Was this Liverpool’s best ever comeback?
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Liverpool 3 AC Milan 3 (Liverpool won 3-2 on penalties, Champions League final, Istanbul, May 2005)
Liverpool beat Milan in a penalty shoot-out to win the Champions League after sensationally coming from three goals down at half-time in a match later dubbed The Miracle of Istanbul. Paolo Maldini gave Milan a first-minute lead, and two goals from Hernan Crespo put them in a seemingly unassailable position at the interval. Reds captain Steven Gerrard gave Liverpool hope, and Vladimir Smicer and Xabi Alonso levelled in a seven-minute spell. Jerzy Dudek then saved from Andrea Pirlo and Andriy Shevchenko in the shoot-out to clinch a stunning
victory.
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Hide AdLiverpool 3 West Ham United 3 (Liverpool won 3-1 on penalties, FA Cup final, Cardiff, May 2006)
Gerrard’s added-time screamer dragged this Millennium Stadium final into extra time, just when West Ham thought they had the match done and dusted. The Reds captain’s second goal salvaged a 3-3 draw at the last, after West Ham had thrown away a 2-0 first-half lead. Jamie Carragher’s own goal and Dean Ashton’s finish had the Hammers in control, before Djibril Cisse cut the deficit before the break. Gerrard levelled the tie at 2-2 before Paul Konchesky struck to edge the Londoners into that 3-2 lead that the Liverpool skipper cruelly snatched away at the death. Liverpool then prevailed 3-1 on penalties, only Teddy Sheringham finding the net from West Ham’s four efforts, with John Arne Riise firing the decisive spot-kick.
Liverpool 3 Olympiacos 1 (Champions League group stage, Anfield, December 2004)
Liverpool had to win by two goals to advance to the knockout stages, so Rivaldo’s 27th-minute goal left the hosts with an uphill struggle. Florent Sinama Pongolle put the Reds back on terms after the break, before Neil Mellor edged Liverpool into the 2-1 lead with nine minutes to play. And then up popped Gerrard, firing home from 20 yards to secure that two-goal victory margin, with just four minutes of normal time remaining.
Liverpool 4 Newcastle 3 (Premier League, Anfield, April 1996)
Branded the Premier League’s greatest ever game by many, and considered the defeat that ultimately came to define Newcastle’s title-race implosion. Robbie Fowler struck for Liverpool after just two minutes, before Les Ferdinand and David Ginola had Newcastle leading 2-1 inside the quarter-hour. Fowler equalised after the break, only for Faustino Asprilla to put Newcastle 3-2 ahead before the hour-mark. Collymore grabbed his second goal with little more than 20 minutes to play to tie the game at 3-3. And just when Newcastle thought they could escape Anfield with a point the former Nottingham Forest striker slotted home Liverpool’s winner. Footage of Newcastle boss Kevin Keegan slumped over in the dugout still encapsulate a breathless night.
Liverpool 4 Borussia Dortmund 3 (Europa League, Anfield, April 2016)
In Jurgen Klopp’s first season at Liverpool, and against his former club, his team found themselves 3-1 down in the second leg of their quarter-final tie and therefore losing 4-2 on aggregate and facing elimination. A finish from Divock Origi was all the hosts had to show for their efforts on an evening when Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Marco Reus gave an impressively strong Dortmund team a convincing lead. With 25 minutes remaining they still required three goals, but Philippe Coutinho’s low shot and then Mamadou Sakho’s header put them on course for so unlikely a victory. Dejan Lovren’s injury-time header, from James Milner’s cross, secured exactly that. Dortmund’s respected manager Thomas Tuchel said post-match: “If I could explain it then something logical would have happened. You can’t explain it.”