1994–95 UEFA Champions League

The 1994–95 UEFA Champions League was the 40th edition of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, and the third since its rebranding as the UEFA Champions League. The tournament was won by Ajax of the Netherlands with a late goal in the final against defending champions Milan of Italy. Ajax won the competition without losing a game, either in the group or the knock-out stage in winning the title for the first time since 1973.

1994–95 UEFA Champions League
Tournament details
Dates10–24 August 1994 (qualifying)
14 September 1994 – 24 May 1995 (competition proper)
Teams16 (group stage)
24 (total)
Final positions
Champions Ajax (4th title)
Runners-up Milan
Tournament statistics
Matches played61
Goals scored140 (2.3 per match)
Attendance2,328,515 (38,172 per match)
Top scorer(s) George Weah
(7 goals)

Compared to the previous edition of the European Cup, radical changes were made to the format of the tournament, due to a recently expired contract that bound UEFA to the EBU for the transmission of the final, and this gave occasion for a general review of the format, which attracted the interest of new and financially well-off private television companies. This year included four groups of four teams each in the group stage, up from two groups of four teams each in 1993–94. It was also the first year in which eight teams advanced to the knock-out stage and the first of three years in which the champions of smaller nations entered the UEFA Cup instead of the Champions League. It was also the first time that this competition was known as UEFA Champions League from the first to the last match of the competition, the two previous seasons, the UEFA Champions League involved the round(s) between the round of 16 and the final of the European Champions Cup.

Former Yugoslavia was unable to participate for the third season in a row due to the UN economic sanctions. Milan were the defending champions, but were defeated by Ajax in the final.

Teams

24 teams entered the competition: the UEFA Champions League holders, AC Milan, as well as 23 best-ranked national champions according to UEFA club ranking. The title holders and other 7 best-ranked national champions received a bye to the group stage, while the national champions ranked 9–24 entered in the qualifying round. The remaining national champions were only allowed to participate in UEFA Cup.[1]

Group stage
Milan (1st)TH Bayern Munich (1st) Anderlecht (1st) Barcelona (1st)
Benfica (1st) Spartak Moscow (1st) Manchester United (1st) Ajax (1st)
Qualifying round
Paris Saint-Germain (1st) Casino Salzburg (1st) AEK Athens (1st) Galatasaray (1st)
Rangers (1st) Servette (1st) Silkeborg (1st) Steaua București (1st)
Göteborg (1st) Legia Warsaw (1st) Maccabi Haifa (1st) Vác (1st)
Dynamo Kyiv (1st) Hajduk Split (1st) Avenir Beggen (1st) Sparta Prague (1st)

Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition is as follows. The draw was held in Geneva, Switzerland on 20 July 1994, where qualifying round pairs as well as group formations were drawn. The knockout phase pairs were made automatically by a predetermined bracket.

Phase Round Draw date First leg Second leg
Qualifying round 20 July 1994 10 August 1994 24 August 1994
Group stage Matchday 1 14 September 1994
Matchday 2 28 September 1994
Matchday 3 19 October 1994
Matchday 4 2 November 1994
Matchday 5 23 November 1994
Matchday 6 7 December 1994
Knockout phase Quarter-finals 1 March 1995 15 March 1995
Semi-finals 5 April 1995 19 April 1995
Final 24 May 1995 at Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna

Qualifying round
Main article: 1994–95 UEFA Champions League qualifying round
Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Group A
Avenir Beggen 1–9 Galatasaray 1–5 0–4
Sparta Prague 1–2 IFK Göteborg 1–0 0–2
Group B
Silkeborg 1–3 Dynamo Kyiv 0–0 1–3
Paris Saint-Germain 5–1 Vác FC-Samsung 3–0 2–1
Group C
Legia Warsaw 0–5 Hajduk Split 0–1 0–4
Steaua București 5–2 Servette 4–1 1–1
Group D
AEK Athens 3–0 Rangers 2–0 1–0
Maccabi Haifa 2–5 Casino Salzburg 1–2 1–3

[2]

Group stage
Main article: 1994–95 UEFA Champions League group stage
Location of teams of the 1994–95 UEFA Champions League group stage.
Brown: Group A; Red: Group B; Orange: Group C; Yellow: Group D.

