Ahead of Saturday's blockbuster Champions Cup final between Leinster and Toulouse in Tottenham, we look back at the greatest European Cup finals in history...
Last year's final between four-time winners Leinster and then reigning champions La Rochelle at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin - a repeat of the 2022 final in Marseille, when Ronan O'Gara's La Rochelle came from eight points down to win in the last minute - was arguably the greatest Champions Cup final witnessed so far. On the day, a magnificent comeback from 17 points down saw La Rochelle become back-to-back Champions Cup winners with a dramatic 27-26 win over Leinster on their own patch. Leinster were 17-0 ahead inside 12 minutes, as hooker Dan Sheehan (two) and wing Jimmy O'Brien scored tries in a stunning start to the game which also saw La Rochelle scrum-half Tawera Kerr-Barlow sin-binned.
The French club hit back through a Jonathan Danty try, but fell 23-7 behind after a couple of Ross Byrne penalties, before Danty's midfield partner UJ Seuteni crucially scored a second try late in the opening half to bring the visitors within nine points. O'Gara's charges then proceeded to dominate virtually the entirety of the second half, displaying superiority at scrum and maul time, but Leinster's superb defence just kept them out for prolonged spells after Antoine Hastoy had cut the gap to six points. That was until replacement tighthead Georges Henri Colombe forced his way over with eight minutes to play, with Hastoy convertin.
