Let’s face it, we should have been enjoying the last second legs in this season’s Champions League Round of 16 around about now.
Instead, we’re heading in to very uncertain times so we thought why not forget about all that for a couple of minutes, and take a look back at the knock-out stages of last season’s tournament. When the Champions League meant dramatic comebacks and mental scenes.
The 2018/19 Champions League campaign was when the world fell back in love with Dutch club, Ajax of Amsterdam. Their style of play on a run that took them to the Semi-Finals was outstanding. And their 2nd leg victory AT the Bernabéu, after trailing 2-1 against Real Madrid in the Round of 16 was the perhaps their finest moment.
Elsewhere in the Round of 16, Manchester United surprised the doubters when they pulled off a comeback of their own. Having lost the first leg of their game versus PSG, Romelu Lukaku gave United an early lead in Paris only for them to go 3-1 down on aggregate shortly afterwards. Lukaku would score again but it was a penalty from Marcus Rashford, deep in to injury time and only awarded after consultation with VAR that took them through.
At the same stage, Cristiano Ronaldo was coming back to haunt his old rivals from his days at Real Madrid. This time, his hat-trick for Juventus saw the Italian side overturn Atlético’s two goal advantage.
After defeating Juventus in the Quarter-Finals and leading Spurs 3-0, at half-time in the 2nd leg of their Semi-Final, all was looking rosy for Ajax and a first final appearance since 1996 was all but sealed.
But no-one told Brazilian international, Lucas Moura and in a devestating second-half spell, he scored a stunning hat-trick to completely turn the game on it’s head.
Of all the comebacks in last year’s crazy Champions League – this one, after Liverpool were so comprehensively beaten in the first leg of their Semi-Final was perhaps the most impressive.
Lionel Messi had graced that 3-0 win for Barcelona with the inch-perfect free kick. ?
But Liverpool weren’t done. And in the second game, at Anfield they simply blew away their Spanish opponents. Trent Alexander-Arnold’s quick-thinking from a corner in the 79th minute wrote his name into Champions League history.
Maybe, after all that had gone on before it, you could argue that last year’s Champions League Final didn’t live up to the rest of the tournament but Liverpool fans weren’t complaining as their side picked up their sixth European title thanks to goals from Mo Salah and Divock Origi.
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