With Leicester sealing a stunning passage to the round of 16 as group leaders in their first ever Champions League campaign, we look at the best debuts in the competition.
Disclaimer: this is a list of the best debut campaigns in the Champions League. To qualify, clubs must not have previously appeared in either the Champions League, nor the pre-1992 European Cup.
10. Chelsea, 1999-00
It's strange to think that Chelsea, now such a colossus of domestic and European football, didn't take part in the top competition until 1999. They should have been involved in the first European Cup in 1955 as reigning English champions, but the Football Association were still entrenched in their own parochialism and wouldn't allow them to take part. So in 1999-00, after finishing second in the Premier League the previous season, they powered through their first group, helped a little by a calamitous performance by Milan in which saw the Italian giants win just one game and finish bottom of the table. They then squeezed through the second group, and were only knocked out in extra-time by the Barcelona of Rivaldo, Pep Guardiola and Patrick Kluivert.
9. Auxerre, 1996-97
As football institutions go, Guy Roux was one of the most significant. Appointed Auxerre boss in 1961, he established them as a fine producer of young talent and Ligue 1 mainstay by the 1980s, but they didn't win a league title until his 35th year in charge. After that they gained access to the Champions League, but were given a tricky draw, against 1995 champions Ajax, Grasshoppers of Zurich and Rangers. Nevertheless, they topped the group on goal difference having claimed a win in Amsterdam, and were then only defeated by eventual winners Borussia Dortmund in the quarterfinals.
8. Bayer Leverkusen, 1997-98
Leverkusen have never won the Bundesliga, so taking advantage of the newly introduced rule allowing second-placed teams to enter the Champions League, they got their first taste of the competition in 1997-98. Things didn't look good after they lost their second group game 4-0 to Monaco, but they recovered to finish second in the table and progress to the quarterfinals. There they would face Real Madrid, and despite earning a creditable 1-1 first leg draw against the eventual winners, they were brushed aside in the return game, losing 4-1 on aggregate.
7. APOEL Nicosia, 2011-12
This is cheating slightly, because 25-times Cypriot champions APOEL had appeared, briefly, in the European Cup before. Indeed, in 1986 they were drawn against Besiktas (the first time a Cypriot and Turkish sides had been scheduled to face each other) but were banned by their national government from doing so, and subsequently suspended from European competition by UEFA. Nonetheless, their achievement in the 2011-12 Champions League was so remarkable it bears a retelling here. Spearheaded by Brazilian striker Ailton, APOEL were given a tough draw, but topped a group featuring Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk and Zenit St Petersburg. Their first appearance in the knockout phase saw them face Lyon, and after 1-0 home wins in both legs, penalties were required. APOEL edged the French side out, but were drawn against the might of Real Madrid in the quarters and were blown away 8-2 on aggregate.
6. Lazio, 1999-00
Italian champions in 1974, Lazio should have been in the following season's European Cup, but following crowd trouble during a UEFA Cup game the previous year, they were banned from continental competition. They had to wait until 1999 to make their Champions League bow and they made the most of it. They dominated a ticklish first group stage, going unbeaten against Dynamo Kiev, Bayer Leverkeusen and Maribor, before being handed a similarly tricky task in the second phase, nonetheless finishing top of a group that featured Chelsea, Feyenoord and Marseille. In the end they exited at the quarterfinal stage, beaten by eventual finalists Valencia, who beat them 5-2 in the first leg and held on in the second.
5. Leicester City, 2016-17
Sure, they are only in the first knockout round at the moment, but this is still a colossal achievement for Leicester, although not quite at the level of their remarkable Premier League win. Not yet, at least. It's been the calmness and efficiency of their progression thus far that has been most notable: three wins, one draw, just one goals conceded. Claudio Ranieri's men have taken to the toughest club competition in the world with remarkable ease. If only their domestic league form was anything similar. On that note, no team has ever won the Champions League and been relegated (for non-disciplinary reasons) in the same season. Just one to keep an eye on ...
4. Anorthosis Famagusta, 2008-09
Anorthosis Famagusta may have only won one game and gone out in the first round of the 2008-09 Champions League, but it was extraordinary they were there in the first place. Not least because the town of Famagusta barely exists: it's basically a ghost town in Northern Cyprus, a country only recognised by Turkey, and they've played in Larnaca since 1986. Described as the greatest achievement in Cypriot football history by a local newspaper, Anorthosis became the first ever Cypriot side to reach the group stage of the Champions League, deliciously enough by beating Olympiakos. When there they got their only win -- again, deliciously, against Panathanaikos -- and while they gained three more draws and a creditable six points, they finished bottom of the group.
3. Deportivo La Coruna, 2000-01
The history of La Coruna was largely unremarkable until the 1990s, and they wouldn't collect their first (and only) league title until 2000. That in turn gave them their first chance in the Champions League, and they had a damn good go at it when there. Topping their group and playing a big part in the unceremonious dumping out of Juventus in the first round, they made it through to the second group stage, where they would again face an Italian giant, this time Milan, but again vanquished them. In the quarterfinals they faced Leeds, in the midst of their own living of dreams, but the English side came out on top, Depor unable to overturn a 3-0 victory for Leeds in the first leg.
2. BATE Borisov, 2008-09
According to the UEFA coefficient ranking system, that most stimulating of dinner party topics, Belarusian side BATE Borisov were the lowest-rated side to ever qualify for the group stage of the Champions League, when they made it there in 2008. And when there, they were welcomed by European royalty, drawn against Real Madrid and Juventus (whose manager at the time Ranieri rather unconvincingly described them as "a good team") in the first round. Alas, after being perhaps the least likely team to ever reach the Champions League group stages, they couldn't get past that round, despite two creditable draws with Juventus and another against Zenit St Petersburg.
1. Malaga, 2012-13
Malaga have technically only been in existence since 1992, when the old CD Malaga folded, and a club they had absorbed to be their reserve side, CA Malagueno, changed their name to Malaga CF. After Abdullah Al Thani bought the club in 2010 and started spending freely, they rose through the Spanish first division and qualified for the Champions League in 2012. When there, they finished top of their group, above Milan and Zenit, then disposed of Porto in the first knockout round. Then they were involved in an extraordinary quarterfinal against Borussia Dortmund, up 2-1 as the second leg ticked past 90 minutes, only for Marco Reus and, controversially, Felipe Santana to score in injury-time to snatch an unlikely semifinal spot away from them.