Back in the '90s when I first started watching the Champions League, it was fair to say Juventus were the most successful club in Europe at the time.
Despite winning just one Champions League title in 1996, the fact that they reached three finals in a row and only missed out on the 1999 decider thanks to a remarkable Manchester United team in the semi-final, makes that Bianconeri team quite an imposing side to look back on.
However, the tide did turn towards La Liga and Real Madrid, in particular, shortly after.
Emblematic in that change was the world record transfer of Zinedine Zidane to Real from Juventus in 2001 for a hefty £46M as the Galactico project took shape (before it got lost in excess).
Zidane's final season saw Juve fail to progress from the first group stage in the 2000/01 Champions League and he did not help matters.
As all of you will recall all too well, Zidane's head got him into trouble in the 2006 World Cup final. That was foreshadowed by this loss of control with the same body part against Hamburg as Juve finished bottom of a group featuring the German side, then-Spanish champions Deportivo de la Coruña and Panathanaikos:
That precipitated a 3-1 defeat at home and since that exit, only once has the club reached the last-four of Europe's premier club competition until this season when they face Real Madrid, the club that usurped Juve's place at the pinnacle of continental football.
Tune into Off The Ball tonight from 7pm for a preview of the Champions League semi-final first leg between Juventus and Real Madrid with BTSports and ESPN Italian football expert James Horncastle.
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