Not Just Barca-Liverpool, UCL Has Seen Great Comebacks Over Years

Being 3-0 down after the first leg, Liverpool scored four goals against Barcelona at Anfield on Tuesday.

Liverpool managed a massive comeback against Barcelona. Its not the only great comeback of the Champions League.

(Photo: AP)

Liverpool's 4-0 victory over Barcelona in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League surely qualifies as one of the greatest comeback of recent times. The Jurgen Klopp-led Liverpool side played flawless football for 90 minutes, keeping the mighty Barcelona squad at bay, even after crucial injuries before and during the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals.

Coming back from a 3-0 deficit, the Liverpool side was without their firepower in the form of strikers Mohammed Salah and Roberto Firminho. Hence, a comeback seemed unlikely before the starting whistle. However, no mistakes and a lot of passion took Liverpool a long way.

Barcelona, considered favourites to take home the trophy before this match wasn't quite able to keep up against the solid defence even with their full squad. A loose performance from former Liverpool man Philipe Coutinho and the lack of space for Messi made things worse for Barcelona.

This must have brought back the memories from last year for the Catalonian club, who had lost to AS Roma in a similar manner in the Champions League quarter-final.

Here's looking at a few great Champions League comebacks in the recent times:

Greatest of All: Liverpool vs AC Milan (2005 Final)

Liverpool’s last Champions League triumph can also be called their greatest comebacks.

AC Milan had scored three in the first half, Liverpool came back in the second. The match went into the penalties where Liverpool won the match.

The match, played in Istanbul, Turkey on 25 May 2005 saw two goals from Crespo in the first half and one from Milan legend Maldini. In the second half, goals from Steven Gerrard, Vladimír Šmicer and Xabi Alonso in the span of four minutes took the match into extra time.

Liverpool took home the trophy after a 3-2 win in the penalties. They scored three out of four attempts while Milan scored only twice out of their five attempts.

Manchester United vs Paris Saint Germain - 2018/19 Round of 16

Manchester United's 2018-19 season can be called disappointing, with the team crashing out of the Champions League and them finishing a disappointing sixth in their league. However, United still has the PSG victory to look behind at.

In their first leg, Manchester United went down 2-0 at their home, almost ending hope for the fans and management alike for the second leg, to be played in Paris. 

United also had a slew of injuries in their squad, with players like Anthony Martial, Jesse Lingard, Juan Mata, Alexis Sanchez, etc sidelined due to injuries. Paul Pogba was suspended following a red card in the first leg.

Romelu Lukaku's second minute goal got the hopes up, to some extent till PSG's Bernat equalised in the 12th minute.

United's players, as they are known for, did not lose hope. The 30th minute saw a Marcus Rashford forcing a terrible mistake from PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon who was not able to hold the ball after a long range shot. The ball deflected from Buffon to reach Lukaku who made no mistake while placing it in the net.

The seond half saw a few chances from both sides. In the last few knocking of the game, a long range effort from United right-back Diego Dalot was blocked by Presnel Kimpembe. A call from the United players prompted the referee to take help from VAR. After the review, a penalty was given and Marcus Rashford stepped up to take it. The 21-year-old showed great composure to beat Buffon and strike the penalty in the top left corner.

United’s comeback was complete at a 3-3 aggregate score, since they scored three away goals, as compared to PSG’s two.

AS Roma vs Barcelona - 2017/18 Quarter-Finals

Barcelona, like this year's Liverpool fixture, had a comfortable 4-1 home victory in the first leg at home. The second leg had a surprise for Ernesto Valverde's men. Liverpool goalkeeper Alison Becker was Roma's goalkeeper back then.

With one away goal already in the bag, Roma had to score three goals against Barcelona in order to make it to the next round.

An early six-minute goal from Edin Dzeko gave Roma the lead and set the mood. With both sides creating number of chances in the first half, the score remained the same. The crowd however, was making things difficult for Barcelona.

Roma upped the ante in the second half. The second goal came after Gerrard Pique gave away a penalty, triping Edin Dzeko in his own box. Roma legend Daniele De Rossi took the penalty and scored. Roma now needed one goal to stay in the Champions League. The time leading up to the last goal saw some high-paced encounters between the two sides.

Roma pulled off an extraordinary comeback to knock Barcelona out of the 2017-18 Champions League.(Photo: AP)

A corner in the 82nd minute saw Roma complete their epic comeback. Cengiz Ünder took the corner and lofted the ball to reach Kostas Manolas, who headed the ball towards the unmarked far right corner of the goal post.

Barcelona vs PSG - 2016/17 Round of 16

While Barcelona has been on the receiving end for the past two UCL seasons, they have also staged the most thrilling comeback in the recent Champions Leagues. In the 2016/17 season, the club came back after being down 4-0 in the first leg of round of 16.

Being 4-0 down, Barcelona would have had to score at least 5 goals, without conceding a single one. They conceded one - but still came back to progress towards the next round.

An early 3-minute goal from Luis Suarez gave Barca a sensational start to the important game. A few more chances from Barca set the tone for the first half, up until an own goal from French left back Layvin Kurzawa in the 40th minute.

The second half of that game was full of action, probably the most exciting 45 minutes in that whole season. Ten minutes later, a slip from one PSG defender took down Neymar Jr, resulting in a Barcelona penalty. Lionel Messi scored from the penalty. PSG also scored in the 62nd minute as a volley from Cavani gave PSG some assurance of going to the Quarter-final. The scoreline read Barcelona 3-1 PSG.

A free kick was awarded to Barcelona in the 88th minute and Neymar Jr stepped up to beautifully put the ball into the top left corner of the goal. In the 90th minute, Suarez made a great run into the box, drawing a penalty from Marquinhos. Neymar scored that penalty, too.

Neymar proved to be the star of the match, since after his two goals, he was the man to complete the comeback. Neymar clipped the ball over the players, to find Sergio Roberto, who had already made a run for it. Roberto took a touch on the volley, going past Trapp to hand PSG the defeat.

AC Milan vs Deportivo - 2003/04 Quarter-Finals

AC Milan, the winners of 2002-03 Champions League were knocked out by underdogs of that season, Deportivo de La Coruña after a great show from the Spanish side, who came back from a 4-1 defeat in the first leg.

Deportivo’s Walter Pandiani struck an early goal in the fifth minute to give the Spanish underdogs the lead. A nicely finished shot in the bottom right corner of the goal gave them an edge over the defending champions in the second leg.

Second goal came with a header from Juan Carlos Valerón in the 34th minute.

The third goal came in when Albert Luque made the most of a mistake from Nesta, who failed to clear a bouncing ball off Luque, leading to Deportivo's third goal in the 44th minute.

AC Milan, the reigning champions were then completely knocked out after a shot from Fran was deflected off a Milan defender to land into the goal.