Soccer: Australians that have starred in the UEFA Champions League

The UEFA Champions League is Europe’s most prestigious club competition and playing in it can be the highlight of a player’s career.

A number of Australian players have had the honour of playing in the UEFA Champions League, and one even holds a winners’ medal.

Here are some of the Australians to have starred in the UEFA Champions League.

Harry Kewell

Kewell played in the UEFA Champions League with both Leeds United and Liverpool, and managed to win the tournament with the latter in 2005.

It was a night of mixed emotions for Kewell as he was forced to limp out of the action after just 23 minutes with a groin injury.

Liverpool were 3-0 down at half-time, but pulled off arguably the greatest comeback in the history of the competition to win on penalties.

The victory meant that Kewell became the first Australian-born player to not only play in a UEFA Champions League final but win it.

Kewell also went on to play in another UEFA Champions League final in 2007.

Again it was against AC Milan, but this time there was no happy ending. Kewell came off the bench, but Milan gained revenge for 2005 with a 2-1 win.

Mark Viduka

Viduka is another to have played UEFA Champions League football, and holds the record for the most goals scored by an Australian in the competition.

The striker made his first appearance in the UEFA Champions League with Dinamo Zagreb, but it was while with Leeds United he enjoyed most success.

Viduka scored four goals in the UEFA Champions League for the English side in a memorable 2000/01 campaign.

He grabbed one of his goals in a 3-2 defeat away at Real Madrid, and scored another in a memorable 3-2 win over Lazio at Elland Road.

Including a goal he scored for Dinamo Zagreb, Viduka has a total of five goals in the UEFA Champions League.

Only time will tell if that record will ever be beaten.

Craig Johnston

Johnston may have been born in South Africa, but he moved to New South Wales as a six-year-old and became an Australian citizen.

The winger was part of a very successful Liverpool side that dominated at home and abroad in the 1980s.

Johnston was in the Liverpool side that won the UEFA Champions League, then known as the European Cup, in the 1983/84 season.

Liverpool beat Italian outfit Roma 4-2 on penalties to claim their fourth European Cup. Johnston was in the starting line-up before being substituted in the 72nd minute.