Pep Guardiola's perfect Barcelona, Luis Enrique's ruthless PSG & the treble-winning teams of the Champions League era - ranked

Jose Mourinho's second season at Inter was arguably his last truly great season as a manager, and perhaps the finest one of his entire career. The Portuguese delivered the Scudetto in his first year at San Siro, but the summer additions of Samuel Eto'o, Wesley Sneijder, Diego Milito and Lucio took the Nerazzurri to a whole new level.

Inter were pushed all the way in the Serie A title race by Roma, but pipped them to the post by two points after Milito's final-day winner against Siena, and finished with the best attacking and defensive records in the division. Mourinho's side also beat Roma 1-0 in the Coppa Italia final, courtesy of more heroics from Milito, who would incredibly also prove to be the hero in the Champions League showpiece.

Inter saw off Chelsea and CSKA Moscow before pulling off an upset for the ages against Barcelona in the semi-finals, progressing after a 1-0 loss at Camp Nou that Mourinho called "the most beautiful defeat of my life", because it wasn't enough for the Blaugrana to overturn a 3-1 deficit from the first leg. Another counter-attacking masterclass would come in the final as a Milito brace fired Inter to a 2-0 win against Bayern Munich.

It wasn't always pretty, but each and every member of the dressing room was willing to run through a brick wall for Mourinho, and that team spirit gave Inter the edge in all of the biggest games.

Bayern's 2019-20 season did not start well, with Niko Kovac losing his job at the start of November after a chastening 5-1 Bundesliga defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt. Hansi Flick was the man tasked with lifting a Bayern team that had fallen to fourth in the table, and though he would lose two of his first four league games in charge, he soon transformed the team into an unstoppable winning machine.

With 18 wins from their final 19 games, Bayern romped to the title, finishing 13 points clear of arch-rivals Borussia Dortmund. They also downed Bayer Leverkusen 4-2 in the DFB-Pokal final to complete a domestic double, but that wasn't much of a surprise considering they had managed the same feat in 2018-19.

Bayern had pulled so far ahead of the rest in German football that they were being judged mainly on their Champions League exploits. Flick's men had to win the competition to silence those who doubted their overall quality, and they did so in emphatic fashion, winning all of their games (albeit while benefiting from UEFA temporarily scrapping two-legged knockout ties due to Covid-19 pandemic).

After dispatching Chelsea 7-1 on aggregate before that change, Bayern absolutely battered Barcelona into submission with an 8-2 win in the quarter-finals, and then saw off Lyon and PSG to lift the trophy. Flick's direct, high-intensity style of play made Bayern the footballing equivalent of a bulldozer, and Robert Lewandowski served as the wrecking ball with a staggering 55 goals across all competitions.

Man City became the most dominant team in England after Pep Guardiola arrived in 2016, but for so long Champions League success remained elusive. Monaco, Liverpool, Tottenham and Lyon all ended City's European dreams before they suffered a heart-breaking defeat to Chelsea in the 2021 final and an agonising semi-final loss to Real Madrid the following year, leaving many fans wondering if they were under some kind of curse.

That was lifted in 2022-23, though, with Erling Haaland proving to be the final piece of the puzzle after his transfer from Dortmund. The Norwegian terminator plundered 52 goals in his debut campaign at the Etihad, including 12 in the Champions League, with City blitzing past RB Leipzig and Bayern before exacting revenge on Madrid in the last four and edging out Inter 1-0 in the final.

As a result of their European exertions, City were not always at their best domestically, but they clicked into top gear down the home straight with 11 wins on the bounce to secure a third-successive Premier League title with three games to spare. Guardiola's all-conquering team also conceded just one goal en route to winning the FA Cup, and completely outclassed neighbours Manchester United in the final.

City's domestic procession was too predictable for them to be any higher on this list, but they were undeniably one of the most complete sides of all time. Haaland wasn't the only one to deliver, as Kevin De Bruyne reached the pinnacle of his playmaking abilities, Rodri ran the show in a deeper role, Ruben Dias was colossal at the back and Rico Lewis and John Stones both shone in hybrid midfield roles, with Guardiola once again leading the way as a tactical innovator.

Let's get this harsh truth out of the way first: PSG are by far and away the best team in the worst of Europe's top five divisions. Ligue 1's status as a 'farmer's league' was cemented this term as Luis Enrique's side finished 19 points clear of second-placed Marseille with a +57 goal difference and only two losses on their record.

It was practically a certainty that PSG would be crowned champions again, and retain the Coupe de France, which they achieved via a comfortable final win against Reims. There's no doubt that the competitiveness in the French top-flight has suffered since the Qatari takeover at PSG some 14 years ago, but that fact will be put to one side for a while longer after their spectacular run in the Champions League.

PSG became only the second French club to ever win the trophy, and the manner in which they dismantled Inter was nothing short of breath-taking. Simone Inzaghi's team couldn't lay a glove on PSG, who were also single-handedly responsible for busting the myth that the Premier League has become too powerful after overcoming Man City, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Arsenal in the earlier rounds.

