Biggest Champions League comebacks in history as Man City, Chelsea, Tottenham attempt all-time famous wins

As Europe's premiere football competition, the UEFA Champions League brings with it both the elation of realising dreams as well as the heartbreak of failure.

Both emotions are elevated the highest when one team comes from behind to win and advance, keeping alive their chances of lifting a famous trophy while the other team suffers the gut-wrenching end of their run.

Major comebacks are rare in the Champions League knockout stage, as over two legs it can be difficult for one team to reverse an adverse scoreline from the first leg.

With multiple Premier League clubs facing a significant deficit in the 2025/26 Round of 16, with many English sides disappointing on the road, there still is some history on their side.

The Sporting News brings you an overview of some of the biggest and most famous turnarounds in the history of UEFA's most iconic competition.

MORE: 2025/26 Champions League top goal scorers

Biggest comebacks in Champions League history

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The biggest comeback for a home team in the second leg is four goals, which has been accomplished only once. Barcelona managed this in the 2016/17 Round of 16 in what was known as "La Remontada" for its improbability. It was only the fourth time ever this had been accomplished in any UEFA competition at any stage (once in the Europa League qualifying stage, and twice in the early rounds of the old UEFA Cup), and the first and only in the modern iteration of the Champions League.

A three-goal turnaround has happened on four occasions previously in the Champions League, most recently in this year's Round of 16 when Sporting CP fell 3-0 to Cinderella story Bodo/Glimt in the first leg, only to turn it around in dramatic fashion at home a week later.

* Team advanced via old away goals tiebreaker rule

Away

Turning around a first-leg deficit on the road is far more difficult, having only been accomplished 11 times in the history of the European Cup/Champions League in knockout play.

This is, partly, because it means a few specific things must happen. First, it requires the team to lose the first leg at home, which doesn't often happen to the better team over two legs. Second, it usually required that losing team to suffer first leg defeat by a small margin, not only because it's easier to reverse, but also, until the tiebreaker rule was changed to a penalty shootout, the tiebreaker was away goals, and if you lost the first leg by too many goals, it would mean the opponent had the tiebreaker. Then finally, it ultimately requires a comeback win on the road, which is obviously the tallest order.

Given this, only once has a two-goal deficit from the first leg at home been reversed on the road. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Manchester United did it to Paris Saint-Germain in the 2018/19 Round of 16, when Romelu Lukaku scored twice before Marcus Rashford's late penalty put them through to the quarterfinals.

* Team advanced via old away goals tiebreaker rule
** Team advanced via penalty shootout

Biggest collapses in Champions League history

Here, the biggest comebacks — and thusly, collapses — are detailed.

"La Remontada" lives on: Barcelona erase four-goal deficit to PSG (2016/17 Round of 16)

The only four-goal comeback in modern Champions League knockout history came in absolutely electric fashion, in a game that lives on in the memories of all football fans.

Having been thrashed 4-0 in the first leg in Paris, the Messi-Neymar-Suarez trio with Barcelona were not deterred in their mission to reach the next round.

The key to the turnaround was an early goal by Luis Suarez just three minutes into the match, which injected a spike of belief into the home side at the Camp Nou. It took some time to tack on after that, but an own-goal by Layvin Kurzawa would make it 2-0 Barcelona (4-2 on aggregate) by halftime.

After the break, Lionel Messi bagged a 50th minute penalty after Neymar was felled by Thomas Meunier in the area, and suddenly Barcelona were within one goal of evening up the match. Still, they knew they had to win, given PSG having scored four away goals in the first leg.

That's what made Edinson Cavani's goal in the 62nd minute feel like a dagger. With that, PSG re-established its two-goal aggregate advantage, meaning Barcelona now needed three more goals to turn around the tie with less than 30 minutes left, an impossible task.

But impossible it was not. As Barcelona poured men forward, Neymar burst to life, scoring in the 88th minute and 91st minutes, the last via penalty, to improbably put Barcelona back on the brink of a turnaround. When time seemed to be running out, the moment of magic arrived as Sergi Roberto put Barcelona in front with a 95th minute goal.

Anfield astonished: Real Madrid put five past Liverpool (2022/23 Round of 16)

Liverpool have enjoyed some memorable European nights at Anfield in their storied history, but this was one they would sooner forget.

It all seemed to be going so well in their revenge mission against the holders, who beat them 1-0 in the final in Paris in 2022. Darwin Nunez's sublime flicked finish after three minutes and 10 seconds, the fastest Anfield Champions League goal ever for Liverpool, was followed by a Mohamed Salah finish barely 10 minutes later after a dreadful error from Thibaut Courtois. It left Liverpool 3-0 up on aggregate and Real Madrid were in trouble.

But there is just something special about Real Madrid in this competition. After Vinicius Junior scored a stunning goal, there was a sense of foreboding around the ground; after Alisson had a pass blocked by Vinicius into his own net, it became a feeling of inevitability.

In the second half, Madrid took total control. Eder Militao headed in a clever Luka Modric free-kick, and Karim Benzema saw a shot deflect off Joe Gomez and leave Alisson helpless. A quick breakaway saw Benzema double his tally in classy style, and Madrid fans were crying 'ole!' with every pass as the game wore on.

It was the first time Liverpool had ever conceded at least four goals at home in European competition, and it showed why Madrid have won this tournament 14 times.

Karim Benzema inspires comeback over PSG (2021/22 Round of 16)

Real Madrid just had that magic about them in 2021-22. Prior to the miracle against Man City, there was the Round-of-16 stunner, inspired by Karim Benzema.

A star-studded matchup left many criticizing the mishaps in the Champions League draw, wanting to see these power clubs meet later in the competition.

Through the first leg in Paris, PSG dominated proceedings, putting a lid on Madrid and pummeling the eventual Spanish champions' back line. Still, it took a late Kylian Mbappe goal to see PSG come away with a slim 1-0 victory.

Early in the second leg in Madrid, it was more of the same through the first hour, and another Mbappe goal in the 39th minute seemed to see the Parisians through. Then, Benzema happened.

The striker played like a man possessed in the second half, bagging a stunning hat-trick to see Madrid advance 3-2 on aggregate, scoring his first in the 61st minute and securing his treble just 17 minutes later. By the time PSG knew what was happening, it was far too late, and Madrid were through to the quarterfinals, leaving PSG with yet another collapse to swallow.