Liverpool and Tottenham both mounted remarkable semi-final comebacks; where do they rank in the all-time reckoning?
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Four-goal deficit
Paris Saint-Germain 4-0 Barcelona
Barcelona 6-1 Paris Saint-Germain
2016/17 round of 16
In 2016/17, Barcelona became the first team to fight back from four goals down to win a UEFA Champions League tie – only the fourth time it’s been done in any UEFA club competition tie.
If Paris’s demolition of Luis Enrique’s men in France had been a shock, the Barça recovery was simply out of this world, Sergi Roberto striking in added time to decide the tie. “I told him: ‘Get into the box! You’re going to score!'” Neymar recalled. Sergi Roberto added: “I didn’t know if I was dreaming – I have never known a noise like that.”
Three-goal deficits
Barcelona 3-0 Liverpool
Liverpool 4-0 Barcelona
2018/19 semi-finals
The Anfield faithful have seen some famous European nights down the years, but few can rival this sensational performance. Barcelona looked to have one foot in the final after Lionel Messi’s double in the opening game, his second a sumptuous free-kick to bring up his 600th Barça goal. He was about to be upstaged.
The Reds fielded a depleted line-up in the return, with key duo Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino missing, but Divock Origi’s early strike gave them hope. The Belgian then rounded off a pulsating triumph after a Georginio Wijnaldum double. “The belief in the changing room is incredible,” said captain Jordan Henderson. “We knew we could pull something off.”
Barcelona 4-1 Roma
Roma 3-0 Barcelona
2017/18 quarter-finals
Edin Džeko struggled to communicate the magnitude of Roma’s feat after his sixth-minute finish sparked this extraordinary revival of fortunes, saying: “You cannot imagine, I mean it was incredible, crazy – I don’t know how to describe it. We did it when definitely nobody believed in us.”
Certainly, there looked to be no way back after a 4-1 loss at Camp Nou, but Džeko’s goal and a Daniele De Rossi penalty set the scene for Kostas Manolas’s 82nd-minute headed winner.
AC Milan 4-1 Deportivo La Coruña
Deportivo La Coruña 4-0 AC Milan
2003/04 quarter-finals
“Miracles often happen, things you might not rationally expect,” said Depor coach Javier Irureta, holding on to faint hope ahead of the return leg, the Spanish team having been well beaten despite scoring first at San Siro.
Astonishingly, his troops were ahead on aggregate by half-time in the return, Walter Pandiani, Juan Carlos Valerón and Alberto Luque making it 3-0 – before substitute Fran González added a fourth. Having prayed for success, Irureta later honoured a promise by taking the pilgrim trail to Santiago de Compostela.
