5 biggest deficits overturned in the Champions League Round of 16

Paris Saint-Germain will battle history as well as Real Madrid when they play their Champions League last-16 second-leg match on Tuesday at Parc des Princes.

While Basel, Porto and Besiktas can be discounted from coming back from huge deficits against vastly superior sides, PSG hold genuine hopes of ousting Los Blancos, despite the absence of Neymar due to injury.

However, Unai Emery’s side faces an uphill challenge. After losing 3-1 in Madrid, they know they will have to beat the two-time defending champions by at least two clear goals if they are to reach the quarter-finals.

It would be no small achievement, despite Real’s poor domestic form that is set to see them cede their title to Barcelona.

Indeed, only five teams in the history of the competition have recovered from more than a single goal behind to progress at this juncture of the competition.

Here are those remarkable comebacks:

#5 Chelsea v Napoli (2011-12)

En route to winning their first European crown, Chelsea became the first team in the re-branded competition’s history to recover from a two-goal first-leg deficit and progress into the quarter-finals.

It was the final days of the Andre Villas-Boas reign when they appeared on the verge of elimination after an ill-fated trip to Italy. Juan Mata had given the Blues the lead, but a couple of Ezequiel Lavezzi goals sandwiched an effort from Edinson Cavani to put the Italians in full command of the tie.

In the three weeks between the two matches, the Portuguese was jettisoned and replaced by Roberto Di Matteo, whose first major trick in charge of the Stamford Bridge outfit was to mastermind a comeback.

Goals from Didier Drogba and John Terry swung the momentum firmly in Chelsea’s favour, and though Gokhan Inler pulled one back, a penalty from Frank Lampard sent the match to extra-time. Branislav Ivanovic was the unlikely hero, scoring on the stroke of the turnaround to book a quarter-final berth.

Benfica and, memorably, Barcelona were seen off in the following rounds before Drogba inspired victory over Bayern Munich at their Allianz Arena home.

Di Matteo, meanwhile, may have earned the plaudits but lasted just eight months in the job before unsuccessful spells at Schalke and Aston Villa.

First Leg: Napoli 2-1 Chelsea

Second Leg: Chelsea 3-0 Napoli

Final Scoreline: Chelsea 4-2 Napoli

#4 Barcelona v AC Milan (2012-13)

Lionel Messi in action for FC Barcelona against AC Milan in the UEFA Champions League

San Siro has not been a happy hunting ground for Barcelona in recent times, having been eliminated from the 2009-10 edition of the Champions League by Jose Mourinho’s Inter and then, three years later, apparently taking a big step towards the exit door against AC Milan.

Against Inter, they had the excuse that they had to take a bus all the way to Italy because volcanic ash made air travel impossible; this time around there was no such explanation as goals from Kevin-Prince Boateng and Sulley Muntari left them facing the exit door. Barca had spent the night playing with passing but no penetration and did not even have the comfort of an away goal to take home with them.

A fortnight later, back at Camp Nou, it was a very different story. Lionel Messi – who else? – set the tone for the evening as he scored after five minutes and the Argentine had the tie levelled by the interval, though only after a major scare as M’Baye Niang hit the post.

Soon after the break, David Villa had Barca ahead in the tie for the first time, but they were never safe until Jordi Alba struck two minutes into stoppage time at the end of the match.

"We will remember this for years to come," said Barca sporting director and former Spain goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta. And they did – until a comeback of even more epic proportions.

First Leg: AC Milan 2-0 Barcelona

Second Leg: Barcelona 4-0 AC Milan

Final Scoreline: Barcelona 4-2 AC Milan

#3 Manchester United v Olympiakos (2013-14)

Van Persie scores from the spot

One of the lowest points of the David Moyes era at Manchester United was their limp performance against Olympiakos in the first leg of their last-16 tie in Athens.

Alejandro Dominguez and Joel Campbell, who was at the Greek side on loan from Arsenal, put the hosts into a strong position ahead of the second leg, with United showing almost nothing by way of a response, save a late effort high from Robin van Persie.

