15 players who surprisingly played in Champions League finals

The Champions League final: the very pinnacle of European football, where the stars can be seen shining at their brightest.

But then...football is a squad game, and not every player is going to be Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.

As such there have been more than a few players who have stepped out in a Champions League final whose inclusion now looks odd in retrospect - or even, in a few cases, seemed a little strange even at the time.

1. Djimi Traore, Liverpool (2005)

Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso, Jamie Carragher, Luis Garcia...Djimi Traore.

In truth, Rafa Benitez's incredible comeback kings were quite some way off being a great side. The Spaniard had only taken charge the previous summer, after all, and their transfer business could only extend so far.

That meant Liverpool were left with something of a transitional squad of players left over from the Gerard Houllier era and players signed as stopgaps. The Liverpool bench that night included Josemi, Igor Biscan and Antonio Nunez, while a front two of Harry Kewell and Milan Baros did not exactly rips things up at Anfield.

But it was their starting left-back whose name really stands out. The gaffe-prone defender got the nod primarily because Benitez got his tactics wrong from the start; John-Arne Riise was deployed on the left wing instead. Liverpool were famously much improved after a half-time switch to a back three with Dietmar Hamann coming on at half time - though an injury to Steve Finnan meant it was he who was sacrificed, rather than Traore.

2. Carlos Alberto, Porto (2004)

Jose Mourinho announced himself to the world in 2003/04, when his Porto team pulled off the biggest shock in Champions League history by winning the trophy. Their most memorable victory before the final came against Manchester United in the last 16, with Benni McCarthy’s brace in the first leg vital to Porto’s progression.

McCarthy had to be content with a place on the bench in the Gelsenkirchen showpiece against Monaco, though, with Carlos Alberto – scorer of the opening goal in a 3-0 victory – given the nod alongside Derlei up front.

The Brazilian, who went on to represent Corinthians, Vasco da Gama and Figueirense in his homeland, played just 34 times for Porto overall.

3. Nordin Wooter, Ajax (1996)

Watford fans couldn’t help but get excited when the Hornets broke their transfer record to snap up a winger with Champions League pedigree in 1999.

Wooter, signed for £950,000, spent three seasons at Vicarage Road without ever really hitting the heights expected of him, scoring just three goals in 63 league games before departing for RBC in the Netherlands.

Wooter’s playing career later took him to Portugal, Greece, Turkey and Cyprus, but it was at Ajax where the uncapped Dutchman made his breakthrough in the mid-90s. The then-teenager appeared as an extra-time substitute in the 1996 Champions League Final, which Ajax lost to Juventus on penalties.

4. Mario Lemina, Juventus (2017)

The Gabon international is probably best known in England as a decent jobbing defensive midfielder for a string of bottom-half-to-mid-table sides: Southampton, Fulham, Wolves.

But a decade ago he was highly-regarded enough to earn a move to Juventus, despite having punched a lad in the knackers while playing for Marseille just a few months prior.

Lemina never really made a proper breakthrough in Turin, appearing just 44 times in all competitions across two seasons. Yet he ended up appearing against Real Madrid in the 2017 final, coming on for Paulo Dybala in the 78th minute as Max Allegri's side looked to equalise from 2-1 down.

The game finished 4-1.

5. Fabio da Silva, Manchester United (2011)

Rafael, not Fabio, was the twin who made the bigger impact at Old Trafford, playing 169 games (113 more than his brother) in all competitions during his seven seasons on Manchester United's books. He missed the 2011 Champions League Final through injury, however, so it was Fabio who got the nod at right-back against Barcelona.

The Brazilian was largely a squad player throughout his time with the Red Devils, and he struggled to shackle Lionel Messi, Pedro and David Villa at Wembley – although he was far from alone in that regard as United were outclassed by Pep Guardiola’s brilliant bunch.

6. Ryan Bertrand, Chelsea (2012)

The 2011/12 season was a really weird one for Chelsea. A poor Premier League showing led them to replace Andre Villas-Boas with caretaker boss Roberto Di Matteo in March. Things didn't turn around in the league, but the Italian led Chelsea to an FA Cup triumph and a memorable victory over Barcelona (the John Terry red card/Fernando Torres late goal one) to get to the Champions League final.

All the talk when the teamsheets came out on the night was about Di Matteo's surprise selection of academy graduate Ryan Bertrand on the left wing. A left-back by trade, the 22 year old had just 15 senior games under his belt for the club. But in fairness, it turned out to be a masterstroke.

Bertrand combined well with Ashley Cole specifically to keep Arjen Robben and Thomas Muller out of the game. Bayern only scored after Bertrand went off in the 73rd minute to be replaced by the more conventional Florent Malouda, with Muller heading home after getting free from Cole while Malouda wandered around aimlessly inside the box. Chelsea equalised five minutes later and won it on penalties.

