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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Scott Murray

Could this be the year for a long-awaited European breakthrough?

Yes, that’s Étienne Capoue in Big Cup semis.
Yes, that’s Étienne Capoue in Big Cup semis. Photograph: Christof Stache/AFP/Getty Images

BAYERN BYE

In the last 10 years of the old European Cup, before the establishment of Big Cup in 1992, seven clubs won the trophy for the first time in their existence: Hamburg, Juventus, Steaua Bucharest, Porto, PSV, Red Star and Barcelona. The following five years, when Big Cup was still a champions-only affair, another two newbies won the biggest prize of all: Marseille and Borussia Dortmund. But since Big Cup went real big, throwing the doors open to all and sundry (providing they’re big), only one more club has broken through, and they had to meet the oligarch at the crossroads to do it.

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