Aesthetics of a Champions League final

There is not a faster way, in European football, to make history than winning the Champions League. The maximum continental football competition has seen the best talents in the world, the most incredible teams on the planet play against each other. It has known real domains, but also unpredictable surprises. The Champions League is the stage for excellence. And for such a showcase, there is also a need to dress up. Many times the teams have worn uniforms especially made for the European Cup, often in the most sweet memories of the fans there are the shirts worn during those unforgettable European nights.

On the occasion of the final between Real and Atletico Madrid this Saturday in Milan, we lined up the 5 most beautiful uniforms worn during the finals of the Champions League.

Lights and shadows

In the story, although perhaps on the wrong side. The Olympique Marseille of Deschamps, Desailly, Abedi Pele in 1993 beats, surprisingly, AC Milan in the CL final and becomes the first winner of the Champions League. Yes, because the '93 was the first year in which the couple name changed. What's more, with that success the OM also becomes the first (and only) French club to win a European trophy. It is therefore not difficult to understand why that uniform has become a favorite among fans. Stylistically impeccable, the mesh follows the adidas mood with three strips positioned on the shoulder. The idyllic combination of colors makes the jersey a real gem. If it were not for the absurd scrub that dirty white of that victory: some OM players were accused of having combined the last match of the French Championship (later won), and are automatically relegated to the second league and prevented to attend the continental competition next year. The Champions, was not removed, ensuring that the myth could withstand.

Blue dinasty 

There was a time (in the early years of this decade) where AC Milan, during the Champions League finals, preferred to wear the second shirt, the white one, because it was considered good luck. Sometimes it went well (Manchester, Athens), sometimes not (Istanbul). The same ritual, with the same ups and downs, had been introduced by Juventus about 10 years earlier. In the age of three consecutive Champions League finals, Lippi's Juventus used to wear the blue shirt with what would later become the iconic yellow stars on the shoulder. Several elements of that uniform made history: the Azzurri blue first, followed by the sponsor of the Sony - soon became the symbol of 90s Juve - and the novelty of place the crest within the collar. Another peculiarity was represented by the box into which was added the name of the players, only reference to the team colors of the uniform.

Black & Yellow first time 

The origins of the myth: the uniform of the incredible victory of Borussia Dortmund in the '97 CL final marks in a way the birth of the Dortmund style. The bright yellow and blackout black, recently re-presented in a uniform made by Puma, are the hallmark of a shirt so exquisitely Nike, and so damn 90s. The strange architecture of that uniform - that seems more like a hockey jersey, large as it was and as was the custom in those years - does not undermine its beauty. The minimal sponsor does the rest. It was then a duty of the team, led by Sammer and Lambert, to break the dream of Juventus twice and enter, overwhelmingly, in history.

Anglo-German thriller  

Memories are one of the most important factors in our development of taste and preferences. It is not difficult then to understand why the fans of Bayern Monaco deem the gray uniform of of '99 final as the worst in their history. Leading 1-0 until the ninetieth, Bayern saw literally snatch the trophy from their hands by the Manchester United  of Teddy Sheringham and Solskjaer, in the most amazing final ever. To be honest, the shirt of Bayern was not bad, as usual, made by adidas and the legendary sponsor of Opel, the triangulation bordeaux gray and dark blue rendered justice to the second link of that season. If you add the minimal jersey that Umbro had prepared for Man Utd, worn only during the cups, you probably get the final with the most beautiful kits in the history of Champions League.

Camiseta blanca

There is probably only one team capable of synthesizing in a single jersey hundred years of tradition, style, successful, champions. That uniform must then be iconic, simple, capable of resisting the innovations, in two words: Real Madrid. In 2002, Florentino Perez completed his masterpiece managing to win the Champions- with that wonderful goal by Zidane - the very year of the centenary. It does so with a team that is the apotheosis of madridismo, of that philosophy of Zidane y Pavones whose own Perez had become the bearer. Even the shirt so it must be at the same level. It is then designed a completely white (Blancos is one of several Real nicknames), which in the version worn in Liga does not even have the three Adidas stripes, which instead appear, in blue, on Champions uniform. It will probably remain the most elegant, if not the most beautiful, uniform ever worn in a Champions League final, in the middle between reality and monarchical traditions.