Are Liverpool the worst European champions ever?

(From Guardian Unlimited)

"With regard to Liverpool's success in the Champions League/European Cup, has a team ever won it that has performed so badly in their domestic league in the same season?" asks Richard Harding.

Well Richard, there are several factors to take into consideration, none of which include the fact Liverpool won the Champions League with Kewell, Traore, Biscan, etc. Purely on a points basis, the distance they finished behind domestic champions Chelsea [38] does indeed appear to mark Rafa BenA-tez's men out as the worst European Cup winners in history.

However, that's perhaps a tad unfair given the external details [quality of champions, fixtures in a season, etc], so we'll instead rely purely upon league position, for which reason Aston Villa's 1981-82 domestic season current resides in the record books. Just five days after Tony Barton's team beat Swansea to finish a dismal Division One campaign down in 12th spot [42 games: 15 wins, 12 draws, 15 defeats, +two goal difference], they overcame Bayern Munich 1-0 to win the European Cup.

Bayern, it transpires, claim the second-worst finish and the only one with a record under 50%, after their miserable Bundesliga campaign in 1974-75. They finished tenth [34 games: 14 wins, six draws, 14 defeats, -6 goal difference], but still managed to beat Leeds 2-0 and win their second of three successive European Cup trophies.

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