10 Greatest Comebacks in World Cup Knockout History

#4 1970 World Cup Semi-final: Italy 4-3 West Germany

1970 World Cup Semi-Final, Mexico City, Mexico 17th

June,

1970. Italy 4 v West Germany 3. West German striker Gerd Muller scores his team's third goal past Italian goalkeeper Enrico Albertosi to level the scores at 3-3 in extra time.

One of the greatest games in World Cup History- in fact, the 1970 semi-final between Italy and Germany has gone down in footballing folklore as the “Game of the Century”. Both teams had already made comebacks in their quarter-finals: Italy recovered from an early 1-0 deficit to smash hosts Mexico 4-1 while Germany beat England 3-2 in a game that features later on this list (spoiler alert!).

The game started quickly as Roberto Boninsegna gave Italy an early lead in the 8th minute. For the next 82 minutes, Italy managed to hold on against a brilliant attacking German side. Germany’s best player Franz Beckenbauer dislocated his arm but chose to keep playing in a sling rather than leave his team with 10 men. Beckenbauer’s bravery paid off as left-back Karl Heinz Schnellinger scored his first and last national team goal in injury-time.

As the game went to extra-time, legend Gerd Muller gave Germany the lead as they completed a brilliant comeback. But that is not the comeback that is ranked 4th in this list- instead, it is what followed. Most teams would have given up after surrendering a 1-0 lead in injury time but not the Azzurri. In the 98th minute, a clever Italian free kick routine resulted in defender Tarcisio Burgnich equalizing. Within six minutes, Luigi Riva gave Italy the lead and their comeback was complete.

But the game wasn’t as Gerd Muller equalized a few minutes later. However there was to be no “third” comeback as Gianni Rivera rifled home the winner within a minute. What made Italy’s comeback so special was how they recovered from Germany’s initial fightback.