United had previous in overturning such deficits, having beaten Barcelona 3-0 in the Cup Winners’ Cup final of 1984, and though the opposition was more modest on this occasion, they successfully repeated the feat.

Van Persie, whose miss late in the first leg threatened to be so costly, proved the hero of the second. He scored a first-half penalty before adding a second in stoppage time before finally completing his third Manchester United hat-trick with a free kick early in the second half.

“We put it right tonight,” said Moyes, upon whom so much pressure had mounted following a 3-0 defeat to Liverpool.

It was not enough to save his job, however. In the next round, United were eliminated 4-2 on aggregate by defending champions Bayern Munich, despite having twice taken the lead in the tie, and the Scotsman was soon axed.

First Leg: Olympiakos 2-0 Manchester United

Second Leg: Manchester United 3-0 Olympiakos

Final Scoreline: Manchester United 3-2 Olympiakos

#2 Monaco v Manchester City (2016-17)

AS Monaco players celebrate after an inspirational performance against Manchester City

Manchester City’s 5-3 victory over Monaco at the Etihad Stadium was one of the standout games of last season – not just in the Champions League but any competition.

From the outset, both teams were thoroughly committed to playing attacking football, and with neither defence looking particularly robust, the results were breathtaking.

While Radamel Falcao’s double showed that he remained as lethal as ever, it proved a breakthrough night for Kylian Mbappe, to that point largely unknown outside of France, though Leonardo Jardim’s young side succumbed to naivety late in the game, which they had led 3-2 with 70 minutes on the clock.

Rather than fold back at Stade Louis II, Monaco stood up to the challenge of Pep Guardiola’s men. Mbappe once again showed that he feared no challenge by putting his side a goal to the good before Fabinho put them ahead in the tie on away goals.

When Leroy Sane replied for City with 19 minutes left, it seemed Monaco’s adventure back among Europe’s elite was ended, yet Tiemoue Bakayoko’s late header secured a quarter-final date with Borussia Dortmund.

The German side were then seen off, again thanks to an inspired display from Mbappe, yet the teenager’s charge was stopped by Gianluigi Buffon and Juventus in the semi-finals.

First Leg: Manchester City 5-3 AS Monaco

Second Leg: AS Monaco 3-1 Manchester City

Final Scoreline: AS Monaco 6-6 Manchester City (Monaco went through on away goals)

#1 Barcelona v PSG (2016-17)

What a night of football it was

La Remontada will go down as one of football’s greatest and most memorable games ever. Arguably, it is the greatest footballing comeback ever achieved.

Paris Saint-Germain’s 4-0 win over Barca at Parc des Princes seemed to have secured their spot in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The Catalans were in the midst of a run of poor form and could not claim to have deserved anything else but a heavy defeat in the French capital.

Angel Di Maria got a couple, Julian Draxler another and Edinson Cavani the final strike, which seemed to have set the seal on PSG’s progress.

What occurred in front of nearly 100,000 rapt spectators at Camp Nou three weeks later was magical.

Within three minutes of the second leg, Luis Suarez had gotten Barca back in the tie. An own goal from Layvin Kurzawa before the break gave hope of a comeback before a Lionel Messi penalty early in the second half made the dream tangible. Cavani, though, seemed to extinguish it with an away goal after the hour mark.

There were three minutes left to play as Neymar, in irrepressible form that night, stood over a free kick with his side needing three goals to progress. He scored to spark an incredible meltdown from the guests, who thereafter completed only four passes, conceded a penalty and then a sixth from Sergi Roberto.

It was truly a match that everyone remembers where they were as they watched the drama unfold. In another 100 years of European football, there will not be such a tie.

If PSG were to overcome Real Madrid on Tuesday, it would only begin to undo some of the damage.

First Leg: PSG 4-0 Barcelona

Second Leg: Barcelona 6-1 PSG

Final Scoreline: Barcelona 6-5 PSG