The European Elite Teams’ Banter Era in Modern Football

 

Each of Europe's elite teams has their own 'banter era' in modern football, during which they failed to win any prestigious titles.

The 'Banter Era' is defined as a period in which a football team goes through difficult years without winning a notable top title, such as a league title or a continental top flight championship. In this era, teams consistently underperform, producing disappointing results and campaigns.

In Europe, almost all elite sides and the powerhouses in the top five league, have experienced such a ‘dark age’, except perhaps Bayern Munich. Some clubs managed to end it before deteriorating, whereas others had to struggle for years before finally putting an end to their misery.

Recently, more than one elite clubs have found themselves in the midst of such an unwanted era. Italian giant, Juventus, French side, Olympique Marseille, the Dutch powerhouse, Ajax Amsterdam and last but not least, the once great side, Manchester United. Among those four, OM and Manchester United are the ones who have suffered the longest banter era. They have been through it since 2010 and 2013 respectively. This is rather shameful given their status as the Champions League winners.

Here are the complete banter era for each European elites in the modern football, marked by the emergence of total football in the 1970s along with the star players who only stayed during that dark age. However, some clubs which might be considered top teams like Arsenal, Marseille, PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord and Borussia Dortmund, are not included on the list due to a lack of essential factors, such as Champions League titles or recognition in the global market.

Real Madrid

 

Season	La Liga finish	Achievement (titles and reaching finals in UCL + other continental tournaments)
1980/81	2nd	UCL runner up
1981/82	3rd	Copa Del Rey
1982/83	2nd	Winners Cup runner up
1983/84	2nd	-
1984/85	5th	UEFA Cup

Top players in the squad:  Uli Stielke, Juan Antonio Camacho, Laurie Cunningham, Jose Santillana, Vicente del Bosque, Jorge Valdano, Emilio Butragueno

 

Season	La Liga finish	Achievement (titles and reaching finals in UCL+ other continental tournaments)
1990/91	3rd	-
1991/92	2nd	-
1992/93	2nd	Copa del Rey
1993/94	3rd	-

 Top players in the squad: Georghe Hagi, Robert Prosinecki, Ricardo Rocha, Manuel Sanchis, Paco Buyo, Fernando Hierro                                                                              

 

Barcelona

 

Season	La Liga finish	Achievement (titles and reaching finals in UCL + other continental tournaments)
1974/75	3rd	-
1975/76	2nd	-
1976/77	2nd	-
1977/78	2nd	Copa del Rey
1978/79	5th	Winners’ Cup
1979/80	4th	-
1980/81	5th	Copa Del Rey
1981/82	2nd	Winners’ Cup
1982/83	4th	Copa del Rey
1983/84	3rd	-

Top players in the squad: Johan Cryuff, Johan Neeskens, Carles Rexach, Quini, Bernd Schuster, Roberto Dinamite, Hans Krakl, Allan Simonsen, Diego Maradon

 

Season	La Liga finish	Achievement (titles and reaching finals in UCL + other continental tournaments)
1985/86	2nd	UCL runner up
1986/87	2nd	-
1987/88	6th	Copa del Rey
1988/89	2nd	Winners’ Cup
1989/90	3rd	Copa del Rey

Top players in the squad: Gary Lineker, Steve Archibald, Mark Hughes, Andoni Zubizaretta, Julio Salinas, Miguel Soler, Michael Laudrup, Ronald Koeman, Ernesto Valverde

 

Season	La Liga finish	Achievement (titles and reaching finals in UCL + other continental tournaments)
1999/2000	2nd	-
2000/01	4th	-
2001/02	4th	-
2002/03	6th	-
2003/04	2nd	-

 Top players in the squad: Patrick Kluivert, Marc Overmars, Phillip Cocu, Roman Riquelme, Javier Saviola, Xavi Hernandez, Luis Enrique, Ronaldinho, Edgar Davids, Demitrio Albertini

 

Liverpool

 

