There have been plenty of miraculous comebacks in the past, with Manchester United in the Champions League final in 1999, and Arsenal’s 7-5 victory from 4-0 down to Reading springing to mind.
However, this year more than most, with the quality of some of the top teams, the match is never over. 1-0 down with even five minutes to play, a team like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus or Bayern Munich can all turn around a deficit and actually win the match. This is due to the amount of talent and resilience they have, which has allowed them to reach the top level.
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Here we take a look at five of the greatest comebacks this season alone:
#5 Bournemouth 3 – 3 Arsenal (Premier League)
Bournemouth knew Arsenal had weaknesses having lost their previous two away games, and pressed their midfield and defence from the off. Arsenal could not handle the press and two goals within the first 20 minutes meant they were 2-0 down at half-time.
At half-time, everyone was still thinking, an early second half goal and Arsenal could win this. But, it was Bournemouth who continued to pile on the pressure making it 3-0, a score-line the Gunners had never turned into a draw in Premier League history.
Luckily for them, that piece of history was about to change. A diving header from Alexis Sanchez and a wonderful volley from substitute Lucas Perez made it 3-2 with the two goals being scored within five minutes of each other.
Bournemouth had to then dig in deep but they could not hold on to their lead as Olivier Giroud battled away with defender Steve Cook, he was the man to rise the highest, nodding in Arsenal’s equaliser in the best comeback of the Premier League season in 2016/17.
#4 Real Madrid 3 – 2 Deportivo La Coruna (La Liga)
Real Madrid faced relegation-battling Deportivo at home in what seemed like a routine win for the Galacticos, and that win became even more likely when Alvaro Morata’s 50th-minute goal gave the home side the lead.
But two quick-fire goals from Joselu took Real by complete surprise and stunned the Bernabeu crowd. Deportivo looked like holding on too. As the game headed into the last 10 minutes, the result remained the same and it was beginning to look like three valuable points were going to be dropped by the leaders. Not only that, but their 34-game unbeaten run was under threat, and to a side no one expected to even score away from home.
But, as Madrid do, they fought back. Mariano Diaz, from the bench, scored his first La Liga goal, and a very crucial one making it 2-2 with six minutes to play. As injury time began and Real were awarded a corner, it seemed inevitable that there was only one outcome, and it soon became reality.
Sergio Ramos once again rose to the occasion and scored a bullet header to complete the Madrid comeback, which sent them six points clear at the top of the table.
#3 Villarreal 2 – 3 Real Madrid (La Liga)
Real Madrid have become renowned for their late comebacks and it is no surprise that they feature on this list twice, with the second comeback being away to Villarreal in February.
Two goals in six minutes in the second half gave Villarreal a comfortable 2-0 lead, and due to their strong defensive record, the home side looked unlikely to drop points.
Gareth Bale, not long after his return from injury, gave Real a vital boost though, when he scored a header to make it 2-1, making the turnaround more realistic. And 10 minutes later, Real were awarded a penalty, which was extremely controversial, but Ronaldo remained calm and slotted the ball home to make it 2-2.
Even at 2-2, Villarreal would have been confident of being able to hold on to the draw. That was until Morata, who came off the bench, nodded in the winner just seven minutes from time, providing Real with another crucial three points in a remarkable comeback.
#2 RB Leipzig 4 – 5 Bayern Munich (Bundesliga)
Video credit: Bundesliga
First and second met in the Bundesliga last Saturday and there was seemingly nothing to play for as Bayern Munich had secured the league title already, but the way both teams performed would suggest otherwise.
4-2 down with just six minutes to play, Robert Lewandowski scored his second goal of the day as he tapped into an empty net. Then came Bayern’s equaliser as a perfectly placed David Alaba free-kick found the top right corner, with not even an attempt to save it by Peter Gulacsi.
But after the equaliser, the match went into injury time with the score-line remained the same. A draw for Bayern would have certainly been an acceptable result having needed two goals to secure even that with six minutes to play.
However, Arjen Robben was apparently unhappy with a stalemate. Charging down the right-hand side, he knocked the ball past Marvin Compper and latched onto it before gliding past Stefan Ilsanker and dinking the ball over Gulacsi to seal a 4-5 victory.
The winner by Robben was sensational, capping off one of the best comebacks this season.
#1 Barcelona 6 - 1 PSG (Champions League, last 16 second leg)
In February, Barcelona pulled off one of the most astonishing comebacks the football world has ever seen. Before that night, no team in the Champions League had ever recovered from a defeat by four goals or more in the first leg. But things were going to change.
Barcelona were 3-0 up by the 50th minute and seemed to have a chance of making up that four-goal deficit, but a 62nd minute Edinson Cavani strike seemed to end their chances of advancing in the competition.
But as mentioned previously, with the likes of Barcelona, you must never rule anything out. With two minutes left of normal time, Neymar scored a sumptuous free-kick, rifling the top left corner. The slight glimmer of hope they had left then became belief as Barcelona were awarded a penalty, which was scored by Neymar again, meaning Barcelona needed one goal to advance to the quarter-final.
Despite needing just one goal, they had just four minutes of injury time left. What also needs to be considered is that they were facing Thiago Silva and Marquinhos, two of the most highly rated centre-backs in world football. But that didn’t stop the Blaugrana. A perfectly weighted pass floated over the top of the defence by Neymar fell onto the outstretched leg of Sergi Roberto who completed the comeback. This was one of, if not the, greatest comebacks of all time.