Luis Enrique created a special team after losing Kylian Mbappe, with Desire Doue, Joao Neves, Willian Pacho and Khivicha Kvaratskhelia all proving to be incredible signings while the likes of Ousmane Dembele, Vitinha, Nuno Mendes, Achraf Hakimi and Gianluigi Donnarumma have taken their respective games to new levels. Ligue 1's failings should not count against this ruthless, swashbuckling version of PSG, who can outplay and outwork any team.

Heading into the 2012-13 campaign, Borussia Dortmund were the top dogs in Germany under Jurgen Klopp after back-to-back Bundesliga title triumphs. Bayern, though, came soaring back, starting with a 2-1 win against BVB in the DFL-Supercup. Jupp Heynckes' side went on to reclaim the Bundesliga by a whopping 25 points ahead of Dortmund, scoring 98 goals while conceding just 18, and also scooped the DFB-Pokal after beating Stuttgart 3-2 in the final.

In the Champions League, Bayern were untouchable, with Arsenal, Juventus and Barcelona all blown away by Die Roten in the knockout phase. The 7-0 aggregate victory over Barca in the semis was particularly frightening, as the holders had no answer to the trickery of wing masters Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben, nor the combination of power and agility that Mario Mandzukic and Thomas Muller provided through the middle.

Manuel Neuer, Philipp Lahm, Jerome Boateng and Bastian Schweinsteiger were all at the peak of their powers, too, with Heynckes' flexible tactical approach ensuring that Bayern always came up with an answer for any challenge that came their way. That was also true in a pulsating, end-to-end all-German Champions League final against Dortmund, as an 89th-minute strike from Robben gave Bayern a hard-fought 2-1 victory and the club's first European crown in 12 years.

Most fans have forgotten that United very nearly ended the 1998-99 season in the same way they did the previous campaign: without a single piece of silverware. That's because the character and quality in the squad came through when the stakes were at their highest, with Sir Alex Ferguson's side able to feed off pressure unlike any team that has come before or after them.

United had to come from behind to beat Tottenham on the final day of the season and clinch the Premier League by just a single point ahead of Arsenal, while they needed an unforgettable solo goal from Ryan Giggs to get past the Gunners after extra-time in the FA Cup semi-finals before they overpowered Newcastle 2-0 in the showpiece event. The Red Devils also battled back from two goals down to oust Juventus in the Champions League semis, but saved their best comeback for the final against Bayern.

Thomas Basler put Bayern ahead early at Camp Nou, and the German side also had the better of the next 84 minutes or so, before the fourth official held up the electronic board for three additional minutes. Of course, we all know what happened next: super-subs Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer both turned home from close range after a pair of trademark David Beckham deliveries to end United's 31-year wait for European glory.

Ferguson summed up the drama perfectly in just three words after the final whistle, simply saying: "Football, bloody hell!"

This was the year Luis Enrique unleashed the holy 'MSN' triumvirate of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez as Barcelona became football's greatest entertainers. Suarez had the lethal finishing touch, Neymar served as chief provider and Messi was the artist holding it all together, though all three forwards regularly rotated responsibilities on a match-by-match basis, depending on how the opposition lined up. The trio seemed to have a telepathic understanding that made them impossible to pin down, and Luis Enrique allowed them the freedom to express themselves by tweaking the possession-based system Guardiola had implemented at Camp Nou.

The supporting cast was ridiculous, too, with Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets and Ivan Rakitic popping the ball around like kids on the playground in midfield, while Dani Alves and Jordi Alba bombed forward on the flanks. It was all too much for Barca's Champions League opponents, with Man City, PSG and Bayern Munich all brushed aside before Juventus went down 3-1 to Luis Enrique's awe-inspiring team in the Olympiastadion showpiece.

Domestically, things were not quite as straightforward. Barca got through Atletico Madrid, Villarreal and Athletic Club with minimal fuss to lift the Copa del Rey, but Real Madrid battled until the bitter end in La Liga. The genius of MSN gave the Blaugrana the edge in the end, though, with Messi, Suarez and Neymar accounting for an astounding 69 percent of the total number of league goals Barca scored (110).

Realistically, there was only ever going to be one winner here. Guardiola revolutionised football when building his first team at Barcelona in 2008-09, having initially been an unpopular choice to replace previous boss Frank Rijkaard. Influenced by the great Ajax and Netherlands teams of the 1970s, the Catalan coach instantly set about getting his own brand of 'Total Football' across to the squad, and the results were ground-breaking.

The football Barcelona's treble-winners played throughout the 2008-09 season was otherworldly. Almost every pass, shot and run off the ball was pre-ordained; the result of thousands of hours of meticulous work on the training ground, with the likes of Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Yaya Toure, Eto'o and Thierry Henry all sharing the spotlight to varying degrees.

Barca won La Liga at a canter, demolishing Real Madrid 6-2 at the Bernabeu along the way, and also thrashed Athletic Club 4-1 in the Copa del Rey final. It was a similar story on the European stage as they inflicted heavy knockout-stage defeats upon both Lyon and Bayern, and although Barcelona benefitted from some very questionable refereeing to progress at the expense of Chelsea in the semi-finals, they ran rings around Manchester United in the final, with a clever Eto'o finish and a flying Messi header sealing a 2-0 win in Rome.

No one had ever seen anything like it, certainly not in the Champions League. Barcelona perfected the beautiful game, and every other club in the world has been trying to replicate the Guardiola model ever since.