Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp and his players celebrating their win over MalagaLet’s put this right at the beginning. It’s highly impossible to list every possible comeback, as extraordinary as they are, in a single article. Ergo, there’s no point in listing the more obvious, famous and celebrated comebacks such as Manchester United’s and Liverpool’s respective Champions League triumphs. However, here are a few others that deserve to be celebrated as excellent comebacks too.P.S. Middlesbrough’s comebacks in the 2005-2006 UEFA Cup are the stuff of legends! You must take a look at it!
#1 Germany 4-4 Sweden
It may have been a draw, but it was arguably one of the best nights for Swedish football. Playing against a rampant Germany during the qualifying campaign for the 2014 World Cup, they quickly saw themselves down 2 goals, and then, by the 56th minute, had conceded 4 goals.
While most people would have written off Sweden at this point, Zlatan started things off with a goal, and then the entire German team seemed to have lost their bearings. But to credit Sweden’s comeback to German laziness would be a disservice as the Swedes refused to give up and kept knocking at the door, finally getting the 4th goal in stoppage time to complete an incredible comeback.
#2 Reading 5-7 Arsenal
Many fans will tell you that it was only Reading, so Arsenal’s famous comeback doesn’t deserve to be celebrated. Don’t listen to them, because if it were their team, they would be talking about how great their winning mentality and never-say-die attitude is.
In the pre-quarterfinals of the Capital One Cup, Reading stunned the entire stadium by racing away to a 3 goal lead inside 20 mins and soon they were 4 goals to the good. Though Theo Walcott pulled one back for the Gunners at the stroke of half time, there wasn’t much hope that they would make a comeback. But they did just that, levelling the scores in stoppage time. The drama wasn’t over as both teams scored in extra time, before Arsenal put the nail in the Reading coffin with 2 goals at the end.
#3 Borussia Dortmund 3-2 Malaga
It may not have been a goal fest as the previous games but it was just as important. Dortmund had conceded a second goal to Malaga in the 82nd minute of the second leg and were in danger of getting knocked out in the quarterfinals of the 2012/13 Champions League campaign.
Dortmund managed to level the scores in the first minute of stoppage time but even that wasn’t going to be enough as Malaga had the away goal rules going for them. They finally managed to score one more at the very end, giving them the belief to throw the knock out punch at Real Madrid in the semifinals.
#4 Fulham 4-1 Juventus
Technically, it doesn’t count as a great comeback when you take only the match in itself, but in the grand scheme of things, it was an extraordinary comeback. Trailing Juventus in terms of aggregate scores, they made it even more difficult for themselves by conceding the first goal to the visitors.
But then, Fulham rallied and scored 4 against Juventus to go through to the next round in the Europa League, the season they reached the finals.
#5 Tottenham Hotspur 3-5 Manchester United
In the 2001/02 season, Manchester United were already a huge force to reckon with, and had superstars that could rip apart teams. But when they went to White Hart Lane, the Lilywhites stunned them with 3 goals in the first half.
In typical Man Utd fashion, they rallied and in the second half, scored as many as 5 goals to finish an epic comeback in the league. In fact, it was so good that it was nominated for the Best match of the 20 seasons awards of the Premier League.