Season	Top tier finish	Achievement (titles and reaching finals in UCL + other continental tournaments)
1990/91	2nd	-
1991/92	6th	FA Cup
1992/93	6th	-
1993/94	8th	-
1994/95	4th	League Cup
1995/96	3rd	-
1996/97	4th	-
1997/98	3rd	-
1998/99	7th	-
1999/2000	4th	-
2000/01	3rd	FA Cup, UEFA Cup, League Cup
2001/02	2nd	UEFA Super Cup
2002/03	5th	League Cup
2003/04	4th	-

 Top players in the squad: Ian Rush, John Barnes, Steve McManaman, Robbie Fowler, Jamie Redknapp, Steven Gerrard, Gary McAllister, Michael Owen, Patrik Berger, Emile Heskey

 

Season	Top tier finish	Achievement (titles and reaching finals in UCL + other continental tournaments)
2005/06	3rd	FA Cup, UEFA Super Cup
2006/07	3rd	UCL runner up
2007/08	4th	-
2008/09	2nd	-
2009/10	7th
2010/11	6th	-
2011/12	8th	League Cup
2012/13	7th	-
2013/14	2nd	-
2014/15	6th	-
2015/16	8th	UEFA Cup runner up
2016/17	4th	-
2017/18	4th	UCL runner up

Top players in the squad: Steven Gerrard, Peter Crouch, Fernando Torres, Pepe Reina, Javier Mascherano, Luis Suarez, Daniel Sturridge, Mario Balotelli, Jordan Henderson, Phillipe Coutinho, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Mo Salah

 

Manchester United

 

Season	Top tier finish	Achievement (titles and reaching finals in UCL + other continental tournaments)
2013/14	7th
2014/15	4th
2015/16	5th	FA Cup
2016/17	6th	Europa League runner up, League Cup
2017/18	2nd
2018/19	6th	-
2019/20	3rd
2020/21	2nd	Europa League runner up
2021/22	6th	-
2022/23	3rd	League Cup
2023/24	8th	FA Cup
2024/25	??	??

 

Top players in the squad: Marouane Fellaini, Robin Van Persie, Wayne Rooney, Angel Di Maria, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku, Sergio Romero, Marcos Rojo, Harry Maguire, Marcus Rashford, Bruno Fernandes, Edison Cavani, David de Gea, Sofyan Amrabat, Andre Onana

 

Inter Milan

 

Season	Top tier finish	Achievement (titles and reaching finals in UCL + other continental tournaments)
1989/90	3rd	-
1990/91	3rd	UEFA Cup
1991/92	8th	-
1992/93	2nd	-
1993/94	13th	UEFA Cup
1994/95	6th	-
1995/96	7th	-
1996/97	3rd	UEFA Cup runner up
1997/98	2nd	UEFA Cup
1998/99	8th	-
1999/2000	4th	-
2000/01	5th	-
2001/02	3rd	-
2002/03	2nd	-
2003/04	4th	-
2004/05	3rd	Coppa Italia

 

Top players in the squad: Jurgen Klinsmann, Andreas Brehme, Lothar Matthaus, Matthias Sammer, Darko Panchev, Nicola Berti, Walter Zenga, Gianluca Pagliuca, Dennis Bergkamp, Wim Jonk, Ruben Sosa, Paul Ince, Javier Zanetti, Ivan Zamorano, Aaron Winter, Youri Djorkaeff, Ronaldo Luiz, Roberto Carlos, Alvaro Recoba, Diego Simeone, Hakan Sukur, Cristian Vieri, Gabriel Batistuta, Ivan Cordoba

 

Season	Top tier finish	Achievement (titles and reaching finals in UCL + other continental tournaments)
2010/11	2nd	Coppa Italia, FIFA Club World Cup
2011/12	6th	-
2012/13	9th	-
2013/14	5th	-
2014/15	8th	-
2015/16	4th	-
2016/17	7th	-
2017/18	4th	-
2018/19	4th	-
2019/20	2nd	Europa League runner up

 Top players: Dejan Stankovic, Samuel Eto’o, Diego Milito, Mauro Icardi, Samir Handanovic, Rodrigo Palacio, Ricky Alvarez, Radja Naiggolan

Juventus

 

