Streaks are broken at some point, but right now there’s one that favors Atletico Madrid to win the Champions League in 2014. They beat Barcelona in the quarterfinals, a team that has either won the title or was knocked out by the eventual champions over the last six seasons.
In the 2007-08 season, Barcelona made it to the semifinals, facing Manchester United. After a 0-0 draw at the Camp Nou, Barcelona traveled to the Old Trafford where they lost 1-0 to a fantastic goal from Paul Scholes. Manchester United went on to win the competition for a third time, beating Chelsea after penalty kicks.
A year later? The perfect Barcelona year, their first under Pep Guardiola. This time they made the finals against Manchester United, clearly outplaying them for 90 minutes and winning the competition for a third time, beating them 2-0.
In 2009-10 Barcelona reached the semifinals to face Inter, a team they met twice in the group stage, beating them once and drawing once and looking much better in both outings. They lost 3-1 to a superb counter attacking performance from Mourinho’s side, while Barcelona’s 1-0 win in the Camp Nou wasn’t enough. Inter went on to win the title, beating Bayern 2-0 in the final.
A year later and Barcelona once again end up in the final, a second time under Guardiola. Once more their opponents are Manchester United, and this time it was an even more impressive performance from the side, beating the Red Devils 3-1 on English ground inside Wembley.
Another season, and the on/off tradition continues. Barcelona get to play Chelsea in the semifinals, one of the weakest Chelsea sides of the last decade. The Blues still beat Barcelona 1-0 at Stamford Bridge and managed a 2-2 draw in Spain, moving on to the final where they upset Bayern Munich in penalty kicks.
In 2013, it was an even rougher loss for Barcelona, facing Bayern Munich in the semifinals. Bayern crushed Barcelona 4-0 in Munich and furthered the humiliation with a 3-0 in Spain. They moved on to the final, beating Dortmund 2-1 to win the competition.