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That came a year after they lost to Real Madrid in the final, just as they did in 2022, although back then they had a side close to their rise in Europe and the Premier League. It was home too, as were my two great second-leg comebacks in this competition and its little continental siblings:
Barcelona 6-1 PSG, 2017
Luis Enrique’s side were trailing 4-0 after a scuffle at the Parc des Princes, causing an uproar among their fans on social media and prompting a notoriously thin-skinned, inexplicably popular Twitter user to go on strike until ‘Luis Enrique is fired’. The Champions League and double-double winners manager did announce he was leaving at the end of the season, but the move to three at the back resulted in a turnaround in performances in the league and they started the second leg in revived Shape. But even they, Barcelona, couldn’t reverse a four-goal deficit… could they? They started well and took a 2-0 lead through a goal from Luis Suarez and a goal from Layvin Kurzawa og. Lionel Messi made the three from the penalty spot but when Edinson Cavani brought one back for the visitors, Barca needed three goals in 29 minutes plus injury time to progress. 27 of them were held 3-1 but then Neymar made it 4-1, equalizing on aggregate in the first five minutes of added time but still on the way to scoring away goals. And then, seconds from time, Sergi Roberto, gutted on and off the field in Paris, snapped a chip over the PSG defense and hooked a volley in the 6-1 win.
Bayer Uerdingen 7-3 Dynamo Dresden 1986
Leading 2-0 from the first leg and leading 3-1 at half-time in the second quarter-finals of the 1986 Cup Winners’ Cup, the Dynamo Dresden players could have been forgiven for playing the final 45 minutes with cigars in their mouths. Maybe they have after all – without losing anything, Bayer Uerdingen went through and scored six goals in the second half to go from a 5-1 aggregate deficit to a 7-5 win with two each for Wolfgang Schäfer and Wolfgang Funkel .
The best away game I guess was Barcelona 1-4 Metz 1984: After a 4-2 home UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup defeat in the first round, Metz’s prospects were so hopeless that no TV or radio station bothered to cover the second leg at the barely a quarter-full Nou Camp. After being taunted by Barca’s Bernd Schuster, the Metz players were given the performance of their lives after falling further behind. They didn’t start scoring until the 38th minute but didn’t stop there, Tony Kurbos racing to a hat-trick and using a deflection to force an own goal. No wonder they ended up goading Schuster.
So, feathers of hope etc. Liverpool, who lost 1-0 at Dean Court on Saturday, will be without the services of Thiago Alcantara, Luis Díaz, Joe Gomez and unfortunately Stefan Bajcetic who has a stress injury that will take time to settle’ , according to Jurgen Klopp. Jordan Henderson is also out sick. Real Madrid beat Espanyol on Saturday without Karim Benzema, who sustained an ankle injury. The captain trained on Monday and Tuesday so could start but could be used from the bench given the magnitude of Real’s lead. Ferland Mendy is fit but cannot risk not having played since January 26, while David Alaba, who pulled a hamstring at Anfield, has only just resumed light training and will certainly sit back.