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The Greatest Champions League Comebacks
The Champions League has a cruel sense of theatre. It waits until a tie is decided, until the travel plans are booked and the obituaries written — and then it flips the table. These are the nights that made "it's never over" a law of European football.
Several of the teams below live in the Drafted squad database, so the men who authored these comebacks can turn up in your own draft.
Istanbul, 2005: the miracle
The final by which all comebacks are measured. Paolo Maldini scored inside the first minute — still the fastest goal in a Champions League final — and two Hernán Crespo goals had AC Milan 3-0 up at half-time. What followed defies tactical explanation: Steven Gerrard's header on 54 minutes, Vladimír Šmicer's strike on 56, and Xabi Alonso burying the rebound from his own saved penalty on 60. Three goals in six minutes, then Jerzy Dudek's wobbling legs in the shootout, saving from Andriy Shevchenko to win it 3-2 on penalties. Milan's players later described the dressing room afterwards as a kind of collective shock they never fully shook off. Explore the Liverpool 2004-05 squad →
Camp Nou, 1999: ninety seconds to immortality
Mario Basler's sixth-minute free kick had Bayern Munich ahead for what felt like the entire evening, and as the board went up for three minutes of injury time, the trophy was already wearing Bayern's ribbons. Then David Beckham swung in a corner, Ryan Giggs miscued, and Teddy Sheringham turned the loose ball home. Before Bayern could breathe, another Beckham corner, a Sheringham flick, and Ole Gunnar Solskjær stabbed it into the roof of the net. From 1-0 down to champions — and treble winners — in stoppage time. Sir Alex Ferguson's verdict became the night's epitaph: football, bloody hell. Explore the Manchester United 1998-99 squad →
La Remontada, 2017: the six-goal impossibility
No team had ever overturned a 4-0 first-leg deficit in the Champions League. Barcelona needed six against Paris Saint-Germain after Edinson Cavani's away goal made it 3-1 on the night with under half an hour left — a scenario beyond even the most shameless screenwriter. Neymar took over: a free kick on 88 minutes, a penalty in the 91st, and then, deep in the 95th, his floated ball found Sergi Roberto's outstretched boot. 6-1. The Camp Nou registered the noise of a small earthquake, and "remontada" entered every football language on earth.
Anfield, 2019: corner taken quickly
Barcelona this time on the receiving end. Lionel Messi's brilliance had given Barça a 3-0 lead from the first leg, and Liverpool arrived at Anfield without Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino. Divock Origi struck early, Georginio Wijnaldum scored twice in two second-half minutes, and then came the moment of pure street football: Trent Alexander-Arnold walking away from a corner, spinning back, and whipping the ball in while Barcelona's defence organised itself — Origi finished it. 4-0, tie won, and one of the great pieces of quick thinking in the competition's history. Explore the Liverpool 2018-19 squad →
Monaco, 2017: the kids who out-scored Guardiola
Manchester City won a breathless first leg 5-3, and the tie looked settled. But Leonardo Jardim's young Monaco — Kylian Mbappé at 18, Bernardo Silva, Fabinho, Tiemoué Bakayoko — blitzed City 3-1 at the Stade Louis II, Bakayoko's header sending them through on away goals with an aggregate of 6-6. It remains the modern template for a fearless young team refusing to respect reputations, and half that squad went on to be sold for a combined fortune. Explore the Monaco 2016-17 squad →
Riazor, 2004: the forgotten precursor
Before the Remontada there was Deportivo La Coruña. Beaten 4-1 at the San Siro by the reigning champions AC Milan — the Milan of Kaká, Pirlo and Maldini — Depor produced one of the great unheralded European nights at the Riazor, winning 4-0 to go through 5-4 on aggregate. Walter Pandiani, Juan Carlos Valerón and Albert Luque did the damage. It rarely tops these lists, and it should: no defending champion had ever been knocked out from such a commanding position.
Write the next one
Every comeback on this list started as a lost cause. In Drafted, your run will hand you a first-leg deficit sooner or later — draft an XI good enough to overturn it, and see if your team has an Istanbul in it.