Barcelona, Olympiacos & Co.: The biggest comebacks in European Cup history

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Hope for Liverpool? 

Jürgen Klopp’s goodbye tour from Liverpool has recently hit several roadblocks. First, there was the 0-3 defeat to Atalanta in the Europa League and then a 0-1 loss to Crystal Palace in the Premier League. While Liverpool remain in the race to win the league title, the chances of winning the Europa League are now at best minimal. But Liverpool fans don’t have to look too far into the past to find a glimmer of hope. 

In the history of UEFA’s knockout club competitions, only nine teams have managed to overcome a deficit of two goals. One team even managed to overcome a three-goal deficit. We don’t have to go far back to find a recent example. 

Olympiacos overturned a 1-4 deficit against Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Conference League with a 6-1 after extra time to book a ticket for the quarterfinals. With the caveat that because of the situation in the Middle East, the game wasn’t played in Israel but in front of 350 spectators at the TSC Arena, home of Serbian first division side FK TSC Backa Topola. 

Olympiacos managed biggest comeback – Liverpool know how to beat Atalanta

Liverpool won’t be in the same situation. They will face 15,000 fans at the sold-out Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo. But perhaps Klopp’s side can draw some confidence that they were the cause of Atalanta’s highest-ever home defeat. In the 2020/21 Champions League season, Liverpool beat Atalanta 5-0 during the group stage of the competition. Diogo Jota scored a hat-trick that day. Since then, however, Atalanta have lost just once at home with a goal difference of three goals or more. That match was a 1-4 defeat to Roma in the fall of 2021. This season, Atalanta have lost three of 20 games across all competitions at home. All three defeats were a 1-2 result. 

In their long European history, Liverpool have won nine away games with three goals or more. Although it isn’t likely that Liverpool will advance, the TM database reveals that there is grounds for hope. Turning around a 0-3 deficit in Bergamo isn’t more unlikely than overturning a 0-3 deficit suffered at Camp Nou in the second leg of the 2019 Champions League semifinals or the 0-3 deficit at halftime in the 2005 final against AC Milan. 

Speaking of Barcelona. Liverpool haven’t been the only team to turn around a significant deficit against the Catalans. In 2018, Roma overturned a 1-4 away defeat at the Camp Nou by winning their home game 3-0. But Barcelona were not always at the receiving end of a comeback. In 2017,PSG beat Barça at home 4-0 only to lose 1-6 at the Camp Nou. To this day the biggest comeback in the history of European club football.

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