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Comebacks in the UEFA Champions League are an amazing spectacle, although formatting throughout the Champions League playoffs has changed. Up until 2021 for the playoffs, there were two matches for each seeded team; one played at home, another played on the road, and away goals would end any tie-breaker, meaning a tied aggregate scoreline after two separate games would allow the team with the most away goals to advance.
This made for some of the craziest comebacks in Champions League history you’ll ever witness, so we found the five largest comebacks in UCL history, including what teams were playing, what the final scoreline was and key moments from each game.
Beginning the list is one of the most hectic comebacks between the top two teams at the time, Liverpool and Barcelona. Barcelona would leave the first leg of the semi-final round in 2019 with a whopping 3-0 lead at Camp Nou, 2 goals from Leo Messi (a 30-yard free kick for one) and Luis Suarez with 1 to seal the deal.
Heading into the second leg seemed like a breeze for Barcelona, although heading to an intimidating Anfield would prove incredibly intimidating to the Catalonian squad, who would give up four unanswered goals. Liverpool’s Divock Origi would prove to be the most clutch player of the game, putting the team up with the 1st goal and the final 4th goal in the 79’ off a quickly taken corner kick that had Barca scrambled. In the end, Liverpool would advance to the UCL final off a 4-3 scoreline.
In this one, away goals proved to be the deal breaker for sending Manchester United into the quarter-finals, but not after overcoming seemingly impossible odds. United would lose their first game at home against PSG 0-2. Having a 2-0 lead at home in the final game is a massive advantage, although it would fail to help against an amped-up Manchester United squad.
Romelu Lukaku scored in the 2’ before PSG would equalize with a 12’ goal from defender Juan Bernat before Lukaku would score again in the 30’ to take the 2-1 lead. At this time, PSG was still going through on a 3-2 lead, although a final away goal from a dramatic 94’ penalty scored by Marcus Rashford would send United through to the quarters on a 3-3 scoreline.
Unfortunately for FC Barcelona, they’re on this list again after blowing a 4-1 deficit after their first home game. If Roma could shut out Barcelona in the next game and score at least 3 goals, they’d be through to the semi-finals. It seemed impossible, but it was anything but at the home field of Stadio Olimpico.
Edin Dzeko of AS Roma would score an early 3’ goal to lift spirits for the Italian club, opening the gateway for two more goals, a penalty from De Rossi in the 58’ and a final header from Kostas Manolas in the 82’. Ed Dzeko’s late 80’ goal in the first leg of Barcelona’s 4-1 victory proved to be the deal breaker, sending AS Roma through to the Semi-Finals off one away goal.
The only comeback in the finals to appear on this list, and one of the greatest comebacks in Champions League history, occurred in May 2005 between AC Milan and Liverpool. The UCL Final is played in just one leg on a neutral field, so there’s less bandwidth for a comeback. Milan’s Paolo Maldini would score in the opening minute before teammate Hernan Crespo scored in the 39’ and 44’ right before halftime to give Milan a large 3-0 lead.
Somehow, Liverpool came out of the locker room for the second phase with a completely revamped attitude. Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard would net the first in the 2nd half before Vladimir Smicer would score in the 56’, and Xabi Alonso would tie the game in the 6’. The game went to overtime and then penalties, which Liverpool would win 3-2 for one of the largest comebacks in UCL Finals history.
Arguably one of the largest deficit-crucial comebacks in UEFA Champions League history occurred in the Round of 16 between Barcelona and PSG in 2017. PSG would not just take home a victory in the first game with a 4-0 win, but it seemed likely that the second game would be a sweep. Coming to the Nou Camp proved challenging for the Parisian squad, with Barca’s Luis Suarez scoring an early 3’ goal, followed by no goals until the 34’ when PSGs Layvin Kurzawa scored an own goal, leaving the game 4-2 on aggregate by halftime.
Barca would need more to tie, although after Messi scored a penalty in the 50’, PSG’s Edison Cavani would score the precious away goal to seemingly end the game in the 62’. The aggregate scoreline at 5-3, Barcelona would need a whopping three more goals to advance (OT not possible), which would shockingly get pulled off by two quick goals from Neymar in the 89′ and 91’+ before legendary Sergio Roberto of Barcelona would score in the 95’ of added time to allow Barcelona to advance to the quarter-finals in the largest UCL comeback of all time.
Liam has been a major sports fan and soccer player for over a decade, with a particular focus on major top-level soccer leagues, including the EPL, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and MLS. He has written numerous promotional articles for various top sportsbooks and continues to publish historical and factual sports articles covering the NFL, MLS, NHL, MLB, EPL and more.