The greatest UCL comebacks play a huge part in why football fans from across the globe cherish Europe’s elite club competition so much.
Teams doing the seemingly impossible, fighting back from unlikely deficits and upsetting the odds all adds to the flavour of the prestigiousness.
Ahead of the 2024/25 second-leg play-offs in the new-look UEFA Champions League format, British sides Manchester City and in particular Celtic have their work cut out.
Both sides are trailing after last week’s defeats and will be aiming to make the seemingly impossible, possible. The Bhoys trail Bundesliga giants 2-1 whereas City were on the wrong end of a 3-2 scoreline against Real Madrid.
Granted, the greatest UCL comebacks have seen much bigger margins overturned but due to the quality of the opposition, both sides could earn a place in the history books with sizable wins this week.
Barcelona 6-1 PSG (Last 16 second leg, March 2017)
*Barcelona won 6-5 on aggregate
To this day, Barcelona are the only side in UCL history to overturn a four-goal deficit in the knockout stages. Many will agree that this is the greatest UCL comeback ever.
PSG romped to a 4-0 first leg success in Paris and seemingly put the tie to bed. However, Barca had other ideas on a magical night at the Camp Nou.
Luis Suarez opened the scoring before an own goal by Layvin Kurzawa gave the Spaniards hope. That feeling was increased when Lionel Messi scored a penalty after the interval.
Edinson Cavani silenced the home crowd when he pulled one back for the Ligue 1 side. With the aggregate score now 5-3 in favour of the Parisians, utter carnage ensued.
Neymar netted in the 88th and 90th minute to level the tie at 5-5. Then, there was still time for Sergi Roberto to write his name in Barca folklore when he flicked home the winner.
Deportivo La Coruna 4-0 AC Milan (Quarter-final second leg, April 2004)
*Deportivo won 5-4 on aggregate
Deportivo not only produced one of the greatest UCL comebacks of all-time, they did so against arguably one of the greatest teams in Europe.
Milan had an abundance of world class talent at their disposal. In the first leg, the Italians cruised to a 4-1 win despite going a goal down.
Their minds were probably already on the semi-final but the Spaniards had different ideas. Walter Pandiani, Juan Carlos Valeron and Albert Luque all netted to put the La Liga side into the overall lead via away goals.
Just to make sure, Fran scored another to make it 4-0 on the night and 5-4 on aggregate. Unsurprisngly, this result is one of the finest in Deportivo’s 118-year history.
Real Madrid 3-1 Man City (Semi-final second Leg, May 2022)
*Real Madrid won 6-5 on aggregate
Although Man City have since gone on to win the UCL, they’ll still be reeling from the opportunity to face Liverpool in an all-England final in 2022.
The Cityzens won the semi-final first leg 4-3 after an Etihad extravaganza. All Pep Guardiola’s side needed to do at the Bernabeu was hold their nerve. Which of course, they couldn’t.
Riyad Mahrez made the task seemingly easier but shortly after his 73rd minute goal, disaster struck. Brazilian star Rodrygo netted twice in stoppage time to force an extra 30 minutes.
Real Madrid legend Karim Benzema scored a penalty to swing the tie completely on its head. Los Blancos progressed to the final whereby they beat the Premier League side 1-0.
Roma 3-0 Barcelona (Quarter-final second leg, April 2018)
*Roma won on away goals (4-4)
A Gladiatorial performance by Roma in 2018 saw them defeat a prime Barcelona side to reach the semi-finals in the 2017/18 competition.
In the first leg, Barca cruised to a 4-1 win which appeared to put Ernesto Valverde’s men into the last four. However, that wasn’t the case.
Edin Dzeko put the Serie A side ahead on the night before club legend Daniele De Rossi netted in the second-half. With less than ten minutes to go, Kostas Manolas headed home to put the Red and Yellows ahead via away goals.
“Roma have risen from their ruins. Manolas, the Greek God in Rome, the unthinkable unfolds before our eyes. This was not meant to happen. This could not happen. This is happening,” bellowed Peter Drury.
The most iconic piece of commentary in recent years perfectly captured the immense comeback as Roma held on despite a late Lionel Messi effort.
Man United 2-1 Bayern Munich (Final, May 1999)
The ‘original’ and one of the greatest UCL comebacks occurred in the 1999 final between Man United and Bayern Munich at the Camp Nou.
United had already won the Premier League and FA Cup and were just 90 minutes away from completing a historic treble. With midfield stars Roy Keane and Paul Scholes suspended, their mission had already taken a hit.
The task was made even harder when Mario Basler fired the Bundesliga giants ahead just a few minutes into the game. However, Sir Alex Ferguson sides failed to throw the towel in.
Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer were both introduced in the second period and both strikers netted in stoppage time to break Bayern’s hearts. Thus, giving Fergie his first UCL success.
Chelsea 4-1 Napoli AET (Last 16 second leg, March 2012)
*Chelsea won 5-4 on aggregate
Chelsea actually went on to win the 2011/12 UCL after stunning Bayern Munich in their own back yard. However, the Blues had to produce one heck of a comeback to even get there.
In the Last 16, the west Londoners were paired with Napoli and duly lost the first leg in Italy 3-1. That defeat came under Andre Villas-Boas, who was sacked before the second leg.
Roberto Di Matteo was appointed as caretaker and the former Chelsea man oversaw a brilliant 4-1 victory at Stamford Bridge. Goals from Didier Drogba, John Terry and Frank Lampard made it 3-1 on the night after Gokhan Inler netted for the Serie A side.
In extra-time, defender Branislav Ivanovic scored to send Di Matteo’s side into the quarter-finals in the most unlikely of circumstances.
PSG 1-3 Man United (Last 16 second leg, March 2019)
*Man United won on away goals (3-3)
Man United became the first side in UCL history to overturn a 2-0 first leg home defeat to advance to the next round. And it was thanks to Marcus Rashford’s penalty they bucked the trend.
PSG picked up a comfortable win at Old Trafford in the first meeting which appeared to have put the Red Devils out of the competition.
In Paris, Romelu Lukaku opened the scoring before Juan Bernat levelled on the night. Lukaku then netted his and United’s second before Rashford’s effort from 12 yards sealed a fine victory.
The academy graduate’s stoppage-time winner saw Rio Ferdinand call for interim manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to be given the job full-time, announcing: “Let him sign the contract. Ole’s at the wheel man, he’s doing his thing, Man United are back.”
Liverpool 4-0 Barcelona (Semi-final second leg, May 2019)
*Liverpool won 4-3 on aggregate
The greatest UCL comeback at Anfield occurred in the 2019 semi-final second leg when Liverpool thrashed Barcelona 4-0 on an extraordinary night on Merseyside.
Jurgen Klopp’s side trailed 3-0 after feeling the wrath of Lionel Messi in Spain. However, the Argentine superstar was no match for Divock Origi and Gini Wijnaldum in the return leg.
The duo scored twice with the former scoring the all-important fourth goal. Youngster Trent Alexander-Arnold saw the Barca defence switch off at a corner and aimed the ball in for the Belgian to score.
Origi wrote himself into Anfield folklore off this performance alone. He would also go on to score in the final as well, giving the Reds their sixth European title.
Ajax 2-3 Tottenham (Semi-final second leg, May 2019)
*Tottenham win on away goals (3-3)
Exactly 24 hours after Liverpool’s heroics against Barcelona, Tottenham created another stunning UCL comeback which quite literally floored Ajax.
The Dutch side had enjoyed a stellar campaign in Europe’s elite club competition. In the semi-final first leg in north London, the Sons of the Gods won 1-0 and looked to be on their way to the final.
Especially after Hakim Ziyech and Matthijs de Ligt scored in Amsterdam to make it 3-0 overall. Then, it was time for the Lucas Moura show.
The Brazilian star hit a stunning second-half hat-trick to ensure it would be the Lilywhites who progressed at the expense of the Eredivisie giants. Moura’s last came in the 95th minute, stunning the home faithful.
Milan 3-3 Liverpool AET (Final, May 2005)
*Liverpool won 4-2 on penalties
Ah, the Miracle of Istanbul. That was the rightful moniker given to the 2005 final which is perhaps the greatest UCL comeback of all-time.
Liverpool had gotten somewhat lucky to get to the showdown with Milan after Luis Garcia’s ‘ghost goal’ in the semi-final against Chelsea.
Nonetheless, a first-half battering from the Italians saw Paolo Maldini and Hernan Crespo (2) to give the Serie A giants and their plethora of world class stars a comfortable 3-0 half-time lead.
In the second-half, utter madness ensued. Steven Gerrard headed home before Vladimir Smicer rifled in and Xabi Alonso netted on the rebound from a missed penalty. All in the space of seven minutes.
Rafa Benitez’s side endured a battering for the rest of the game and well into extra-time. Whereby Jerzy Dudek pulled off a remarkable save to deny Andriy Shevchenko late on.
The Ukrainian star would cement his place as Milan’s villain when he missed the decisive spot-kick during penalties. Once again, Dudek proved his nemesis with some unorthodox fancy footwork to put him off.
Somehow, Liverpool were crowned European champions for a fifth time in a game that is certainly remembered as one of the finest of all-time, not just in the UCL.
