A comeback in Football is one of the best displays a sports lover could witness on the tv screen or from the stands. Be they multiple-goal battles away from home, great late escapes when a last-minute equaliser or just the downright bizarre collapse of a side who looked unbeatable. For a neutral, there's nothing quite like witnessing a side standing up and fighting when all hope seems lost.
Here we take a look at the top 5 football comebacks of all time:
5) Milan 3 – Liverpool 3, UCL Final 2004/05:
Rafa Benitez led Liverpool to Istanbul in which AC Milan were firm favourites to pick up their 7th title. After the kick-off, Paolo Maldini scored one and Hernan Crespo scored twice before half time to put the Rossoneries 3 goals up. Liverpool needed a miracle, which started with Gerrard’s career-defining goal in the 54th minute, followed by a goal from Vladimir Smicer and a penalty awarded to Liverpool which Xabi Alonso converted from the spot to get scores level and Jeremy Dudek made 3 wonderful saves in the penalty shootout.
4) Reading 5 – Arsenal 7, League Cup 2012:
Reading faced Arsenal in October 2012 in a League Cup fixture. Reading were already leading 4-0 at half time before Theo Walcott got in a goal in the injury time. The second half saw goals from Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny, who got Arsenal closer to their hosts, but Arsene Wenger's side still needed another gust of pace and the ball in the net to stay alive. The drama continued in extra time before Chamakh scored twice and Walcott got his hat trick to bring the score to 5-7.
3) Bayern Munich 1 – 2 Manchester United, UCL Final 1999/00:
This is arguably the most dramatic ending to any major Cup Final. For 90 minutes, the Bavarians kept their lead intact and United didn’t perform well, mainly due to unavailability Roy Keane and Paul Scholes, who were very essential in the Semis. Bayern led from a Mario Basler free-kick, early in the match but United brought in two subs, Sheringham and Solskjaer in the 2nd half who broke the Bavarian heart. Two corners completed the comeback with Sheringham levelling the match in the 91st minute after the Bundesliga club failed to clear the ball from their penalty area and Sheringham toeing the ball into the goal in the 3rd minute of the injury time.
2) Barcelona 6 – 1 Paris Saint Germain, UCL 2017:
PSG had won the first leg 4-0 at home and the main point to be remembered that this was not the Barca that won the Champions League in 2009, 2011 or even 2015 but they found their way back in the most extraordinary match of recent memory. Luis Suarez started the scoring before Layvin Kurzawa put one in his net. Messi scored a penalty in the 2nd half but Cavani scored one back which seemed insurmountable for Barcelona.
The game began after the 85th minute with Neymar scoring one, converting a penalty and putting an infectious ball into the ball which Sergi Roberto put in the goal in the final hours of the game.
1) Bayer Uerdingen 7 – 3 Dynamo Dresden, European Cup Winners Cup 1986:
Bayer Uerdingen were the absolute minnows going into the match as they were a team who had seen considerable growth at that period and had spent most of their age in the lower leagues. Dynamo beat them 2-0 in the first leg and was up 3-1 in the 2nd leg already. The match was only starting and the next 45 minutes would give Europe one of its greatest comebacks. Wolfgang Funkel scored one before Dynamo put one in their net to get the scores level for the night. Wolfgang Schaefer made it 4 in the 68th minute and Dietmar Klinger made it 5-3. Then Funkel got his third of the night and ultimately another goal was scored to make the score 7-3 and the aggregate 7-5, everything within 45 minutes.
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