Three of the greatest Champions League semi-final comebacks

Three of the greatest UEFA Champions League semi-final second leg comebacks

By
Jack Hasler
-
Anfield
Anfield awaits the two teams ahead of Liverpool's semi-final meeting with Barcelona (Credit: George Groutas)

The Champions League semi-final second legs get under way tonight with a place in the final, hosted in Istanbul, up for grabs.

Manchester City play host to PSG with a 2-1 lead from the first leg, a win for the English side would see them reach the final for the first time in their history.

In the second semi-final, Chelsea welcome 13-time winners Real Madrid tomorrow, having drawn the first leg 1-1 at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano.

Ahead of this week’s mouth-watering clashes, StoryHub took a look back at three of the greatest comebacks at this stage in the competition in the past decade…

Liverpool (4) 4-0 (3) Barcelona (2019)

After a Lionel Messi double and a Luis Suarez strike condemned Liverpool to a 3-0 loss at the Nou Camp, the Reds’ hopes of a second Champions League final in as many years looked to be over.

Jurgen Klopp’s men, however, had other ideas. They had to produce another famous turnaround, and that they did, in spectacular fashion.

Divock Origi set the comeback in motion, firing the Reds into a 1-0 lead after seven minutes.

Messi and co did their utmost to halt Liverpool’s momentum, creating a number of chances – Allison had other ideas though, making save after save.

With this, the gauntlet was in place to make the dream seem possible.

Georginio Wijnaldum then turned the dream into reality. He struck twice in the space of three minutes, putting Liverpool 3-0 up on the night and level at 3-3 on aggregate.

You could sense one of those famous European nights at Anfield was about to be added to the history books.

Barcelona were looking unsettled and being put under pressure as the Reds pressed for the winner.

They found it with 11 minutes to go in extraordinary fashion.

A quick piece of thinking from Trent Alexander-Arnold saw the Englishman catch out the sleeping Barca defence and pick out Origi who emphatically thrashed past Marc Andre Ter Stegen to make it 4-3 on aggregate.

Ajax (3) 2-3 (3) Tottenham Hotspur (2019)

2019 was an outstanding year for late Champions League semi-final second leg comebacks.

Following a 1-0 defeat at home, Spurs had it all to do in the second leg against Ajax if they were to progress to their first-ever Champions League final.

The dream looked to be over within 35 minutes though as Ajax took a 2-0 lead to extend their aggregate advantage to three goals as Matthijs de Ligt and Hakim Ziyech found the back of the net.

Spurs came out for the second-half looking a different animal and the impossible comeback was on when a quickfire Lucas Moura double reduced the deficit to a single goal.

Tottenham battled hard for the remainder of the tie, but it looked as though their journey was to come to an end as the clock ticked into the dying seconds of the five additional minutes.

Mauricio Pochettino’s men though, had other ideas. In one unbelievable moment, they achieved the impossible.

A long hopeful Moussa Sissoko punt forward, a Fernando Llorente duel with de Ligt, a flick from Dele Alli. Then, a sweeping left-footed finish from Lucas, as the clock ticked over 95 minutes, secured the most incredible of comebacks in Champions League history.

Mauricio Pochettino in tears, staff and players not knowing what to do with themselves, fans jubilant in the away end. Moments Spurs fans will remember until the end of time.

Barcelona (2) 2-2 (3) Chelsea (2012)

Despite Barcelona’s rich history in the competition, here is another occasion that saw the five-time Champions League winners, become the victims of a special Champions League semi-final comeback.

Chelsea led this tie going into the second leg. Didier Drogba’s finish giving Roberto Di Matteo’s side a single-goal advantage ahead of travelling to the Nou Camp.

This looked as if it was not enough as within 37 minutes in Barcelona as the tie was turned on its head.

Everything that could possibly gone wrong, had gone wrong for Chelsea.

Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta had put Barca 2-1 up on aggregate, Gary Cahill had limped off with an injury and John Terry had been sent off.

A complete reshuffle ensued with full-back Jose Bosingwa forced to play at centre-half and Ramires moving from midfield to the right side of defence.

You would have thought that Chelsea would be on the wrong side of a thrashing. Incredibly though, at the home of the Catalans, with ten-men, they would defy the odds unbelievably.

Ramires scored just before half-time to give the Blues an away goal and make the aggregate scoreline 2-2, meaning Barca needed a goal.

They absolutely battered Chelsea in the second-half, Petr Cech making countless saves, Branislav Ivanovic, Ashley Cole and Bosingwa making block after block.

The footballing god’s were in favour of Chelsea, with superstar Messi crashing a penalty off the bar.

Incredibly they could not find a way through the ten men of Chelsea despite the plethora of attacking talents in their armoury.

As the full-time whistle drew close, Barcelona threw everyone in a blue and garnet shirt forward in search of a winner.

Despite absorbing never-ending waves of pressure and being camped in their own half, Chelsea scored the only goal in the second period to secure passage to the final.

An aimless up-field clearance picked out Fernando Torres who sprinted forward, before rounding Victor Valdes to send ten-man, depleated Chelsea into the final where they would then overcome Bayern Munich, also in dramatic fashion.

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