Gareth Bale aiming to become sixth player to win Champions League or European Cup in hometown

Gareth Bale could become just the sixth player in history to lift the Champions League or European Cup in their hometown, should Real Madrid go all the way in this season's competition.

The holders go into the 2016/17 Champions League aiming to extend their dominance in the tournament to 12 titles. But for Cardiff-born Bale, winning the 2017 final at the Millennium Stadium on June 3 would have special significance.

Interestingly, Nicolas Anelka was the last player to achieve the feat - doing so while he was at Real Madrid, too. The Frenchman from Versailles helped Los Blancos to the crown in 2000, in a 3-0 win over Valencia in Paris' Stade de France.

Here's the list of players to have won Europe's elite club competition in familiar surroundings:

Conversely, there are 10 players to have suffered final heartbreak in their hometown - including Londoners Rio Ferdinand and Chris Smalling, Munich-born Philipp Lahm and Sky Sports' Thierry Henry, who comes from Les Ulis, a suburb of Paris.

Thomas Muller, born in Weilheim, and Bastian Schweinsteiger, born in Kolbermoor, are from just outside of Munich - the scene of their 2012 penalty shoot-out final defeat to Chelsea.

Here's the list of players who lost Champions League finals in their hometown: