Barcelona announced their arrival as a modern-day powerhouse in the 2005/06 season when they followed up their La Liga title 12 months earlier by conquering the continent and winning the club’s second-ever European Cup.
Frank Rijkaard’s side faced Arsenal in the final of the Champions League in what was a dramatic clash in Paris as the Gunners fell agonisingly short in their first appearance in the final.
Arsene Wenger’s men took the lead before half-time thanks to a thumping Sol Campbell header, 20 minutes after goalkeeper Jens Lehmann had been sent off for bringing down Samuel Eto’o.
Guily on being denied a Champions League final goal
Barca would go on to score twice in the last 14 minutes through Eto’o and substitute Juliano Belletti to win the trophy, but the red card incident remains at the forefront of Ludovic Giuly’s thoughts, almost 20 years on.
“When Jens Lehmann fouled Eto’o, I put the ball in the net,” Giuly told FourFourTwo. “I was on cloud nine, then I turned around and saw that the referee had blown the whistle for the foul.
“It was unfair because he should’ve applied the advantage rule and not sent off the Arsenal goalkeeper – and then we went 1-0 down in the first half.
“Eto’o was the one who lifted our spirits in the dressing room at half-time. He started saying that he was going to score and that we should all stay calm because he was confident.
“I’d never seen anything like it in my career, but he was spot on. When he made it 1-1, he yelled to me, “Don’t worry, Ludo, we’re going to win.”
“That was the mentality when you put on the Barça shirt: never give up, always think you’re going to win. Losing simply isn’t in the dictionary.
“Juliano Belletti was the ultimate hero of Paris, though – that goal changed his whole life. It was an immense feeling of joy for everyone.”
Barca would go on to add another Champions League trophy to their cabinet in 2009 under new boss Pep Guardiola, with that side going on to be ranked at no.5 in FourFourTwo’s list of the best teams of all-time.
