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The 2018/19 Champions League has been perhaps the most exciting edition of the competition since its inauguration back in 1992/93, and while the amazing goals scored by the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, as well as some incredibly exciting games – Manchester City’s 4-3 thriller with Tottenham immediately comes to mind – have been great, the thing fans will likely remember most about this edition will be the wild comebacks produced by numerous teams.
The Champions League has always featured some stirring comebacks, from Liverpool’s fightback against AC Milan in the 2004/05 final to Barcelona overturning Paris St. Germain’s 4-goal lead from the first leg in 2016/17, but this season, in particular, has seen some absolutely incredible results.
Here are the 5 best comebacks from this season’s Champions League.
#5 Ajax vs. Real Madrid – Round of 16
Despite playing some excellent football and drawing twice with Bayern Munich in the group stages, nobody was really giving Ajax a chance of upsetting holders Real Madrid in the Round of 16. After all, their young side – filled largely with Dutch prospects and relative unknowns – seemed massively outgunned in comparison to a Real side that could call upon talents like Toni Kroos, Gareth Bale and Isco.
The first leg at the Johan Cruyff Arena seemed to follow the script, although things could’ve been very different. Nicolas Tagliafico appeared to have headed the Dutch side home following a goalmouth scramble, but the VAR system showed that Dusan Tadic was offside as Tagliafico headed home, and so the goal was disallowed. And so despite performing well, Ajax went down 1-2 thanks to goals from Karim Benzema and Marco Asensio.
With Real having two vital away goals in the bank going into the second leg at the Bernabeu, it seemed like Ajax had an insurmountable task ahead of them, but somehow Erik Ten Hag’s young side were equal to it. After just 7 minutes they equalled the tie through Hakim Ziyech, and 11 minutes later David Neres put them ahead and cancelled out the away goals.
Real – looking fragile without captain and defensive lynchpin Sergio Ramos, who was suspended – soon capitulated and let in a third Ajax goal, and although they pulled one back through Asensio with 20 minutes remaining, Lasse Schone sealed the deal just 2 minutes later with a beautiful free-kick.
The result was not only a huge upset, as the holders – who had won the previous three editions of the competition – were dumped out, but it was a huge comeback for Ajax too, who should’ve been dead and buried after their first leg result.
#4 Juventus vs. Atletico Madrid – Round of 16
One of the most mouth-watering ties in the Round of 16 pitted Italian champions Juventus – complete with new crown jewel Cristiano Ronaldo – against Ronaldo’s old city rivals Atletico Madrid, who had become renowned for most of all being insanely tricky to beat under boss Diego Simeone. Outside of a stunning 4-0 loss to Borussia Dortmund, they’d conceded just 2 goals in the group stage.
The first leg of the tie at Atletico’s Wanda Metropolitano stadium – where the final would be hosted in June – went firmly in favour of the Spanish side, even if the referee seemed determined to deny them. A first-half penalty awarded to the Rojoblanco was chalked off after a VAR check, and a goal from Alvaro Morata was also disallowed for a shove.
Atletico would not be denied though, and kept pushing until Jose Giminez finally opened the scoring on 78 minutes. 5 minutes later Diego Godin doubled the lead, and the tie looked sewn up in favour of Simeone’s team. Not only would Juve need to score 3 against the notoriously tough defence to get through, but they’d also need to ensure they kept a clean sheet.
Once again though it was proven that any side containing Cristiano Ronaldo should never, ever be written off. After 27 minutes in the return leg, Ronaldo scored a beautiful header to bring the Old Lady back into the tie, and incredibly, on 49 minutes another header from the Portuguese levelled things after goal-line technology decided it’d gone in.
The tie appeared to be lurching towards extra-time before Federico Bernadeschi was brought down by Angel Correa in Atletico’s penalty box, and who else but Ronaldo stepped up to take the spot-kick, firing it to the right of Jan Oblak and into the net. Juventus had completed one of the most stirring comebacks of the 2018/19 Champions League, and it was all thanks to their Portuguese talisman – who had incredibly netted his 8th Champions League hat-trick in the process.
#3 Manchester United vs. Paris Saint-Germain – Round of 16
Despite an excellent win over Juventus at Old Trafford, Manchester United had largely stumbled through the Champions League group stages and had fired boss Jose Mourinho just days after their dismal loss to Valencia in the final game.
Caretaker boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had overseen some encouraging results since, but United still went into their Round of 16 clash with PSG as underdogs, largely thanks to the French side’s goalscoring abilities; they’d plundered 17 in the group stage, more than any other side.
United didn’t perform too badly in the first leg at Old Trafford, but PSG appeared to be operating on another level entirely, and despite missing Neymar and Edinson Cavani, had 5 shots on target compared to United’s 1 and ended up winning 0-2 with goals from Presnel Kimpembe and Kylian Mbappe. To compound matters for United, star midfielder Paul Pogba was sent off for two bookings, and both Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial picked up injuries.
It left United with a mountain to climb in the second leg at the Parc des Princes, but Solskjaer – who had famously scored the winner for United in one of the Champions League’s all-time great comebacks in the 1998/99 final – refused to believe his side were beaten. And sure enough, just 2 minutes into the game, Romelu Lukaku pounced on a loose back-pass from Thilo Kehrer to give United hope.
That hope appeared to be dashed when some sloppy defending allowed Juan Bernat to score for PSG, leaving United needing at least another 2 goals to qualify. Incredibly though, Lukaku got a second with half an hour gone thanks to a horrendous error from legendary goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, who spilt a Marcus Rashford shot into the path of the Belgian.
