The UEFA Champions League kicks off every year to witness Europe’s elite slug it out for the most coveted prize in club football.
While the likes of Liverpool, Real Madrid and Barcelona have often assert dominance, some campaigns have seen a number of near impossible comebacks, especially at the knock-out stages.
The Heritage Times looks at the top five best turnarounds in the competitions history, as ranked by UCFB’s Hollie Earlam.
5. Manchester United 2-1 Bayern Munich, 1999
As the unstoppable giants of English football, Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United had already secured the Premier League and FA Cup double. But success in Europe continued to elude them – the Reds hadn’t won the tournament since 1968.
In one of the tightest, tensest Champions League finals in the competitions history, Bayern led for 84 minutes. But if there’s anyone who knows the importance of stoppage time, it’s Sir Alex.
United’s remarkable refusal to admit defeat saw them draw level in stoppage time via substitute Teddy Sheringham. And it was another substitute, current manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who squeezed in the winner for the Reds just a minute later to secure the famous trophy and a famous treble, in one of the most dramatic finales of all time. No English team has completed the treble since.
4. Liverpool 4-0 Barcelona (aggregate 4-3), 2019
When Liverpool lost 3-0 at the Camp Nou, mainly thanks to a Lionel Messi masterclass, the chances of them scoring them overcoming the Catalans’ in the second leg seemed miniscule; the chances of keeping a clean sheet at Anfield almost impossible.
“We score, Liverpool need FIVE!” bragged Barcelona’s official twitter account.
But an early goal by Divock Origi gave the Reds a glimmer of hope, before half-time substitute Georginio Wijnaldum fired in two goals in two minutes, to send Anfield wild. With the home side in the ascendancy and Barcelona crumbling, it was the quick thinking of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Origi from a corner that saw Liverpool complete the most incredible of comebacks and send the Reds into the final for the second successive year, where they overcame Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham Hotspur.
3. Ajax 2-3 Tottenham (aggregate 3-3, Tottenham win on away goals), 2019
2019 was the year for comebacks, and just a day after Liverpool stunned Barcelona it was Tottenham’s turn to provide the semi-final drama.
54 minutes into the second-leg in Amsterdam, Tottenham were trailing 3-0 on aggregate to Ajax and needed nothing short of a miracle to cling onto their Champions League hopes. With star striker Harry Kane missing due to injury, Spurs looked down and out and were being measurably outclassed by the home side.
But a stroke of genius from Lucas Moura transformed the tie. Two quick-fire second half goals from the Brazilian reignited the team, and he carved his name into the club’s history books when he completed his hat-trick in the 95th minute with the last kick of the game.
Mauricio Pochettino broke down in tears, falling to his hands and knees, and even Kane couldn’t resist sprinting onto the pitch to celebrate, as Tottenham secured a place in the Champions League final for the first time in history.
2. Barcelona 6-1 Paris Saint-Germain (aggregate 6-5), 2017
When PSG stunned Barcelona with a 4-0 thrashing in 2017, many claimed it marked a symbolic change – the overturning of the historic, all-conquering legends in favour of football’s nouveau riche.
Yet from the moment Luis Suarez scored less than three minutes into the match, the turnaround seemed possible. A clumsy own goal and a Lionel Messi penalty left the Spaniards needing just one goal, but a 62nd minute belter from Edinson Cavani for the Parisians was an unexpected complication in the narrative. The home side now needed to score three goals and not concede with less than half an hour remaining.
With 87 minutes on the clock PSG’s place in the last eight seemed secure, only to be unraveled by a late hounding of Kevin Trapp’s goal. A Neymar free-kick, followed by a penalty, spurred life back into Camp Nou, and at 95 minutes the stadium erupted as Sergi Roberto’s volley took them through to the quarter-finals, winning 6-5 on aggregate.
Barcelona proved, in the most dramatic of fashions, they weren’t on their way out just yet.
1. AC Milan 3-3 Liverpool (Liverpool win 3-2 on penalties), 2005
There have been recoveries from greater deficits, and recoveries in more ostentatious fashions, but there remains no game quite like the 2005 final in Istanbul. Liverpool, a side whose years of dominating English and European football were almost a distant memory, faced the towering presence of Carlo Ancelotti’s A.C. Milan – strong favourites for the tie.
The Italians ran riot in the first half, and the Reds were lucky to just be 3-0 down at half-time, with a number of Reds’ fans choosing to leave the stadium at half-time.
But captain Steven Gerrard was not about to give up on his beloved club. The Scouse skipper threw Liverpool a lifeline with a 53-minute header, and only a minute later Vladimir Smicer scored a second. Xabi Alonso then scored on the rebound from a penalty to remarkably level the score.
Milan dominated extra-time, but Liverpool’s newfound grit could not be broken. The Italians had a horror-show in the penalty shoot-out, leaving the trophy in touching distance for the Reds. The goalkeeping heroics of Jerzy Dudek then won it for English side, dramatically saving Andriy Shevchenko’s penalty. To this day, Istanbul serves as a constant reminder in football that it’s never truly over until the final whistle.