Season	Top tier finish	Achievement (titles and reaching finals in UCL + other continental tournaments)
1986/87	2nd	-
1987/88	6th	-
1988/89	4th	-
1989/90	4th	Coppa Italia, UEFA Cup
1990/91	7th	-
1991/92	2nd	-
1992/93	4th	UEFA Cup
1993/94	2nd	-

 

Top players in the squad: Michael Laudrup, Roberto Baggio, Rui Barros, Pierluigi Casiraghi, David Platt, Thomas Haessler, Andy Moller, Jurgen Kohler

 

Season	Top tier finish	Achievement (titles and reaching finals in UCL + other continental tournaments)
2005/06	20th (relegated)	Calciopoli sanction
2006/07	1st (Serie B)	-
2007/08	3rd	-
2008/09	2nd	-
2009/10	7th	-
2010/11	7th	-

 Top players in the squad: David Trezeguet, Alessandro Del Piero, Gianluigi Buffon, Amauri, Fabio Grosso, Diego, Felipe Melo, Antonio Cadreva

 

Season	Top tier finish	Achievement (titles and reaching finals in UCL + other continental tournaments)
2020/21	4th	Coppa Italia
2021/22	4th
2022/23	7th	-
2023/24	3rd	Coppa Italia
2024/25	??	??

 Top players in the squad: Cristiano Ronaldo, Dusan Vlahovic, Federico Chiesa, Wojciech Szcieszny, Danilo, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini

AC Milan

 

Season	Top tier finish	Achievement (titles and reaching finals in UCL + other continental tournaments)
1979/80	15th (relegated)	Totonero sanction
1980/81	1st (Serie B)	-
1981/82	14th (relegated)	-
1982/83	1st (Serie B)	-
1983/84	8th	-
1984/85	5th	-
1985/86	7th	-
1986/87	5th	-

 

Top players in the squad: Franco Baresi, Mauro Tassotti, Joe Jordan, Eric Gerets, Aldo Serena, Mark Hateley, Ray Wilkins, Paulo Rossi, Paolo Maldini

Season	Top tier finish	Achievement (titles and reaching finals in UCL + other continental tournaments)
2011/12	2nd	-
2012/13	3rd	-
2013/14	8th	-
2014/15	10th	-
2015/16	7th
2016/17	6th	-
2017/18	6th	-
2018/19	5th	-
2019/20	6th	-
2020/21	2nd	-

                                     

Top players in the squad: Mario Balloteli, Riccardo Montolivo, Nigel de Jong, Pato, Kevin Prince Boateng, Adil Rami, Mauro Yepes

Ajax Amsterdam

Season	Top tier finish	Achievement (titles and reaching finals in UCL + other continental tournaments)
1985/86	2nd	KNVB Cup
1986/87	2nd	KNVB Cup, Winners Cup
1987/88	2nd	-
1988/89	2nd	-

 Top players: Frank Rijkaard, John Bosman, Dennis Bergkamp, John Van Schip, Marco Van Basten

Season	Top tier finish	Achievement (titles and reaching finals in UCL + other continental tournaments)
2004/05	2nd	-
2005/06	4th	KNVB Cup
2006/07	2nd	KNVB Cup
2007/08	2nd	-
2008/09	3rd
2009/10	2nd	KNVB Cup

 

Top players in the squad: Tomas Galasek, Johnny Heitinga, Wesley Sneijder, Klaas Jan Huntelaar, Ryan Babel, Tom de Mul, Jan Vertoghen, Dennis Rommedahl, Luis Suarez, Thomas Vermaelen

Benfica

Season	Top tier finish	Achievement (titles and reaching finals in UCL + other continental tournaments)
1994/95	3rd	-
1995/96	2nd	Portuguese Cup
1996/97	3rd	-
1997/98	2nd	-
1998/99	3rd
1999/2000	3rd	-
2000/01	6th	-
2001/02	4th	-
2002/03	2nd	-
2003/04	2nd	Portuguese Cup

 Top players in the squad: Michael Preud Homme, Claudio Caniggia, Paulo Bento, Brian Deane, Dean Saunders, Carlos Bossio, Robert Enke, Zlatko Zahovic, Nuno Gomes, Simao Sabrossa, Petit, L Drulovic.