Four dark horses who could win the Champions League

Since the 95/96 season, clubs from Germany, Spain, Italy, or England have lifted the outrageously sized Champions League trophy every time, with the exception of Jose Mourinho’s Porto in 03/04.  To make matters more polarizing at the top of European soccer in that same span only Ajax in 95/96 and AS Monaco in 03/04 have even reached the final.

This disparity of diversity has to please television executives as a Bayern Munich vs Real Madrid final would, of course, draw more eye balls to the screen, but for the sake of parity I’m not sure this is a good thing.

With that being said, who has the best opportunity to spoil the party of the big four leagues and make a case for even reaching the final?  As we are halfway through the group stage, some clues are beginning to emerge as to what clubs are even capable of making it to even the round of 16 and spoiler, there are not many.

I’ll be ranking the top four in terms of likelihood of reaching the final and give a rationale why.  Be sure to leave a comment if you disagree: