5 Great Football Comebacks

"It ain't over til it's over"

5. Newcastle United 4 - 4 Arsenal (5th February 2011)

When 10th placed Newcastle hosted 2nd placed Arsenal you'd be expecting a routine win for the Londoners, and after Theo Walcott's goal after 44 seconds followed by goals from Johan Djourou and Robin van Persie put them 3-0 up after 10 minutes the Geordie faithful were fearing a cricket score. Van Persie added another to give The Gunners a 4-0 lead at the break. However The Magpies would not give up and rallied back with 4 goals of their own in the final 22 minutes, capped off by a 20 yard Cheik Tiote screamer to draw the match.  

4. Chelsea 4 - 1 Napoli AET (Chelsea win 5-4 on aggregate) (14th March 2012)

After taking over from the sacked Andre Villas Boas, one of Roberto Di Matteo's first tasks was to overturn a 3-1 first leg deficit against Napoli. The interim Chelsea boss made little time as his side battled their way into a 2-0 lead to level the tie with goals from Didier Drogba and John Terry. Gokhan Inler pulled one back for the visitors but a Frank Lampard penalty levelled the tie again and sent it to extra time, where a Branislav Ivanovic goal would prove to be decisive. The Blues would then go on to win the UEFA Champions League for the first time in their history.

3. Barcelona 6 - 1 PSG (Barcelona win 6-5 on aggregate) (8th March 2017)

The Catalans stunned the footballing world as they etched their names into the UEFA Champions League history books by becoming the first team to overturn a 4-0 first leg deficit. An early Luis Suarez goal followed by a Layvin Kurzawa own goal had them thinking the impossible was possible. Lionel Messi's emphatic penalty had Barca 3-0 up before the 50 minute mark, but Edinson Cavani soon bagged an all-important away goal for The Parisians and it seemed so close yet so far for the Spanish giants. However, this was not the case as a frantic final 7 minutes saw Barcelona score the 3 goals they needed to spark wild celebrations around the Camp Nou.

2. Manchester United 2 - 1 Bayern Munich (26th May 1999)

Two minutes, two corners and two goals resulted in Manchester United completing the prestigious treble in 1998/99 season. Having already won the Premier League and the FA Cup, United had one more trophy up for grabs, the only thing standing in their way were Bayern Munich. The Germans took an early lead through Mario Basler and it seemed like the one goal would be enough to deny The Red Devils their third trophy of the season, however two goals in injury time from Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer earned Sir Alex Fergurson's men a place in the history books.

1. AC Milan 3 - 3 Liverpool AET (Liverpool win 3-2 on penalties) (May 25th 2005)

Touted as 'The Miracle of Istanbul', this game will live long in the memory of Liverpool fans for generations to come. 

A Paulo Maldini header and a Hernan Crespo double had AC Milan 3-0 up in the 2005 UEFA Champions League final. It seemed like it was all over, that all hope was lost and that The Rossoneri would romp their way to their 6th UEFA Champions League crown. This was most certainly not the case as Liverpool tore the script up and wrote their own, with a frantic 7 minute spell lead by captain Steven Gerrard, who pulled one back, and a second from Vladmir Smicer soon followed, the travelling Kop believed. And the comeback was complete as Liverpool were awarded a penalty, Xabi Alonso's initial penalty was saved but he reacted quickly to tap home the rebound and equalise against all odds. The game would stay level and needed penalties to decide the winner, where Jerzy Dudek was the Liverpool hero, saving two penalties as Liverpool won the shoot out to claim the trophy for the 5th time in the clubs history.