I’ll be brutally honest, if you are an Arsenal fan or a Barcelona fan, it has been a couple of days you would rather forget. But, as things are, you can only look ahead into the future and in the future, there is the second leg.
The UEFA Champions League has been the breeding ground for meteoric comebacks, most famously Manchester United at Nou Camp and Liverpool at Istanbul. But, we often tend to ignore big comebacks in the knockout stages of the competition.
To be honest, the romance associated with European football is associated with the knockout stages, mythical stadiums and football under the lights. Just one warning before you fill yourselves with hope, my job is to give hope, and it’s the players who turn up on the field and play.
On that note, take a look at five of the best comebacks in the Champions League.
#1 UEFA Cup Second Round, Queens Park Rangers vs Partizan 1984
First Leg: Queens Park Rangers 6-2 Partizan
Yes, Queens Park Rangers did play in Europe. Interestingly, they played their home games in Highbury as their home ground Loftus Road had an artificial pitch. Queens Park ran out 6-2 winners in the game which put them in pole position to make it through to the next round.
Second Leg: Partizan 4-0 Queens Park Rangers
QPR went into the second leg full of confidence, but the Yugoslavians weren’t ones to give up. The Rangers started the game poorly, as Dragan Mance, Dragan Kalianin, Miodrag Ješi and Zvonko Ivkovi scored for the Serbians. QPR midfielder Gary Waddock recalled the events of that night (not so fondly, I would say), “We got battered on the night. We thought we had a big enough lead to get through. We prepared properly, but the result shows what can happen if you get off to a bad start in the return leg in European football”.
#2 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, Chelsea vs Barcelona 2000
First Leg: Chelsea 3-1 Barcelona
Thinking about Chelsea pre-Abramovich is something like looking back to a world bereft of technology when telephones needed wires and computers needed a full room to function in. Anyhow, Chelsea reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League and came up against a Barcelona side managed by Louis van Gaal.
Hands down one of the biggest games in their history till then, the Blues rode on the back of Gianfranco Zola’s brilliance and some clinical finishing from Tore André Flo, to earn a three-goal advantage. Barcelona, however, got one back via Luis Figo who was having a wonderful season at the Catalan club.
Second Leg – Barcelona 5-1 Chelsea
In what was one of the most scintillating games of football, Barcelona earned the lead in front of a 98,000 capacity crowd at the Camp Nou via a deflected freekick from Rivaldo which wrong-footed goalkeeper Ed de Goey. Luis Figo soon doubled the scoreline with a wonderful side-foot finish.
In the second half, though, around the 60th-minute mark, Chelsea got back into the game after some high pressing by Zola, and a calm finish by Flo. As the clock kept ticking, and Barcelona running out of time to get a tie-equalising goal, captain Guardiola swung a ball in from the right for Dani Garcia to gracefully back head it past de Goey.
The tie could have been sealed as Patrick Kluivert earned a penalty, but Rivaldo sidefooted it wide. The tie went to extra time, and Barcelona earned another penalty when Figo was fouled in the box by Celestine Babayaro (who was sent off for the offence). This time, Rivaldo made absolutely no mistake as he slotted home. The tie was eventually killed by a poacher’s finish from Kluivert.
#3 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals Real Madrid vs Monaco 2004
First Leg – Real Madrid 4-2 Monaco
Real Madrid, managed by Carlos Queiróz, and already 9-time European champions hosted Monaco under the floodlights at the Santiago Bernabeu. The visitors were shocked early on by a goal from Monaco defender Sébastien Squillaci (remember him, Arsenal fans?), but the galacticos of Real Madrid eventually stepped up their act.
Goals from Iván Helguera, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo and Luis Figo swung the tide towards the La Liga side, only for Fernando Morientes (who was on loan from Real Madrid) to give the visitors another lifeline with a vital away goal.
Second Leg – Monaco 3-1 Real Madrid
Monaco did the unthinkable, and knocked out the Galacticos of Real Madrid. A first half goal by Raul had further solidified Real’s grip on the tie. But a goal from Ludovic Giuly, in first half stoppage time, gave the French side hope.
The next blow was dealt by one of their own as Morientes’ header gave Monaco the lead. Giuly scored his second of the campaign with a cheeky flicked finish past Iker Casillas to send the home fans into delirium, and his through on away goals.
#4 UEFA Champions League Round of 16 AC Milan vs Deportivo La Coruña 2004
First Leg – AC Milan 4-1 Deportivo la Coruna
For all those cheesy quotes about the magic of European nights, this is the perfect exponent of the same. A blockbuster of an AC Milan side, who had the likes of Kaka, Inzaghi, Maldini, Pirlo, Shevchenko and Seedorf absolutely dismantled Spanish side Deportivo La Coruña in the first leg.
A Kaka brace, a brilliant finish by Shevchenko and a trademark Pirlo free-kick gave the Italian giants four goals on the night. The only disappointment for Carlo Ancelotti would have been Walter Pandiani’s goal.
Second Leg - Deportivo la Coruna 4-0 AC Milan
I am sure, if anyone ahead of the night would have given you the scoreline, you would have passed him by to be a fool. Deportivo wrote their names in the history books when they absolutely dismantled the defending champions on the night.
Deportivo were 3-0 up by half time, with goals from Walter Pandiani, Juan Carlos Valeron and Albert Luque. The Spanish side were already going through owing to their away goal at the San Siro, but the win was sealed when Fran scored 14 minutes from time.
#5 UEFA Champions League Round of 16 AC Milan vs Barcelona
First Leg: AC Milan 2-0 Barcelona
This makes the list solely for one reason. Before this game, no team in the Champions League had come back from a two-goal lead without an away goal, and Barcelona right now have to make hay of a similar record in the second leg to go past Paris Saint-Germain.
The first leg was a tactical masterclass by AC Milan, as they were tight in defence throughout the first half, but surprised the visitors in the second by being expansive. A wonderful goal by Kevin Price Boateng gave the hosts the lead, before Sulley Muntari doubled it.
Second Leg: Barcelona 4-0 AC Milan
A brilliant performance by Lionel Messi in the first half put the Italian giants to the sword. Messi scored a first-half brace, and David Villa and Jordi Alba doubled the scoreline in the second half to give Barcelona an easy 4-2 win on aggregate.
“When you go through a night like this, all of the bad days are forgotten. We do not care who we get in the quarter-finals,” said David Villa after the game, and probably something Luis Enrique will be telling his side ahead of the second leg. For Arsenal and Arsene Wenger though, things are a bit more complicated.
