Top 5 Second Leg Champions League Comebacks

Roma did against Barcelona what Manchester City couldn’t against Liverpool in the 2018 Champions League quarter-finals. They came back from 3 goals down in the first leg, to go through to their first Champions League semi-final since 1984.

The Champions League has seen many a dramatic comeback, and in honour of Roma’s heroic win, we’ve chose our top 5 second-leg comebacks.

Roma 3-0 Barcelona (4-4 on aggregate), 2018

Let’s start with Roma’s comeback against European giants, Barcelona. Roma suffered a whopping 4-1 defeat from the first leg at the Nou Camp, but their away goal proved invaluable. They had to score three goals without reply to go through to the semi-finals on the away goal rule and they did it in style.

Kostas Manolas sealed it with a glancing header on the 82nd minute. The scenes that follow sum up the enormity of their achievement.

Astonishing Champions League moment, Kostas Manolas scores to make it 3-0 to Roma, sealing a comeback from 4-1 down and knocking Barcelona out. Of course, the Stadio Olimpico goes mad… #ASRoma #RomaBarca pic.twitter.com/0Ojo8hixeF

— Best Goal Sounds (@bestgoalsounds) April 10, 2018

Chelsea 4-1 Napoli (5-4 on aggregate, AET), 2012

The road to Chelsea’s maiden Champions League winning season was a bumpy one. Everyone remembers the penalty win against Bayern Munich in the final and Torres’ goal against Barcelona in the semis, but it was a hard-fought battle to even get that far.

After their 3-1 defeat in the first-leg, things weren’t looking good for Chelsea as Napoli pegged them back to 2-1 in the second-half (3-4 on aggregate). A penalty from Frank Lampard 15 minutes before full-time took the match to extra-time and it was then that Branislav Ivanovic scored to see Chelsea go 4-1 up on the night and 5-4 ahead on aggregate.

On this day: 2012 – Branislav Ivanovic scored THIS goal for #Chelsea as the Blues beat Napoli 4-1 on their way to winning the Champions League. #CFC pic.twitter.com/qYpW8zki6B

— Chad (@ChelseaChadder) March 14, 2018

Deportivo 4-0 AC Milan (5-4 on aggregate), 2004

4-1 down from the first-leg to a side with Kaka, Shevchenko and Maldini among their stars, Deportivo had quite the job to do against AC Milan.

They made up the deficit quickly, going 3-0 before half-time. That would’ve been enough to see them through on away goals, but they didn’t stop there. 15 minutes from time Deportivo went 4-0 up through Gonzalez Fran to seal victory.

Monaco 3-1 Real Madrid (5-5 on aggregate), 2004

Monaco’s 4-2 defeat at the Bernabéu against Real Madrid got even worse when Raul increased the lead to 5-2 on 35 minutes. The tide changed with Monaco pulling a goal back before half-time and continuing the surge in the second half with a further two goals to put them ahead on away goals.

Barcelona 6-1 PSG (6-5 on aggregate), 2017

We’ve saved perhaps the best until last, with Barcelona’s epic comeback against PSG from 4-0 down in the first-leg. Barcelona scored after just 3 minutes and went 3-0 up just after half-time. Just when they were starting to believe, PSG got an all-important away goal, meaning Barcelona had to score 3 goals in under 30 minutes if they were to go through to the quarter-finals.

With 3 minutes left of the 90, it seemed an impossible task, but a spectacular Neymar free-kick kick-started the comeback. Messi scored a penalty on the 90th minute and in the dying seconds of the 5 minutes of additional time, Sergi Roberto netted the winner. Unbelievable.