The 10 greatest knockout ties in Champions League history, destined to be crashed by PSG v Bayern | OneFootball

Paris Saint-Germain vs Bayern Munich cannot rank above some Liverpool and Spurs daftness just yet, purely on a Champions League technicality.

Barring a goalless second-leg aberration, it will very possibly make the top one on this list after the absurd levels shown at the Parc des Princes.

Nothing complicated here: just 10 of the greatest two-legged ties in Champions League history, with the obvious and necessary apology for not including that one you like.

10) Borussia Dortmund 3 Malaga 2 (quarter-final, 2013)

If you’re only ever going to get one crack at the European Cup, you might as well make it a stone-cold classic run that ends in a blaze of glory.

Malaga may return to the Champions League stage again some day but that halcyon era under Manuel Pellegrini could not seem further from reality for a side currently knocking around Spain’s second tier.

Los Boquerones received their invite by pipping Atletico Madrid to fourth place in La Liga in 2012, with top scorer Salomon Rondon and creative lynchpin Santi Cazorla leaving that same summer. Isco shouldered the increased responsibility while Manchester City loanee Roque Santa Cruz helped atone for a loss of goals.

Malaga maintained their solid domestic form but it came at no expense to their European excursions.

Their reward for navigating an unbeaten group stage and a last-16 meeting with Porto was a showdown against Borussia Dortmund and a tie which would trigger English football’s love affair with Jurgen Klopp.

The Germans were dominant in the first leg at La Rosaleda but failed to make it count with an away goal, with Mario Gotze particularly profligate. That left the second leg balanced just well enough for either side to believe they had a chance: Dortmund were at home but Malaga knew one away goal could sway it.

That came through Joaquin as early as the 25th minute, cancelled out by Robert Lewandowski just before half time. Already heading through, Malaga solidified their place in the semi-finals as Eliseu scored with eight minutes to go. Yet Marco Reus and an incredibly offside Felipe Santana struck in injury time to swing the tie between two future Premier League-winning managers completely.

9) Manchester City 6 Monaco 6 (last 16, 2017)

The inevitable issue with many knockout games is that they become cagey and cautious, both sides setting up conservatively for fear of handing the opponent a crucial advantage. Risk rarely outweighs reward.

Then Manchester City and Monaco come along with a 12-goal extravaganza between a side that could not defend properly and another that simply chose not to.

First came a 5-3 home win at the Etihad, which featured a couple of strikes from Radamel Falcao either side of Kylian Mbappe’s first Champions League goal.

Monaco led for 28 minutes but contrived to lose by two to a Manchester City team that was in front for just 19.

But the pending Ligue Un champions were sensational in the second leg as Mbappe, Fabinho and Tiemoue Bakayoko rendered Leroy Sane’s effort obsolete, Pep Guardiola left to rue his decision to play Fernandinho as the sole central midfielder behind an attacking quintet despite boasting a two-goal advantage against a free-scoring team with nothing to lose.

He doesn’t half choose his moments.

8) Inter 7 Barcelona 6 (semi-final, 2025)

“You know what, we’ve been complaining for more than one year or one-and-a-half or two years that football is ‘boring’ and whatnot,” said Thierry Henry of PSG’s thriller against Bayern. “That game wasn’t boring. I enjoyed myself and I think everybody at home enjoyed themselves.”

The Frenchman made a similar point at the same stage last season. “I’ve been bored watching football recently, in the past one or two years,” he noted. “I’ll be honest with you, bored. So thank you Inter, and thank you Barcelona.”

It remains one of the highest-scoring Champions League ties ever, alongside Liverpool’s ridiculous win over Roma in the 2018 semis, and a slightly more lopsided Bayern win over Sporting in 2009’s last 16.

But the key with Inter and Barcelona’s classic was perhaps the relatively low expectations going in. While the Catalans have taken part in two-legged ties with aggregate scores of 4-1, 5-3, 8-3 and 3-2 under Hansi Flick, the more reserved Italians felt like a natural counter after scoring 11 and conceding one in the league phase.

But Simone Inzaghi’s side adapted rather than dragging Barca into a war of attrition: Inter went ahead in the tie four times as the aggregate match result changed on nine occasions across 210 breathless minutes.

Lamine Yamal was electric. Raphinha put Barcelona in the lead for the first time in the 87th minute of the second leg at the San Siro. The 37-year-old centre-half Francesco Acerbi obviously equalised in stoppage time after deciding to venture forward. Davide Frattesi won it in extra time.

Inter were subsequently dismantled by PSG in the most stark final defeat in Champions League history, completely spent by the journey there.

7) Liverpool 4 Barcelona 3 (semi-final, 2019)

There is a case to be made for the 2018/19 Champions League knockout stage being the greatest in the competition’s history.

