Liverpool are in need of a UEFA Champions League miracle against Barcelona on Tuesday night but their hopes of overcoming a 3-0 deficit from the first leg will be buoyed by memories of some of the competition's finest comebacks.
Jurgen Klopp's side were thoroughly undone in the semi-final first leg in Spain, surrendering goals to old boy Luis Suarez and a double from Lionel Messi - and Liverpool face a Herculean task in clawing back the deficit against the favorites for Europe's top club title.
But football, as they say, is a funny old game and Liverpool will look to take inspiration from some of the competition's most memorable comebacks in recent seasons - including their most famous European night in recent times when they reversed a similarly oppressive scoreline in the 2005 Champions League Final.
2005: LIVERPOOL 3 - 3 AC MILAN (Liverpool win on penalties)
Liverpool looked dead and buried against a Milan side listing several world class talents in their ranks as the first half of the 2005 Champions League Final ended. Milan, one of European football's most successful teams of the era, had dominated the first half and taken a seemingly impenetrable lead thanks to first-minute Paulo Maldini opener and a brace from Hernan Crespo.
Then came six of the most remarkable minutes in Liverpool's long history. Captain and talisman Steven Gerrard pulled one back on 54 minutes, Vladimir Smicer added a second two minutes later and when Xabi Alonso equalized in the 60th minute, it started looking as if Rafael Benitez's team had already begun etching their name on the historic trophy.
The comeback was completed after extra time with Andriy Shevchenko's missed penalty confirming Liverpool's fifth European title in six final appearances and no doubt providing Klopp's team today with evidence that improbable comebacks can happen, even against Europe's elite sides. It was then, and will be forever known as, the Miracle of Istanbul.
1999: MANCHESTER UNITED 2 - 1 BAYERN MUNICH
It is arguably the most condensed, drama-filled few minutes in Champions League history. Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United side had won the league and cup double in England at a relative canter but the addition of their first European title in more than 30 years would have made for an historic triple achievement.
But as time trickled down things weren't looking good. A 6th minute Mario Basler goal had looked like being the only score of the game, before Ferguson introduced a double salvo of substitutions in Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, who netted in the first and third minute of injury time respectively to break German hearts and confirm both figures as club icons in perpetuity.
2012: CHELSEA 2 - 2 BARCELONA
A single Didier Drogba goal had given the London side a 1-0 advantage going into the second leg with Lionel Messi's Barcelona in the Nou Camp in 2012 but optimism soon turned sour when Sergio Busquets levelled the scores and, moments later, when club captain John Terry was dismissed for violent conduct.
Andres Iniesta added a second before half time, which was almost instantly cancelled out when Ramires lobbed in Chelsea first from an immaculate Frank Lampard through ball. The goal put Chelsea in the ascendency on away goals, but could interim manager Roberto Di Matteo and his team hold out for the entirety of the second half shorn of their skipper and best defender against the most potent attack in Europe?
Petr Cech's goal led a charmed life for the majority of the second frame. Lionel Messi missed a penalty and another strike cannoned back off the post, but with the Catalan side camped outside of Chelsea's penalty area a lofted ball from Ashley Cole was seized upon by Fernando Torres who rounded Victor Valdes in injury time to put Chelsea ahead on aggregate and claim a crucial scalp on their way to winning the tournament.
2017: BARCELONA 6 - 1 PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN
A tale of two collapses. Barcelona, long one of Europe's most dominant sides, had appeared uncharacteristically anaemic in the first leg tie, losing 4-0 in Paris. The lack of an away goal was considered crucial, meaning that PSG only needed to travel to the Nou Camp and avoid a thumping to secure their passage into the next round of the competition. Easier said than done.
A Luis Suarez strike and a PSG own goal, along with another from Lionel Messi just after half-time, very much got the Barcelona train back on the tracks but an away goal from Edinson Cavani on the hour mark left Barca needing three more goals as the match reached its conclusion.
Step up Neymar. The young Brazilian fired in two late strikes before a Sergio Roberto finish in the 95th minute confirmed the most 'skin of your teeth' climax to a two-legged European fixture in years and probably made Neymar's first days at the club a few months later more than a little awkward.
2018: ROMA 3 - 0 BARCELONA
A 4-1 first leg win inside the Nou Camp had left the second fixture of Barcelona's Champions League tie with Roma last year appearing to be little more than a formality, though their advantage going into the game instead metastasized into a lack of focus which cost the Catalans their participation in the tournament.
Edin Dzeko scored Roma's first early in the first half and it appeared to be just the motivation that the Romans needed. Daniele De Rossi added a second from the penalty spot in the second half and with the Serie A side in need of a hero to trump the underperforming Spanish side, up stepped Kostas Manolas to nod in a near-post corner to confirm a famous night in the Italian capital very much at the expense of a Barcelona side that many assumed, perhaps even themselves, that victory was assured.
Source : RT Sport News
Mission impossible? 5 classic Champions League comebacks as Liverpool aim to shock Barca
Mission impossible? 5 classic Champions League comebacks as Liverpool aim to shock Barca
