Last-gasp heroics for Klopp's Dortmund
Dortmund v Malaga
Semi-final Second Leg 2013
You're 2-1 down at home to Malaga heading into injury-time and need two goals to go through after drawing the first leg 0-0. What price that you manage those two goals to book your place in the final?
If you were betting in-play on the Betfair Exchange, try 660.0659/1. Goals from Betis legend Joaquin (then at Malaga) and Eliseu were sandwiched by an equaliser from this years' Champions League top scorer in waiting Robert Lewandowski, now at Bayern.
Dortmund, managed then by a certain Jurgen Klopp, looked like they were heading out after an impressive campaign in which they'd played the sort of pacy, attacking football we've seen Liverpool play for the past two or three years.
But Marco Reus had other ideas, pouncing on a loose ball that fell fortuitously into his path to give the Dortmund faithful hope. And if the first was one type of fortune, the second was of quite a different variety.
A pre-VAR era linesman failed to spot that several Dortmund players may well have been offside in the build-up to the dramatic equalizer, eventually scored by Felipe Santana. The latter may well have been offside again when he finally bundled home from close range after chaos ensued in the Malaga box. Heartbreak for the Spaniards, joy for Dortmund, elation for those who backed the German outfit to go through at mammoth odds.
A Neymar-inspired Barca miracle
Barcelona v PSG
Last 16 Second Leg 2017
PSG would have seriously fancied their chances of progressing to the quarterfinals after a remarkable 4-0 win at home in the first leg but dismiss the chances of a side featuring Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez at your peril.
Suarez scored early, Layvin Kurzawa put the ball through his own net and Messi added a goal from the spot after Neymar had been fouled. Edinson Cavani, who had scored in the first leg, grabbed a crucial away goal and with less than half an hour to go, that looked to be that as Barca now needed three more.
So, all credit to the 'love-him-or-hate' him Neymar for carrying on believing when Barca were being laid at 350.0349/1 on Betfair to go through, as we reached the end of normal time.
He curled in a free-kick in the 88th minute, grabbed the ball off Messi to take the penalty himself in the 91st and still found the energy to put in a fine cross deep in the 95th minute, headed in by Sergi Roberto.
At the end it was somehow Messi who received all the plaudits, and many feel it was this lack of appreciation that triggered Neymar's move to PSG (of all sides) that summer. Back on the field that night, within minutes of the final whistle, the game was labeled 'La Remontada/The Comeback'. No wonder.
Roma rise from their ruins
Roma v Barcelona
Quarterfinals Second Leg 2018
Incredible comebacks don't always go Barca's way. On this occasion it was they who went into the second leg with a big lead, 4-1, and it was they who walked off the pitch wondering what had just hit them at the end of the second leg.
Edin Dzeko scored the first and was involved in the second, when he was brought down in the box by Gerard Pique. Daniele de Rossi, who hadn't scored a Champions League goal in three years, made no mistake.
Barca were under severe pressure, no doubt about that. But not many believed they'd actually go on and concede a third with the clock ticking down. But concede they did.
A fine corner kick was headed in at the near post by defender Kostas Manolas, causing staff to run onto the pitch, fans to cry in the stands and Roma's Twitter account to go into meltdown.
"Nobody believed in us before the game - they gave us a 5% chance of winning", said an emotional Dzeko in the aftermath.
He may have been right that few believed him but his maths wasn't quite right; Roma were backed at 200.0199/1 on Betfair to qualify, rather than the 20/1 he made reference to.
Gerrard brings the trophy home
Liverpool v AC Milan
Champions League Final 2005
This is probably the most famous Champions League comeback of all time, albeit not the one that caused the greatest carnage on the Exchange in terms of pure numbers.
Let's go through the story once again. Milan went 3-0 up in the first-half courtesy of goals from Paolo Maldini and a brace from Hernan Crespo. Harry Kewell, a surprise inclusion in the Liverpool XI, limped off after just 23 minutes to be replaced by Vladimir Smicer.
Steven Gerrard scored a rare headed goal on 54 minutes to keep the neutrals interested and Smicer added a second from outside the box. Gerrard was in the thick of it again a few minutes later, fouled as he collected the ball just inside the box. The classy Xabi Alonso stepped up but his first effort was saved; fortunately for him he was the quickest to react to the rebound and drilled it into the roof of the net. 3-3.
There were plenty of chances at both ends both in normal time and extra time, but no more goals came, so penalties it was.
Jerzy Dudek saved two and Serginho blazed one over the bar. Only John Arne Riise missed for Liverpool and they'd completed a remarkable comeback, backed at a high of 100.099/1 to lift the Cup.
AC Milan were to take some sort of revenge two years later, beating Liverpool 2-1 in the 2007 Champions League final. But that didn't really make up for this one.
Moura hat-trick on an unforgettable night for Spurs
Ajax v Tottenham
Semi-Final Second Leg 2019
Ajax's young side had done remarkably well to even get this far, stunning Cristiano Ronaldo and Juventus in Turin in the previous round.
They then really put themselves in pole position for a place in the final after goals from Matthijs de Ligt and Hakim Ziyech put them 3-0 up in the tie, adding to their 1-0 win in London.
It was just after that second goal that they were backed at 44.043/1.
Every footballer probably has one match that they look back at when their career is over and think 'yeah, that's the one where everything fell into place. That's the one where I didn't put a foot wrong'.
If you're Lucas Moura, it was probably this match. Filling in for the injured Harry Kane, he grabbed two second-half goals in the space of five minutes and in a frantic finish where both sides had good chances to put the matter to bed, he scored in the sixth minute of injury time, with a fine finish to take Spurs through to the final against all odds.
The final was an uneventful one, Liverpool scoring early in the Madrid heat and adding a second late on, but Spurs will never forget that night in Amsterdam.