From there the action slowed down and despite United pushing, the game appeared to be beyond their reach. But somehow, with injury time ticking away, a speculative shot from substitute Diego Dalot was adjudged by VAR to have been handled by Kimpembe, and United were awarded a penalty.
Rashford – apparently the coolest man in Paris – smashed it home despite the protests of PSG’s players, and the Red Devils had completed a comeback almost as stirring as that inspired by Solskjaer 2 decades beforehand.
#2 Liverpool vs. Barcelona – Semi-Finals
Fans and pundits alike were finding it difficult to call a winner between semi-finalists Liverpool and Barcelona, who had largely cruised to the latter stages of the competition, dispatching Bayern Munich, Lyon, Porto and Manchester United along the way. But after the first leg at the Nou Camp, almost everyone figured Barca had the tie in the bag.
Despite a solid performance from Liverpool – who missed a clutch of chances, including a shocking miss from Sadio Mane – the Spanish side took a 3-0 lead into the second leg. Former Liverpool star Luis Suarez opened the scoring on 26 minutes, and although the Reds pushed for an equaliser, they were instead hit with a stunning one-two from Lionel Messi, with his second goal being a spectacular, unstoppable free-kick on 82 minutes.
Not only did the Reds then need to beat Barca by at least 4 goals to win the tie – even getting to extra-time required 3 goals – but they also needed to keep a clean sheet to give themselves a chance. And worryingly, Ernesto Valverde’s side had only conceded 4 goals once in the season – against Real Betis, who also conceded 3.
Jurgen Klopp’s side had Anfield rocking after just 7 minutes though, when Divock Origi poked a rebound in following Jordan Henderson’s shot being saved. At half-time, the game remained 1-0, but despite Barcelona still being in control, it was clear as the second half began that Liverpool were willing to dig much deeper for the victory than the Spaniards were.
On 54 minutes, substitute Georginio Wijnaldum smashed home from a Trent Alexander-Arnold cross, and insanely, just 2 minutes later he headed in to tie things up. That would’ve been enough to force extra-time, but Barcelona were clearly rocked and Liverpool weren’t willing to let up.
Just before the 80-minute mark, Alexander-Arnold forced a corner, and moments later, the ball was in the Barcelona net again. This time, the England youngster had caught the Barca defence napping – faking walking away before firing the ball into the unmarked Origi, who shot past the stunned Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
It sounded like Anfield itself was about to collapse under the noise made by Liverpool’s support, and somehow, they’d completed one of the best comebacks in Champions League history, becoming the first team since 1986 to overcome a 3-goal first leg deficit to win in the semi-finals.
#1 Tottenham vs. Ajax – Semi-Finals
If Liverpool’s comeback against Barcelona was incredible, this result bordered on the downright ridiculous. After a relatively tight first leg that saw Ajax defeat Tottenham 0-1 at Spurs’ new stadium, Mauricio Pochettino’s men didn’t appear to have as much of a mountain to climb as Liverpool did against Barcelona – but it was clear from their first leg performance that they would need to improve dramatically to win.
One thing was for sure. After Erik Ten Hag’s side had torn Spurs to shreds in the first 30 minutes of the game, and had only looked like conceding much later on, Pochettino’s men knew an early goal would be the key to overturning the deficit. Sure enough, we got an early goal – in the 5th minute to be exact – but rather than being for Spurs, it was for Ajax, as captain Matthijs de Ligt headed home from a corner.
Tottenham appeared to be overawed by the occasion and were thoroughly outplayed during the first half, and when Hakim Ziyech doubled Ajax’s lead – and put them 3-0 up on aggregate – with 35 minutes gone, the tie looked done and dusted. Ajax even walked onto the pitch for the second half to the chilled sounds of Bob Marley singing “every little thing is gonna be alright”.
Somehow though, everyone had counted out Spurs too early. Pochettino made a substitution at half-time, sending striker Fernando Llorente on for midfielder Victor Wanyama, and the result was almost instantaneous. Tottenham began to pump long balls to the big Spaniard, and suddenly Ajax’s defenders – de Ligt and Daley Blind – began to look vulnerable.
On 55 minutes, Spurs made the breakthrough they were looking for, Lucas Moura and Dele Alli combining to allow the Brazilian to slot home from close range. And from there Tottenham’s spirit grew, and just 59 minutes later, Ajax keeper Andre Onana saved from Llorente, only for a defensive error to allow Moura to show some nifty footwork before turning to fire in his second.
Could the comeback really be on? It looked possible, but despite pushing hard, it didn’t seem like Spurs would get the third goal they needed to win the tie – if they could stop Ajax from scoring again that was, and the Dutch side came close when Ziyech hit the post.
When Jan Vertonghen’s header from a corner in practically the last minute struck the bar, it looked like Spurs’ hopes were going down in flames. Incredibly though, one last attack saw Moussa Sissoko hit a long ball towards Llorente again, and this time a flick from Alli sent the ball into the path of Moura – who slotted past Onana to break Ajax’s hearts and complete the most improbable comeback of the 2018/19 Champions League – setting up a final against Liverpool in the process.
Perhaps Tottenham’s comeback wasn’t quite as jaw-dropping as Liverpool’s hammering of Barcelona – but it was certainly more dramatic to watch given it took place over just 45 minutes and saw a 96th-minute winner – and so for me at least, it belongs in the top spot.
