Over the years in the biggest tournament of European football, the UEFA Champions League, fans have witnessed unbelievable comebacks at various stages of the competition. While the ‘La Remontada’ remains the greatest ever, with Barcelona staging a spectacular comeback from 4-0 down in the first leg to win the second leg 6-1 against Paris Saint-Germain, others including the Catalans and Liverpool as well as Roma to remain fresh and well-remembered.
Elsewhere, Bayern Munich are left with the task to make a comeback now after losing their Champions League quarterfinals first leg against Manchester City 3-0. So far in this year’s edition, only Chelsea have staged a comeback, overturning a one goal deficit from their round of 16 first leg defeat against Borussia Dortmund, by winning the return leg at Stamford Bridge 2-0.
The top-5 Champions League comebacks
While only the second leg at the Allianz Arena will tell the fate of Bayern’s Champions League fate, looking at the history, where three-goal deficits have been overturned with much thrill, the Bavarians won’t rule themselves out yet. For now, we take a look at the top-5 comebacks in the history of the elite European competition, from where Bayern, and perhaps Benfica as well can draw inspiration who lost the first leg to Inter by a score of 2-0.
5. Ajax 2-3 Tottenham (3-3 agg)
Tottenham made it to their first ever Champions League final in 2019, but that wasn’t easy for Mauricio Pochettino’s men. They played Ajax in the semifinals, and the Dutch team entered the second leg at home with a 1-0 lead from the first leg, which they rapidly expanded into a 3-0 lead before halftime. But, two quick goals after the break created a tense finish before Lucas Moura secured a hat-trick and immortality.
The Eredivise champions had taken the lead thanks to a perfectly placed header from Matyhijs De Ligt before a beautiful move ended with a superb finish from Hakim Ziyech. But, Moura scored twice in four minutes to set up an incredible finish after the break. The Brazilian then scored the game-winning goal in the sixth and last minute of the stoppage time to advance Tottenham to their first Champions League final, where they eventually lost to Liverpool.
4. Roma 3-0 Barcelona (4-4 agg)
With eyes on a potential treble as a spot in the Copa del Rey final had already been secured, Barcelona were expecting to improve upon their semi-final exit from the previous season. Ernesto Valverde’s team was nine points clear at the top of La Liga going into the first leg against Roma during the quarterfinals of the 2017/18 season. With two own goals from the Italians, and a goal each from Luis Suarez and Gerard Pique, the match ended in a 4-1 rout, with Edin Dzeko pulling one back for the visitors in the 80the minute.
The Bosnian struck just six minutes into the second leg to significantly close the gap, knowing that thanks to their crucial away goal, they only needed two more goals at the Stadio Olimpico to progress. There was intense pressure that followed, as Patrik Schick also came dangerously close to scoring before club veteran Daniele De Rossi scored his first Champions League goal in more than two years from the spot after Pique fouled Dzeko in the box.
Kostas Manolas scored the game-winning goal for Roma with eight minutes remaining after the team continued to press for it as his side progressed on away goal advantage. Roma had been waiting 34 years to make it to the semifinals of the European Cup or Champions League. But, that ambition would be crushed once more as they faced eventual runners-up Liverpool in the next round.
3. Liverpool 4-0 Barcelona (4-3 agg)
It seemed certain that Barcelona would win the tie. The Catalan giants took the lead in the home leg of their semifinals against Liverpool in the 2018/19 season, thanks to Luis Suarez netting the Catalans’ 500th UEFA Champions League goal, followed by two goals from Lionel Messi, the second of which was his 600th for the club, 14 years after his first against Albacete in May 2005.
The Reds did come dangerously close to scoring an essential away goal (as previous comebacks have demonstrated), but it was their sixth straight loss in the away leg of a significant European semifinal. But all it actually accomplished was to prepare Anfield for one of those fantastical European nights.