It contained Ajax’s glorious embarrassment of riches, putting paid to Real Madrid and Juventus in consecutive rounds before themselves falling to Tottenham in a sensationally dramatic semi-final.

The Old Lady only reached the quarter-finals after Cristiano Ronaldo continued his personal hex over Atletico Madrid with a hat-trick to turn a 2-0 first-leg deficit to a 3-2 aggregate win.

Manchester United also stormed Paris in a remarkable game which tricked them into letting Ole Gunnar Solskjaer be their manager for over two years.

But Liverpool outdid everyone in heeding Mo Salah’s pre-match T-shirt and never giving up.

The Egyptian’s injury coincided with the absence of Roberto Firmino as Liverpool were tasked with coming from three goals down to vanquish Barcelona in the semi-finals.

Anfield was rocking out of habit more than expectation but once Divock Origi scored in the seventh minute, the mood perceptibly changed.

It was still not until Georginio Wijnaldum’s half-time introduction for Andy Robertson – this generation’s Didi Hamann for Steve Finnan – that Barcelona realised their fate. Ten minutes later the Dutchman had scored twice, leaving Origi, Trent Alexander-Arnold and an eager ball boy to do the rest and send Liverpool through on an astonishing night.

Ousmane Dembele has since exorcised the personal demons of that first-leg miss but the scars remain for Barca.

6) Ajax 3 Spurs 3 (semi-final, 2019)

It was perhaps the best Champions League game, tie and comeback – for 24 hours.

The following evening, Spurs asked Liverpool to hold their beer, suspend their disbelief and prepare for the dampest squib imaginable.

After two semi-finals of absurd drama, it was perhaps inevitable that the final between Liverpool and Spurs would be so painfully uneventful. Both teams had expended themselves getting there in the first place.

There was at least something vaguely explicable about Liverpool toppling Barcelona: the magical European night at Anfield; the Catalan disposition to collapse; the inexorability of Divock Origi.

A precedent for Spurs to overcome everything – including and indeed especially themselves – to reach a Champions League final did not exist.

Ajax beat them in north London in the first leg, then took a two-goal lead with barely half an hour played in Amsterdam. Spurs, without the injured Harry Kane and with the entirely fit Moussa Sissoko, had no reason to believe in anything other than eternal disappointment.

Then Lucas Moura scored. And scored again. And after another half an hour in which both sides hit the woodwork and Spurs’ substitutions when chasing a goal were Fernando Llorente, Erik Lamela and Ben Davies, the Brazilian completed a hat-trick which still didn’t land him a starting place in the final over a barely quarter-fit Kane.

5) Ajax 4 Atletico Madrid 3 (quarter-final, 1997)

Not until he wished to express to Mike Dean his thoughts on a perceived Alexis Sanchez dive almost a decade later had Louis van Gaal ever been so animated. Ajax, tournament winners in 1995 and runners-up in 1996, were in the 1997 semi-finals after edging past Atletico Madrid in extra-time.

That Van Gaal would be heading to La Liga himself that summer emphasised how his sensational Ajax team had come to their natural end by this point, but one final hurrah in Amsterdam was a fitting tribute.

Frank Rijkaard, Edgar Davids, Finidi George, Nwankwo Kanu and Clarence Seedorf had all gone but much of their nucleus remained: Patrick Kluivert cancelled out Juan Esnaider’s early goal in the first leg before Ronald de Boer and Kiko traded efforts over 90 minutes back in Holland.

Harry Redknapp’s best friend Dani struck, only for a Milinko Pantic penalty to give Atletico renewed hope and a quarter of an hour to avoid exiting on away goals. As they pushed forward for a decisive third, Tijani Babangida led and eventually converted a breakaway before leaping into the arms of his manager.

4) Manchester City 4 Spurs 4 (quarter-final, 2019)

Don’t worry: mention of this one was omitted from 7) for a reason. What transpired over two legs between a pair of familiar foes still beggars belief to this day, and not just because it featured Spurs at the sharp end of the Champions League.

Spurs were always second favourites to advance against the Premier League champions, who had won their last three meetings in a row and were inches ahead of Liverpool in their quest to retain their domestic crown. So when Harry Kane was substituted after less than an hour of a tense first leg, all hope seemed to have been lost. Yet Heung-min Son handed them the most slender of leads to protect at the Etihad.

Manchester City scrubbed that out within four minutes at the Etihad through Raheem Sterling, only for Son to net twice in response. Bernardo Silva then equalised immediately, followed by another Sterling strike to bring the aggregate score from 0-1 to 3-3 after 21 second-leg minutes.