7. and 8. Gael Givet and Sebastien Squillaci, Monaco (2004)

Premier League fans will know Givet and Squillaci from their mixed success at Blackburn and Arsenal respectively, but before that the duo formed a dogged centre-back partnership at Monaco.

Squillaci was a substitute for the 2004 final against Porto – Jose Mourinho’s men triumphed 3-0 – but he was afforded 18 minutes in the second half. Givet, meanwhile, started alongside Julien Rodriguez at the heart of defence, but was powerless to resist as Porto proved too strong at the Arena AufSchalke.

9. Michele Padovano, Juventus (1996)

In 1997, Crystal Palace surprisingly signed two members of the Juventus squad that had won the previous year's Champions League.

Attilio Lombardo was a resounding success at Selhurst Park and is still considered the most talented player to have represented the club by many Eagles fans, but Padovano - scorer of one goal in 12 league appearances for the south Londoners - didn't fare quite as well.

The striker replaced Fabrizio Ravanelli in the 77th minute of the 1996 final against Ajax, which was eventually settled by a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw. He went on to play for Metz and Como after leaving Palace, and was sentenced to eight years imprisonment for drug trafficking in 2006.

10. Jose Sosa, Atletico Madrid (2014)

There's a few Atletico players we could have picked - Augusto Fernandez, anyone? - but we can't imagine there are many players who have appeared in a Champions League final while on loan from the Ukrainian Premier League.

Jose Sosa was. Picked up from Estudiantes as a promising youngster by Bayern Munich, he had struggled to make the grade in the Bundesliga and didn't fare much better after being sold to Napoli for a paltry €2m - money the Italian side didn't quite make back when they sold him to Metalist Kharkov just a year later.

But Diego Simeone wanted a midfielder in the January transfer window, and turned to his countryman on loan. Only six of his 24 outings for the club came as a starter - but one of those appearances from the bench came in the Champions League final. After his time in Marid ended, he continued his journeyman ways, playing most of his football in Turkey save for another underwhelming Serie A season with Milan.

11. Sebastien Haller, Borussia Dortmund (2024)

Another player with an itinerant career path, Haller has never spent more than three years playing senior football for any one side, and is best known in England for an 18-month spell at West Ham that featured a couple of spectacular goals but not a lot of much of anything else.

The Hammers shipped out Haller to Ajax for less than half the £45m they had shelled out to sign him from Eintracht Frankfurt, and to be entirely fair, he did well in both of those spells either side of his time in London, finishing as the Bundesliga's top scorer in 2021/22.

So Haller's Champions League final is probably only really surprising to English fans, given it came after his unremarkable spell at West Ham: he came off the bench in Dortmund's 2-0 defeat to Real Madrid in 2024.

12. Roque Junior, Milan (2003)

Roque Junior boasted World Cup and Champions League winners' medals among his possession by the time he was loaned to Leeds in 2003, but the central defender didn’t live up to his billing at Elland Road and his career rather petered out thereafter.

The Brazilian was part of Milan’s Europe-conquering squad of 2002/03, appearing as a 66th-minute substitute in the final against fellow Italian outfit Juventus. The two sides couldn’t be separated after two hours of goalless action, but it was Milan who kept their cool to triumph on penalties at Old Trafford.

13. Jermaine Pennant, Liverpool (2007)

The Liverpool XI that lost the 2007 Champions League Final to Milan was stronger than the one which beat the same opponents two years before, with Javier Mascherano and Pepe Reina both upgrades on what went before.

Pennant was another newcomer by the time of the Athens decider, which was settled by Pippo Inzaghi’s two goals either side of half-time – and he's the only Englishman to ever play in the UCL final yet never play for England.

Pennant featured 52 times for the Reds in 2006/07, but his game time decreased the following season and he was loaned to Portsmouth in 2008/09. The winger went on to play for Real Zaragoza, Stoke, Wolves, Pune City, Wigan, Tampine Rovers, Bury and Billericay Town.

14. Stefano Nava, Milan (1994)

Nava made just 21 Serie A appearances for Milan across five years in the early-to-mid-90s, but the centre-back can at least point to the excuse that he was competing for places with some of the greatest defenders Europe has ever seen. It was, frankly, no surprise that the likes of Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Costacurta and Franco Baresi were ahead of him in the pecking order.

Nava did get on the field during the 1994 Champions League Final, though, entering the fray as an 83rd-minute replacement for Maldini. Fabio Capello’s men were 4-0 up by that point, with pre-game favourites Barcelona humbled by a Milan side that scored only 36 goals in winning the league that season.

15. Roberto Pereyra, Juventus (2015)

Pereyra was only a squad player as Juventus made it all the way to Berlin, but it’s easily forgotten that he actually appeared in all but one of their Champions League games en route – the first of their campaign against Malmo.

The Argentine was actually on loan at Juve from Udinese in 2014/15 before signing permanently with the Old Lady that summer after his 11-minute cameo in the final against Real Madrid. He only lasted another year, though, before joining Watford for around €15 million.