Champions Leagues biggest comebacks: Barcelona, Liverpool more
Sporting CP brought Bodo/Glimt‘s fairytale UEFA Champions League run to an abrupt end on Tuesday by overcoming a huge deficit to bundle everybody’s favourite underdogs from the Arctic Circle out of the competition in the round of 16. Trailing 3-0 on aggregate from the first leg in Norway, it looked like Sporting were on course…
Sporting CP brought Bodo/Glimt‘s fairytale UEFA Champions League run to an abrupt end on Tuesday by overcoming a huge deficit to bundle everybody’s favourite underdogs from the Arctic Circle out of the competition in the round of 16.
Trailing 3-0 on aggregate from the first leg in Norway, it looked like Sporting were on course to become Bodo/Glimt’s latest victim in a 2025-26 campaign in which they had already beaten Manchester City, Atlético Madrid and Inter Milan. However, an unlikely uprising at Lisbon’s José Alvalade Stadium produced one of the great Champions League comebacks ever, and booked the Portuguese hosts a place in the quarterfinals.
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Sporting scored three unanswered goals inside the first 78 minutes to send the second leg to extra time before adding another two goals therein to complete their miraculous revival, winning 5-0 on the night and 5-3 overall.
Sporting thus became only the fifth club in Champions League history to advance through a two-legged knockout tie despite losing the first leg by three goals or more, meaning their feat against Bodo/Glimt now ranks alongside the likes of Barcelona and Liverpool in the pantheon of the biggest knockout-phase comebacks of the Champions League era.
Having ousted Juventus in the previous round, Deportivo looked to have finally come unstuck against Italian opposition in the quarters when they were drubbed 4-1 by Milan at San Siro in the first leg of the tie.
Rather than wallow, the Spanish side rallied at the Riazor to eliminate the reigning European champions with the competition’s first comeback from three goals down since Galatasaray did it against Neuchâtel Xamax in the old European Cup in 1989.
With their defiant fans roaring them on, Deportivo came flying out of the blocks to stun Milan with a four-goal salvo that turned the tie on its head. They were then knocked out in the semis by eventual winners FC Porto.
Possibly the most topsy-turvy two-legged tie of all-time, Barcelona fell to a disastrous 4-0 first-leg defeat at the Parc des Prince as goals from Julian Draxler, Edinson Cavani and a brace from Ángel Di María seemed to put PSG in pole position to reach the last eight.
Desperate to overcome the deficit, Barça were at their best at Camp Nou and quickly clawed their way back to 3-4 in the space of 50 minutes, only for a Cavani penalty on the hour mark to seemingly disrupt their momentum.
However, the Catalans continued to fight on amid a feverous atmosphere until they finally broke PSG with a bewildering flurry of late goals — including two goals in three minutes from Neymar and a decisive 96th-minute strike from Sergi Roberto — that saw them win the game 6-1 and scrabble through to the quarters 6-5 on aggregate.
By coming from four goals down, Barça’s resurgence against PSG is officially on record as the biggest comeback in Champions League knockout history — a famous night that has simply become known as “La Remontada” by the club’s fanbase.
AS Roma 4-4 Barcelona (2017-18 quarterfinal)
Aided by two unfortunate own goals, Barcelona pummelled Roma 4-1 at Camp Nou in the first leg of the quarterfinals, though a late consolation strike for the Giallorossi courtesy of Edin Dzeko would ultimately play a crucial role in the reckoning.
Sure enough, the Italian side wasted precious little time in addressing the balance when Dzeko scored again inside the first five minutes of the second leg at the Stadio Olimpico.
A penalty from club legend Daniele De Rossi brought Roma back to within a goal of their opponents and then the aggregate scoreline was levelled at 4-4 when Kostas Manolos headed home an 82nd-minute corner to blow the roof of the stadium and send his side through on away goals. In a reference to Barça’s exploits the previous year, this comeback was dubbed the “Romantada.”
Liverpool 4-3 Barcelona (2018-19 semifinal)
Having finished runners-up to Real Madrid the previous season, Liverpool were desperate to go one better and lift the trophy in 2018-19 but were forced to navigate a tricky tie against Barcelona in the semifinals.
After knocking out Bayern Munich and Porto, Jürgen Klopp’s side slumped to a morale-sapping 3-0 defeat at Camp Nou in the first leg. The Reds needed something extraordinary and that’s precisely what they got at Anfield in the form of a dizzying four-goal barrage.
Divock Origi set the mood just seven minutes in but it wasn’t until Georgino Wijnaldum scored twice in the space of two minutes just after half-time that the home fans started to believe that the mega-comeback might actually happen. Sure enough, it was Origi who popped up once again in the 80th minute when the Belgium striker nipped in to steer home Trent Alexander-Arnold‘s quick corner.
Sporting CP 5-3 Bodo/Glimt (2025-26 round of 16)
INCREDIBLE SCENES IN LISBON 🟢
Sporting get their fourth on the night to TAKE THE LEAD over Bodø/Glimt, 4-3 on aggregate 🤯 pic.twitter.com/pglRyl7PNr
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) March 17, 2026
It looked for all the world like Bodo/Glimt were firmly on course for the quarterfinals when the Norwegian minnows — already one of the Champions League’s great underdog stories — hit three goals past Sporting in the first leg of their round-of-16 tie.
However, things quickly came unstuck for Kjetil Knutsen’s side in Portugal as Sporting quickly made mincemeat of Bodo/Glimt’s advantage.
Gonçalo Inacio headed home with 34 minutes played to kick off the comeback before second-half goals from Pedro Gonçalves and Luis Suárez (via a somewhat controversial penalty) levelled the tie on aggregate.
Maximiliano Araújo then nudged Sporting ahead on aggregate two minutes into extra time before Rafael Nel dealt the final blow in the 122nd minute of the game.
