The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship saw an exciting and chaotic event. It was a disappointing tournament for Germany, Spain, Italy, and others. France, the defending champions, was knocked out by Greece in the quarter-finals. Portugal won the semi-finals against England and the Netherlands after winning the opening game against Greece. The final featured the same teams that were in the opening game. But who made the final cut?
The 2001 team included Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira and Zinedine Zidane, all at the top of their games. But who made it to the 2004 team? It was a very competitive field with players like Paul Pogba and Sergio Aguero vying for a spot. This time, there weren’t any new faces on the team and the cut was made by a team of old favorites.
Despite having a strong squad, Messi has not won the tournament in recent years. Real Madrid was the dominant team in the competition the past few years, but Porto’s win in 2004 was a shocker. Nantes was just one goal behind Juventus in the semi-final of Champions League 1995-96. Dynamo Kyiv defeated Bayern Munich in the semi-finals of 1998-99. The 2002-03 group stage saw Leeds experience a similar fate, but it lost to Valencia.