Drogba lethal, Henry snubbed, Mourinho arrival - football when Barca were last in UEL

This season the Spanish giants were knocked out of the UCL group stage last December, with Bayern Munich and Benfica beating them to a place in the next round, relegating them to Europe's secondary competition.

It means Barca failed to make it into the knockout stage for the first time in 21 years.

In fact, the last time they failed to qualify from their group was during the 2000/01 season under the captaincy of Pep Guardiola.

Nevertheless, all good runs eventually come to an end and now Napoli await the Spanish club in a mouth-watering knockout round play-off tie.

The match promises to be an intriguing affair played by two sides who have a rich history and both lay claim to having the great Diego Maradona on their books.

Xavi Hernandez, however, knows that the Europa League just won't cut it for his club next season.

He was on the pitch for both legs of their appearance in the competition in a 1-0 defeat on aggregate to Celtic, playing alongside Ronaldinho and Carles Puyol.

And in light of his club's return to the Europe's secondary competition, talkSPORT.com has looked at what else was going on in the football world at that time, and it's safe to say it makes for great reading…

Didier Drogba and Alan Shearer tore up Europe

Drogba became a legend under Jose Mourinho at Chelsea.

But, the season before joining the Blues, he top-scored in the UEFA Cup while with Marseille in the 2003/04 campaign.

He scored six goals, alongside his future Chelsea teammate Mateja Kezman, who was playing for PSV Eindhoven at the time.

But they weren't the only joint-top scorers.

None other than Alan Shearer, the Premier League's all-time top scorer, also hit six in the competition for Newcastle, while Sonny Anderson also scored that amount with Villarreal.

Valencia beat Drogba's Marseille in the final to claim a famous double.

But it was the Chelsea icon who ended Shearer's dream of winning the trophy earlier in the semi-final, hitting a second-leg double to sink the Tyneside club in a 2-0 aggregate victory.

Arsenal were invincible but Thierry Henry suffered Ballon d'Or snub

Still never matched to this day, Arsenal did the unthinkable and won the Premier League without losing a game.

After steering the Gunners to the historic golden trophy, many thought Henry was a shoo-in for football's top individual prize.

He netted 30 league goals, eight more than Shearer in second, and was an absolute joy to watch throughout the Gunners' 'Invincibles' campaign.

Nevertheless, the gong was won by Andriy Shevchenko who scored less goals to help Milan romp to the Serie A title.

Second place was taken by Deco, who was brilliant on Porto's road to glory in the Champions League.

Henry being shunned for the Ballon d'Or will forever be a great mystery, particularly to Arsenal fans.

Greece win the European Championship

As we already know, 2004 was a mightily strange year for football and arguably the biggest miracle came when Greece prevailed at the Euros.

No one really considered the possibility of them winning the tournament and why would they?

It was their first European Championship since 1980 and their last major tournament appearance came in the 1994 World Cup which saw them lose all their group matches. They hadn't even scored at a major tournament before.

But this was a tournament like no other. Germany, Spain and Italy were knocked out at the group stage, while France started the defence of their title with a crazy victory over England. However, Les Bleus never truly got going.

And this paved the way for one of football's great underdog stories as Greece outwitted the superstars of European football to lift the Henri Delaunay trophy 16 years ago today.

Valencia beat Galacticos historic double

Real Madrid were in the midst of a golden era, with Raul, Luis Figo, David Beckham, Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane all plying their trade with the Spanish giants.

That's why Valencia really had no right to win the League title and the UEFA Cup in 2004.

Nevertheless, Los Ches, managed by a young Rafael Benitez, achieved the incredible feat.

Some of Benitez's key performers were shot-stopper Santiago Canizares with his peroxide hair, electric winger Vicente and enigmatic number ten Pablo Aimar.

Other title winners around Europe included Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga and Lyon in France.

Jose Mourinho the rookie

Truly the year of the underdog, 2004 also marked the arrival of the 'Special One' onto the scene.

He steered Porto a brilliant Champions League triumph, beating Manchester United, Deportivo La Coruna, Lyon and then Monaco in the final to lift the trophy.

The victory would spring the rambunctious Portuguese into the limelight.

He went on to manage Chelsea the following season, steering the Blues to consecutive titles.

The rest, as we know, is history.