Gareth Bale won more Champions Leagues (5) than Manchester United (3) and Manchester City (1) have managed between them.

The former Wales captain did spend nine years at Real Madrid, the most successful side in the competition's history.

Bale started four finals, scoring two goals after coming on as a substitute in the 2018 showpiece against Liverpool.

His first in that final, an outrageous overhead kick, left former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard to declare: "You won't see a better goal. It is one in a million, I would not even try it."

Steve McManaman did something David Beckham could not - win the Champions League with Real Madrid. Not once, but twice.

The winger became the best-paid British footballer of all time in 1999 when he moved from Liverpool to Spain on a free transfer. His five-year contract was reportedly worth between £53,000-£60,000 a week.

McManaman's finest hour came when he scored the second goal in Real Madrid's 3-0 win over Valencia in the 2000 Champions League final and become the first Englishman to win the competition for an overseas team.

Two years later, he came on as a substitute to help his team win it again with a 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen at Hampden Park.

Owen Hargreaves was 20 when he got his hands on the famous trophy playing for Bayern Munich.

The Canada-born midfielder, who qualified to play for England through his father, played the full 120 minutes against Valencia at the San Siro in 2001.

The match ended 1-1 before Bayern won 5-4 on penalties. Three months later Hargreaves made his England debut under Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Hargreaves would go on and play in another Champions League final for Manchester United in 2008 against Chelsea.

Once again it went to penalties in Moscow, with Hargreaves scoring from the spot as United won the shootout 6-5 after the match had ended 1-1 after extra time.

Paul Lambert only spent one full season at Borussia Dortmund but the Scotland midfielder packed an awful lot into his short time in Germany.

Lambert was part of Dortmund's greatest night in 1997 when they won 3-1 against holders Juventus, whose side featured Zinedine Zidane and Didier Deschamps, in Munich to win the Champions League for the first time.

The legendary Zidane has not forgotten it.

"He just put his head in his hands," Lambert told Sky Sports about the Frenchman's reaction when the Scot visited Real Madrid's training ground years later.

"He said: 'Oh no, not you again!' That was nice."

Chris Waddle became Britain's most expensive footballer when he joined Marseille from Tottenham Hotspur for £4.5m in 1989.

The stylish winger became an icon during three years at the Ligue 1 club, helping Marseille reach the European Cup final in 1991 before it was rebranded the Champions League.

After Marseille and Red Star Belgrade ended goalless after 120 minutes, Red Star went on to win 5-3 on penalties.

"In Marseille, it's one team, one town," said Waddle., external "They're fanatics. Wherever you go, everyone's a Marseille fan. The supporters are unbelievable and in the town everybody just talks about Marseille."

Steve Archibald had already won the Uefa Cup, now the Europa League, with Tottenham when he made the move to Barcelona in 1984.

"I never wanted to go to Barcelona, I wanted to stay at Spurs, but [former Tottenham chairman] Irving Scholar wanted the money," Archibald told the Guardian, external in 2021.

"I never regretted it, though - a wonderful experience, better than I could have imagined."

Former Scotland striker Archibald was part of the Barca team, managed by Terry Venables, that reached the 1986 European Cup final in Seville.

It was not to be for Archibald or his team, though, as Steaua Bucharest won 2-0 on penalties, with the match having ended 0-0 after extra time.

Laurie Cunningham, who started his career at Leyton Orient, was a pioneer throughout his career.

When he joined Real Madrid from West Brom in 1979, he was the first Briton to join the Spanish giant in the modern era, and one of the first black players to represent England.

Raised in north London by Jamaica-born parents, Cunningham arrived at the Bernabeu in a £950,000 deal - a club record for both Albion and Real.

In 1981 he was rushed back to play in the European Cup final against Liverpool after six months out injured.

Cunningham, clearly unfit and struggling, later described the game as "horrific". A well-taken 81st-minute goal by left-back Alan Kennedy was enough to settle the contest as Madrid missed out.

Eight years later, Cunningham tragically died in a car accident.

Born in Doncaster, Kevin Keegan made his professional debut for Scunthorpe in 1968, aged 17.

Nine years later, he was off to the Bundesliga to play for Hamburg after scoring 100 goals in 323 appearances for Liverpool.

Keegan became the highest-paid player in Germany, won the Ballon d'Or in 1978 and 1979, and played in the 1980 European Cup final against Nottingham Forest.

In 1977, he had helped Liverpool beat Borussia Monchengladbach in the final - but in Madrid, against Brian Clough's Forest, he was on the losing side as Hamburg suffered a 1-0 defeat.