After only seven minutes, Divock Origi gave Liverpool the lead. However, the match was completely turned around in only 122 seconds after the break thanks to two goals from Georginio Wijnaldum, who had only entered the game as Andy Robertson’s replacement who got injured.
All eight of Barcelona’s shots during the game were either taken by Lionel Messi (five) or were created by him (three), in an effort to arrest Liverpool’s momentum. In the dying minutes then, Trent Alexander-Arnold caught the Catalan defence off guard during a corner, allowing Origi to strike home and send the Kop into frenzied delight, as the Reds made it to the final on a 4-3 aggregate score, and eventually won it against Tottenham Hotspur.
2. Paris Saint-Germain 1-3 Manchester United (3-3 agg)
There have been 10 occasions in the history of the Champions League where a team has overcome a two-goal deficit to advance. However, only on one occasion an away team has overturned the deficit in the second leg. Following Jose Mourinho’s departure, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who was still serving as interim manager of Manchester United, when the club lost his first game in charge, which also happened to be their worst home loss in any European competition, during the 2018/19 season.
Providing assists to Presnel Kimpembe and Kylian Mbappé, Angel Di Mara returned to torment his former club, helping Paris Saint-Germain defeat United at Old Trafford for the first time in any European competition. None of the previous 107 clubs that lost a Champions League or European Cup first-leg by two goals or more at home had advanced.
Yet, Romelu Lukaku capitalised on a sloppy back-pass after just two minutes into the kick-off, giving Manchester United the perfect start in the French capital. PSG’s Juan Bernat managed to draw square on the night, but United’s the Belgian striker was once more able to restore the lead in the 30th minute. United aware that a single goal would be sufficient to advance under the away goals rule, but the match appeared to be going against them until Kimpembe was found to have handled in the area following a VAR check.
With his first ever penalty kick in a competitive game for United, Marcus Rashford converted the ensuing spot kick in the fourth minute of added time to complete the incredible comeback and, potentially, ensure Solskjaer’s position as the team’s permanent manager.
1. Barcelona 6-1 PSG (6-5 agg)
It only happened once in the UEFA Champions League’s history, that team overturned a four-goal deficit from the first leg. The infamous ‘La Remontada’ allowed Barcelona to overcome a 4-0 deficit against Paris Saint-Germain in the round of 16 second leg in the 2016/17 season.
For PSG, the first leg could not have gone better. They had previously lost to Barcelona in each of their knockout round meetings in the 2012–2013 and 2014–15 seasons, but this time around, Julian Draxler added to Angel Di Mara’s free-kick opening goal before halftime at Parc des Princes to give the Parisians a perfect start. Unai Emery’s defensive system kept Barca to just one shot on target throughout the game.
Another outstanding effort from Di Mara’s continued to put the Ligue 1 team on the way to a significant first-leg advantage before Edinson Cavani converted in the 71st minute. There have been 231 European first legs that have gone 4-0 since 1955. Moreover, the losing team has never made a comeback.
The Camp Nou crowd sensed they could be about to witness something special when Luis Suarez headed Barcelona into the lead on the night just three minutes after the kick-off, despite Thomas Meunier’s best efforts on the line. The Catalans then added one more to their tally before halftime thanks to Layvin Kurzawa’s own goal while attempting to clear Andres Iniesta’s outrageous attempt.
Three minutes after the break, Meunier took down Neymar in the box, earning Barcelona a penalty. Lionel Messi promptly converted the ensuing spot-kick, but PSG were given a reprieve when Cavani shut the home fans with a crucial away goal. The Catalans needed to score three more goals to move into the quarterfinals since the away goals rule in the Champions League was still in effect at this time.
Neymar scored twice from set pieces, first from a wide free-kick that sailed past Kevin Trapp and then by converting his team’s second penalty of the match to set up a dramatic finish with the Brazilian once again at the centre of their success. With 20 seconds remaining in the added time of five minutes, the Brazilian’s cross into the box eluded everyone but Sergi Roberto, setting off a raucous celebration from Luis Enrique on the bench.