FC Barcelona face quite the conundrum. And while they continue to prepare for the return leg of the UEFA Champions League last 16 versus Paris Saint-Germain at Camp Nou on Wednesday night with a 4–0 aggregate deficit standing in the way of a quarterfinal berth, there have been no shortage of comparisons to the handful of teams which have overcome similar quandaries in European competition over the years.
Among said examples are the admirable comeback by Leixões SC in the first round of the 1961/62 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, in which the Portuguese side overcame a 6–2 defeat at Swiss club FC La Chaux-de-Fonds to take the return leg, 5–0.
And years later, in the second round of the 1984/85 UEFA Cup, the Serbian side FK Partizan pulled off a similar feat. After dropping the first leg, 6–2, at the Queens Park Rangers, Partizan returned to Belgrade and went through with a 4–0 triumph in the second leg.
Nevertheless, while Barça do partake in the so-called ‘beautiful game’, we have decided to expand our horizons and have looked to some of North America’s major sports, and beyond, to try and find some historically inspirational examples of impossible comebacks, proving that miracles do, in fact, happen — and not just in soccer.
