On Saturday, the Champions League final should’ve been staged in Turkey.

To mark the non-occasion, theScore creates a lineup which features some of the most decorated and gifted footballers in history, except with one condition: they played in the Champions League but never won it.

The lineup

Champions League success can elude the very best.

These players count 48 national league titles, nine World Cup winners’ medals, and 1,204 international caps between them. At their peak, they would saunter into any side competing for Europe’s most prestigious competition in 2019-20.

GK: Gianluigi Buffon

Buffon has collected more league titles and international caps than anybody else in this XI. Now that he’s aged 42 and working as Wojciech Szczesny’s understudy at Juventus, the Italian legend may have to give up on his Champions League dream soon. Juventus were midway through their round of 16 tilt with Lyon before the competition was paused due to COVID-19.

RB: Lilian Thuram

The most-capped player in the history of the France men’s national team came close to Champions League glory when Juventus lost on penalties to AC Milan in the dull Manchester final of 2003. Thuram was an intelligent and strong right-back who played for leading clubs in France, Italy, and Spain. Today, his son Marcus is a regular in Borussia Monchengladbach’s attack.

CB: Fabio Cannavaro

Cannavaro reached the semifinals of the Champions League with Inter Milan in 2003, and that was his best finish despite continuing his association with the competition beyond his 36th birthday. The World Cup winner became just the third defender in history to win the Ballon d’Or after captaining Italy’s World Cup-winning squad in 2006.

CB: Laurent Blanc

Blanc replaced Jaap Stam at Manchester United in 2001 and soon came within sniffing distance of his first Champions League title. He scored twice in the second group stage and was a mainstay in the backline when United met Bayer Leverkusen in the 2001-02 semifinals. He couldn’t keep Oliver Neuville quiet, though, as the striker scored in each leg to send Leverkusen through.

LB: Gianluca Zambrotta

Zambrotta’s versatility was a huge asset; Marcello Lippi used him in a variety of roles during Italy’s 2006 World Cup triumph. He was particularly impressive in the quarterfinals with Ukraine after he netted a long-range shot (from right-back), made a goal-line clearance, and logged an assist (from the left wing). He was a beaten Champions League finalist with Juventus in 2003.

DM: Patrick Vieira

Vieira was the brawn and heartbeat of Arsenal’s midfield, but he could also be a nimble-footed mover capable of releasing the likes of Robert Pires and Thierry Henry with snappy passes. In short, he was everything. Arsenal did reach the 2006 Champions League final but, sadly, Vieira had moved to Juventus nine months earlier.

MF: Lothar Matthaus

Matthaus was minutes from gleaning the 1998-99 Champions League crown with Bayern Munich when he was 38, but Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored for Manchester United in injury time. “I never had a worse feeling in football than that night in 1999,” Matthaus wrote years later. The icon was substituted before United grabbed their late goals to make it 2-1.

MF: Pavel Nedved

Nedved was mesmeric during the 2002-03 Champions League campaign, finishing level with Alessandro Del Piero as Juventus’ top scorer on five goals and posing a constant threat with his tenacity and two incredible feet. The Czech star couldn’t play in the final due to yellow-card accumulation and his absence was felt as Juventus lost a woeful contest to AC Milan.

AM: Roberto Baggio

When he was a teenager plying his trade in the third tier, Baggio suffered a knee injury that would’ve ended most careers in the mid-1980s. However, his artistry and vision still propelled him to the top of the game. He played for Juventus, AC Milan, and Inter Milan, but is loved by the fans of each rival club. That helps explain what a special talent the 1993 Ballon d’Or winner was.

FW: George Weah

A growing section of the Liberian population isn’t convinced Weah can alleviate the nation’s economic woes in his role as president. Thankfully, there were fewer doubts about Weah as a footballer: He was sublime. He was an instinctive finisher but paired that with a knack of jinking and surging past opponents. He won the Ballon d’Or when he was on AC Milan’s books in 1995.

FW: Ronaldo

Ronaldo was an expert at rounding goalkeepers, combined power and trickery to devastating effect, and had a cockiness that made him an enthralling watch. But, despite his otherworldly gifts, he has fewer domestic titles than anybody else in this team. He was cup-tied when AC Milan conquered Europe in 2007 because he featured for Real Madrid earlier in the tournament.

The bench

In front of legendary English goalkeeper David Seaman is his former Arsenal teammate Sol Campbell and yet another Juventus stalwart in Giorgio Chiellini. Michael Ballack is the only midfielder on the bench because room had to be made for Gabriel Batistuta, Ruud van Nistelrooy, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

New Denver Broncos running back Melvin Gordon said he’s not concerned if fans can’t be in the stands when the NFL season begins because he has already dealt with that.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, playing games without fans in attendance is one possibility for the 2020 NFL season. During an interview with former NFL cornerback Marcus Cromartie that was posted Wednesday on Twitter, Gordon said the past three years with the Chargers in Los Angeles prepared him for this.