The situation settled a little thereafter until Sergio Aguero sparked it back into life on the hour, then Fernando Llorente’s arm hair nudged Spurs ahead again with 17 minutes to play.

Sterling thought he had put City through in the third minute of stoppage time, yet his effort was ruled out for offside by VAR when it was still a bit of a novelty and added to the emotion rather than perennially undermining Mark Clattenburg’s expert opinion.

3) Manchester United 2 Real Madrid 3 (quarter-final, 2000)

Some might prefer the 2003 basketball extravaganza – Chelsea supporters certainly should – but that was a one-sided exhibition and almost a secondary plot line to David Beckham’s future at the time, save for the tremendous Ronaldo story arc.

What occurred a few years earlier was at least closer in terms of result and intrigue, although Real Madrid were once again far superior to Manchester United.

They really shouldn’t have been. United were reigning European champions defending their Premier League crown with consummate ease, while Real spent most of the 1999/2000 season mired in a UEFA Cup qualification battle with Zaragoza, Alaves and Celta Vigo. But one team was painfully overawed by the other.

“In the first game we had too much respect for the name Real Madrid,” substitute goalkeeper Raimond van der Gouw noted after watching Mark Bosnich preserve a goalless draw from the sidelines. Only he, Roy Keane and Ryan Giggs really turned up in the Bernabeu as Andy Cole spurned one glorious headed chance and Dwight Yorke had an effort ruled out for offside.

United still felt they were in control of the tie for two reasons: Home advantage at Old Trafford; and their simple refusal to ever be beaten. They came from behind to win or draw six of their 11 Champions League games in 1998/99 and carried that belief forward.

Real would crush it. Vicente Del Bosque lined them up in a 3-3-2-2 formation in which the underrated Fernando Redondo positively thrived, before he dug into Sir Alex Ferguson’s “tactical anarchy” after a chastening victory.

Real took a three-goal lead after 52 minutes and to United’s credit it was whittled down to one with a sensational David Beckham effort and a Paul Scholes penalty, leaving them two minutes and stoppage-time to score twice more and advance. Even for them it was a hurdle too far.

2) Barcelona 2 Inter Milan 3 (semi-final, 2010)

The bare statistics are amazing: 20 shots to one, a 94% pass-success rate to 54%, 17 dribbles to four, and 76% possession against a side reduced to ten men for more than an hour.

Jose Mourinho lost the battle but irrefutably won the war, and he wanted to make sure the Nou Camp knew it.

Inter Milan’s heroic defensive performance in the second leg of their 2010 semi-final against Barcelona obscures the havoc they wreaked initially. Diego Milito was in inspired form at the San Siro as he assisted both Wesley Sneijder and Maicon before scoring himself to make it 3-1 in a counter-attacking first-leg masterclass.

Both that and what immediately followed remains arguably Mourinho’s greatest career achievement. Lifting the trophy with Porto was exceptional but stopping arguably the greatest club team ever, his nemeses, winning three in a row was the realisation of his purest form.

1) Chelsea 7 Liverpool 5 (quarter-final, 2009)

Jorge Valdano’s existential reaction to one of Chelsea and Liverpool’s Champions League meetings in the mid-2000s was entirely understandable and has become the default encapsulation of Jose Mourinho and Rafael Benitez’s frequent continental block-measuring contests.

In three seasons between 2005 and 2007, six games between the two produced scorelines of 0-0, 1-0, 0-0, 0-0, 1-0 and 1-0.

The 2008 semi-final was a bit more adventurous, although three of the tie’s seven goals came in a particularly chaotic extra time.

But by 2009 and with Mourinho long gone, replaced at that stage by Guus Hiddink, the Reds and Blues decided to let loose.

The first leg was an immediate improvement on the stick-adjacent excrement Valdano so abhorred two years prior, although Anfield might have preferred watching that than a Branislav Ivanovic-inspired 3-1 defeat having led through Fernando Torres in the sixth minute.

Nothing could have prepared anyone for the second leg. Fabio Aurelio’s deceptive 35-yard free-kick, whipped past Petr Cech as the Chelsea keeper awaited a cross delivered from wide on the right side, remains the single greatest moment in recorded history.

A Xabi Alonso penalty put Liverpool within a goal of taking the lead on aggregate with an hour left. Pepe Reina’s dreadful mistake, a thunderous Alex free-kick and Frank Lampard’s strike extinguished all hope. Lucas Leiva and Dirk Kuyt reignited it with two goals in quick succession, putting Liverpool ahead on the night and one behind on aggregate with ten minutes left.

But it was ultimately a Stamford Bridge just a little too far – Lampard struck once more to seal a 4-4 draw which Benitez on the touchline and Mourinho watching from afar must have hated.