History was made this morning.
Paris Saint-Germain went into the second leg of their Champions League tie with Barcelona with a 4-0 lead, but it wasn’t enough as Barcelona scored an incredible six goals to record the biggest upset in Champions League history.
This comeback was incredible, but where does it rank on the list of the most impressive comebacks of all-time?
10. 1999 World Cup Semi-Final – France vs New Zealand
New Zealand took one of the best Rugby teams in history to the 1999 World Cup, headlined by the great Jonah Lomu, and they had no problems getting through the pool stages.
The All Blacks went into their semi-final with France as dominant favourites and Lomu helped them establish a 24-10 lead at half-time, but the All Blacks remembered that they were playing at a Rugby World Cup and completely fell apart in the second-half to lose 43-31.
France went on to be smashed by the Wallabies in the final, while New Zealand were forced into the humiliation that is the third place playoff.
9. 2001 AFL – Essendon vs North Melbourne
This remains the greatest successful comeback in AFL history.
Essendon had lost just two of their 15 games heading into this clash with North Melbourne, but it was the Kangaroos that flew out of the gates and had a 69 point led halfway through the second quarter.
The Bombers kicked nine goals on the trot in the second quarter to get themselves back in touch and they kicked eight goals in the final quarter to complete the greatest comeback in the history of the AFL.
8. 2015 NRL – North Queensland Cowboys vs Parramatta Eels
The North Queensland Cowboys pulled off stunning comebacks just about every week during the 2015 NRL season, but this was the best of the bunch.
The Parramatta Eels led by 24 points with less than half an hour left to play, but they managed to score 30 unanswered points in less than 20 minutes – including a hat-trick to Gavin Cooper in seven minutes.
7. 2005 Champions League Final – Liverpool vs AC Milan
It’s pretty common knowledge that Liverpool don’t know how to win the Premier League, but in a purple patch in 2005 they worked their way into the UEFA Champions League final against AC Milan.
When Milan scored less than a minute into the match and continued to lengthen their lead to 3-0 by half time, the result looked over, but Liverpool weren’t done.
Steven Gerrard led from the front in the second half before the Reds pegged another back via Vladimir Smicer two minutes later.
When Xabi Alonso equalised 20 minutes later, Milan had lost all the wind from their sails and barely made an imprint in a penalty shootout.
6. New England Patriots vs Atlanta Falcons – Super Bowl 51
This a game that fans of both the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons will never forget.
Atlanta were simply outstanding in the first three quarters of the game and held a 25-point lead with just over two minutes left in the third quarter.
Enter Tom Brady.
Brady had struggled to getting anything going for the Patriots in the first three quarters, but in the last six minutes of regular time he led the Patriots to three touchdowns to take the game into overtime.
The Patriots got the first opportunity with the ball in overtime and they did not miss out as a James White touchdown run delivered the Patriots the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history.
5. 2011 A-League Grand Final – Brisbane Roar vs Central Coast Mariners
The Roar had clearly been the best team in the A-League and they started the game against the Central Coast Mariners as clear favourites, but they were unable to break the Mariners down in regular time and the game was sent to extra-time.
The Mariners looked as though they would finally claim their maiden A-League title when they took a 2-0 lead in the first half of extra-time, but the Roar scored two incredible late goals to force a penalty shootout, which they won to secure one of the most incredible comebacks in the history of the A-League.
4. 1981 Ashes – England vs Australia
We have just seen a remarkable Test match in India, but this one was even better.
Australia scored 401 runs in their first innings and they sent England in to follow-on after they were rolled for 174.
England were 6-133 in their second innings, but an incredible knock from Ian Botham ensured that the Poms set Australia a total of 120 runs to win.
Bob Willis ploughed through Australia with a vicious spell of 8-43 to deliver England a remarkable victory.
If only we had taken the $501 on offer like Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh!
3. 2011/2012 English Premier League – Manchester City vs QPR
This was easily the most exciting finale to an English Premier League season in history and it still needs to be seen to be believed.
Manchester City only needed to beat the struggling Queens Park Rangers to win their first championship since 1968 and they took an early lead, but QPR scored two surprise goals to take the lead in the 66th minute, while Manchester United took the lead against Sunderland to go to the top of the live table.
Manchester United looked as though they were going to claim another Premier League title as the Manchester City game went into injury-time, but two goals from Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero delivered City an emotional win.
2. 2016/2017 Champions League Round Of 16 – Barcelona vs PSG
This is a football game that had to be seen to be believed.
Paris St-Germain won the opening leg of this Champions League Round Of 16 tie 4-0 and looked to have secured their passage through to the quarter-finals when Edinson Cavani scored in the 62nd minute.
At the 88 minute mark, Barcelona still required three goals to progress and that is when a Neymar free-kick started an incredible sequence of events.
Luis Suzarez won a penalty that was convereted by Neymar in the early stages of stoppage time before Neymar created another goal for Sergi Roberto in what was almost the final kick of the day to deliver Barcelona a 6-5 aggregate win.
1. 2013 America’s Cup – Oracle Team USA vs Emirates Team New Zealand
This was the choke of all chokes!
Team New Zealand challenged Team Oracle from the United States in the 2013 America’s Cup and they had one hand on the trophy when they took a massive 8-1 lead.
Amazingly, Team New Zealand managed to lose the next eight races and gave up the title in arguably the biggest choke in sporting history.
We are fairly sure Kiwi PM John Key did not award his countrymen a public holiday the next day.