990s, Milan dominated football throughout Europe, despite this they lost the 1993 and 1995 finals, against Olympique de Marseille and Ajax Amsterdam, respectively, both 1-0.

But few defeats are as painful as the one suffered in the 2005 final against Liverpool. The Rossoneri went into halftime winning 3-0 but the English came from behind to win the tournament, thanks to a stellar Dudek in the penalty shootout.

And without leaving royalty, we go to the last executioner of Milan in a Champions League final, Liverpool, a team that has also accumulated four defeats in finals, although it has one less trophy in its cabinets, for a total of six.

It seems clear that Real Madrid has become Liverpool's black beast, after taking the 2022 (1-0) and 2018 (3-1) finals from it.

However, the Reds had already lost finals in 1985 and 2007, against Juventus (1-0) and against a Milan side that took just two years to take their revenge in the 2005 final, winning 2-1.

The statistics of Real Madrid in the Champions League finals are scary. They have won 14 of 17 finals, the last eight in a row.

In fact, the white team has not lost a Champions League final since 1981, when they fell to Liverpool, thanks to a late goal by Kennedy.

Benfica (5-3) in 1962 and Helenio Herrera's Inter Milan (3-1) in 1964, are the other two teams that can boast of having won a Champions League final against the true king of the competition.

FC Barcelona has five trophies and, for now, counts its last four finals played by victories.

Obviously, they have also tasted the pain of defeat and the first time they did so was against Benfica in 1961, when they lost 3-2.

In 1986 he would lose to Steaua Bucharest, in a penalty shootout that ended 2-0, after missing 6 of the 8 shots. Barcelona missed all four penalties they took.

More painful would be the 1994 defeat against AC Milan by Fabio Capello, who swept Barcelona by a resounding 4-0.

This one is a little bit of curio, but Atlético de Madrid is the only team in the ranking that has not won a single Champions League and, in turn, but also the only one that has not lost a final – at least in regulation time. All of their finals reached 90 minutes of regulation with a draw at 1. After this point, the result has never gone Atlético's way...

Like Liverpool, Atleti have their European ogre in Real Madrid. The 2014 final ended 1-1 in regulation time but, in extra time, Real Madrid would win three goals (4-1).

The 2016 final also ended 1-1, but this time it went to penalties. 9 of the 10 pitches were scored. Only Juanfran missed his maximum penalty and that cost the 'Rojiblancos' a Champions League.

You have to go back to 1974 to recover Atleti's first Champions League final, in a match that tied with Bayern Munich. The tiebreaker game was played two days later and there the Germans burned Atleti, winning 4-0, with goals from Hoeneß and Müller.