La Liga clubs in Europe

La Liga Clubs in Europe. Football clubs from La Liga (Spain) have been among the most successful in Europe. Real Madrid have been crowned champions of Europe on 9 separate occasions. La Liga clubs have won 29 major European trophies between them, more than any other league. Real Madrid have won 11 titles in total while FC Barcelona have won 9 . Valencia CF have contributed another 4, while Real Zaragoza and Sevilla FC have 2 eachand Atlético Madrid with 1 complete the tally. Deportivo La Coruna have been regulars in the UEFA Champions League while Athletic Bilbao, RCD Espanyol, Alaves and RCD Mallorca have all contested major finals. Even smaller La Liga clubs, like Villarreal CF, Celta Vigo and Málaga CF have found success in Europe, winning the UEFA Intertoto Cup. In 2005/06 FC Barcelona won the UEFA Champions League and Sevilla FC won the UEFA Cup. La Liga became the first league to do the Double since 1997.

Real Madrid won the European Cup cup five times in a row between 1956 and 1960 and then for a sixth time in 1966. La Liga clubs also dominated the early Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. FC Barcelona, Valencia CF and Real Zaragoza won this competition six times between them between 1958 and 1966, resulting in three all-La Liga finals in 1962, 1964 and 1966. La Liga clubs have continued to be successful in Europe ever since.

La Liga's dominance in Europe since 2000

Since the turn of the century, La Liga clubs have dominated Europe. In 2000, La Liga had 3 out of the 4 semi-finalists in the UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid, Valencia CF and FC Barcelona; Real Madrid went on to beat fellow La Liga side Valencia CF in an all Spanish final. In 2001, La Liga had 2 out of the 4 semi-finalists in the UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid and Valencia CF. Valencia CF went on to lose the final again this time to Bayern Munich. Meanwhile, in the UEFA Cup, La Liga had 2 out of the 4 semi-finalists with Deportivo Alaves and FC Barcelona, with Deportivo Alaves losing to Liverpool FC in the final. In 2002, had 2 out of the 4 semi-finalists in the UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid beating FC Barcelona in the semi-finals then beating Bayer Leverkusen in the final. In 2003 Real Madrid reached the semi-finals again but this time losing against Juventus. In 2004, Deportivo de la Coruna reached the semi-finals of the but lost to eventual champions FC Porto. In the UEFA Cup, La Liga had 2 out of the 4 semi-finalists. Valencia CF beat Villarreal CF in the semi-finals before beating Olympique de Marseille in the final. In 2006, La Liga had 2 out of the 4 semi-finalists in the UEFA Champions League with FC Barcelona and Villarreal CF where FC Barcelona went on to become European champions again by beating Arsenal FC 2-1 in the final. Meanwhile, in the UEFA Cup Sevilla FC followed in Barcelona's footsteps by beating a Premier League side in a European final when they defeated Middlesbrough FC 4-0. With FC Barcelona and Sevilla FC, La Liga took home both European trophies on offer in 2006.

2007 was another successful year for La Liga, in the UEFA Cup they had 3 out of the 4 semi-finalists with Sevilla, Espanyol and Osasuna. Sevilla beat fellow Spaniards Osasuna 2-1 on aggregate, while Espanyol beat German high fliers Werder Bremen 5-1 on aggregate, to set up an all-Spanish UEFA Cup final. In a pulsating all-Spanish UEFA Cup final, Adriano gave Sevilla the lead only for Albert Riera to equalise for Espanyol, then in the second half Espanyol were down to 10 men which gave Sevilla an extra incentive to take the lead which they did in extra-time through Frederic Kanoute. But a dramatic late equaliser in the second period of extra-time from Espanyol's Jonatas took it to penalties, which Sevilla won.

La Liga teams in European Finals

=European Cup/Champions League=

"aet - after extra time"

=European Cup Winners' Cup=

"aet - after extra time"