“Bro, we didn’t have fans anyway,” Gordon said while laughing. “We didn’t have many Chargers fans at the game. I’m just going to be honest. We didn’t have many Chargers fans at the game. Much loyalty, love, but we didn’t have many. So I’m not missing anything.”

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We experienced our first losing Matchday since the Bundesliga returned, falling to 1-2 with our midweek article picks. However, after a profitable first two weeks, it’s hardly the end of the world.

Let’s bounce back on Matchday 29.

Eintracht Frankfurt (+260) at Wolfsburg (-105), Draw (+280)

In a 4-1 trouncing at Leverkusen in midweek, Wolfsburg bounced back from the Dortmund defeat in impressive fashion. Both of their victories since the restart have come on the road, but don’t expect the same sort of fireworks with the club back home on Saturday.

In 14 home matches this season, Wolfsburg have scored just 16 goals and conceded 15. Defensively, they have picked up right where they left off, impressing in tough tests against Dortmund and Leverkusen. A visit from Eintracht will feel like a walk in the park given their struggles away from home.

Eintracht have scored just 13 goals in their 13 away matches this season, including just seven in their last nine. They’re not suddenly going to come to life against a Wolfsburg side that’s incredibly stingy on home soil. Eintracht drew 1-1 at Volkswagen Arena last season and lost the reverse fixture 2-0 earlier this campaign. Expect another tense, low-scoring affair on Saturday.

Pick: Under 2.5, 3 (+102)

Werder Bremen (+190) at Schalke (+140), Draw (+240)

No club in the Bundesliga is in worse form at the moment than Schalke, who were ripped to pieces by rivals Dortmund in the first game back from the hiatus. Schalke followed that 4-0 loss up with a 3-0 defeat at home to Augsburg and a 2-1 loss at relegation-threatened Fortuna Dusseldorf, and have now scored just three goals in their last 10 games overall.

That doesn’t bode well for them against a hungry Bremen side that looks to be turning a corner with four points from their last two matches, as well as a pair of clean sheets. Bremen have been much better on their travels this season and the timing of this visit to Gelsenkirchen couldn’t be much better.

Bremen have won their last three visits to Veltins Arena and are a good bet to make it four on Saturday given the contrasting form of the two sides.

Pick: Bremen PK (+111)

Union Berlin (+500) at Borussia Monchengladbach (-200), Draw (+350)

Gladbach came flying out of the pause with a 3-1 win over Eintracht, but have since hit a snag, losing 3-1 to Leverkusen while being held to a goalless draw with Bremen in midweek. This is a get-right spot for Marco Rose’s side, who have been excellent on home soil this season. They’ve won nine of their last 12 at Borussia-Park, as well as eight in a row at home to clubs outside the top eight of the Bundesliga table.

Conversely, Union have struggled away from home this season, scoring just 14 goals in 14 contests. They’ve been especially bad when visiting clubs in the top eight, losing all six of those contests thus far by a combined 16-3. I have no issue laying -1 here to minimize the juice in what will be a straightforward Gladbach win.

Pick: Gladbach -1 (-108)

Full card:

• Eintracht/Wolfsburg under 2.5, 3 (+102)
• Werder Bremen PK (+111)
• Augsburg/Hertha Berlin over 2.5, 3 (+100)
• Hoffenheim/Mainz under 3 (+105)
• Gladbach -1 (-108)
• Dortmund/Paderborn over 3, 3.5 (-105)

Alex Moretto is a sports betting writer for theScore. A journalism graduate from Guelph-Humber University, he has worked in sports media for over a decade. He will bet on anything from the Super Bowl to amateur soccer, is too impatient for futures, and will never trust a kicker. Find him on Twitter @alexjmoretto.

New York Jets wide receiver Quincy Enunwa, battling a career-threatening neck injury that will keep him off the field in 2020, still hopes to play again one day. But that decision, he said, no longer is in his control.

In an interview with ESPN, Enunwa said Wednesday it was “devastating” to learn recently he had been ruled out for the season. Now, he said, the only thing he can do is play the waiting game.

“If I’m capable of playing, then that’s what I’ll do,” he said, making his first public comments since the end of the season. “If it comes down to the fact that the doctors say I can’t, there’s not much I can do. There’s really nothing I can do there, but if I have the ability to [play], the passion will always be there, the want-to will always be there.