10 teams of 16 made their UEFA Champions League group stage debut: AEK Athens, Ajax, Bayern Munich, Benfica, Casino Salzburg, Dynamo Kyiv, Hajduk Split, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain and Steaua București. Two of these teams, Benfica and Dynamo Kyiv, had previously contested the 1991-92 European Cup group stage.

Group A
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification GOT BAR MU GAL
1 IFK Göteborg 6 4 1 1 10 7 +3 9 Advance to knockout stage — 2–1 3–1 1–0
2 Barcelona 6 2 2 2 11 8 +3 6 1–1 — 4–0 2–1
3 Manchester United 6 2 2 2 11 11 0 6 4–2 2–2 — 4–0
4 Galatasaray 6 1 1 4 3 9 −6 3 0–1 2–1 0–0 —
Source: UEFA

Group B
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification PSG BM SPA DK
1 Paris Saint-Germain 6 6 0 0 12 3 +9 12 Advance to knockout stage — 2–0 4–1 1–0
2 Bayern Munich 6 2 2 2 8 7 +1 6 0–1 — 2–2 1–0
3 Spartak Moscow 6 1 2 3 8 12 −4 4 1–2 1–1 — 1–0
4 Dynamo Kyiv 6 1 0 5 5 11 −6 2 1–2 1–4 3–2 —
Source: UEFA

Group C
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification BEN HAJ SB AND
1 Benfica 6 3 3 0 9 5 +4 9 Advance to knockout stage — 2–1 2–1 3–1
2 Hajduk Split 6 2 2 2 5 7 −2 6 0–0 — 1–4 2–1
3 Steaua București 6 1 3 2 7 6 +1 5 1–1 0–1 — 1–1
4 Anderlecht 6 0 4 2 4 7 −3 4 1–1 0–0 0–0 —
Source: UEFA

Group D
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification AJA MIL CAS AEK
1 Ajax 6 4 2 0 9 2 +7 10 Advance to knockout stage — 2–0 1–1 2–0
2 Milan 6 3 1 2 6 5 +1 5[lower-alpha 1] 0–2 — 3–0 2–1
3 Casino Salzburg 6 1 3 2 4 6 −2 5 0–0 0–1 — 0–0
4 AEK Athens 6 0 2 4 3 9 −6 2 1–2 0–0 1–3 —
Source: UEFA
Notes:
  1. Milan were docked two points for crowd trouble against Casino Salzburg on Matchday Two.

Knockout stage
Main article: 1994–95 UEFA Champions League knockout stage

Bracket
  Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
                             
Bayern Munich (a) 0 2 2  
IFK Göteborg 0 2 2  
  Bayern Munich 0 2 2  
  Ajax 0 5 5  
Hajduk Split 0 0 0
  Ajax 0 3 3  
    Ajax 1
  Milan 0
  Barcelona 1 1 2  
Paris Saint-Germain 1 2 3  
  Paris Saint-Germain 0 0 0
  Milan 1 2 3  
Milan 2 0 2
  Benfica 0 0 0  

Quarter-finals
Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Bayern Munich 2–2 (a) IFK Göteborg 0–0 2–2
Hajduk Split 0–3 Ajax 0–0 0–3
Barcelona 2–3 Paris Saint-Germain 1–1 1–2
Milan 2–0 Benfica 2–0 0–0

Semi-finals
Team 1 Agg. Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Bayern Munich 2–5 Ajax 0–0 2–5
Paris Saint-Germain 0–3 Milan 0–1 0–2

Final
Main article: 1995 UEFA Champions League Final
Ajax 1–0 Milan
Kluivert  85' Report
Attendance: 49,730

Top goalscorers

The top scorers from the 1994–95 UEFA Champions League (excluding qualifying round) are as follows:

Rank Name Team Goals
1 George Weah Paris Saint-Germain 7
2 Jari Litmanen Ajax 6
3 Magnus Erlingmark IFK Göteborg 4
Marco Simone Milan 4
5 José Mari Bakero Barcelona 3
Romário Barcelona 3
Hristo Stoichkov Barcelona 3
Claudio Caniggia Benfica 3
Christian Nerlinger Bayern Munich 3
Mehmet Scholl Bayern Munich 3
Viktor Leonenko Dynamo Kyiv 3

See also

References
  1. 1994–95 European Cups FAQ
  2. "Bombo caro". hemeroteca.mundodeportivo.com.
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