What are the chances of Liverpool throwing away their 2-0 first-leg advantage against Inter Milan?
- Cameron Loftus
- 7 March 2022
The Reds and Man City complete Champions League round-of-16 clashes this week against Inter Milan and Sporting Lisbon, respectively and both hold healthy leads after wins in the away legs.
While Man City are home and hosed following a 5-0 first-leg success in Lisbon, Liverpool's progress looks slightly less straightforward.
A 2-0 victory at the San Siro in February put them firmly in the box seat but Inter come into the match on the back of a 5-0 trouncing of Salernitana and the Champions League has a reputation for throwing up a shock or two.
Planet Sport explores instances where teams have made second-leg comebacks against the odds.
Champions League ties Liverpool have lost after winning the first leg
Liverpool have been eliminated four times in the Champions League or European Cup after winning the first leg. The good news for Reds fans is that the latest instance was 20 years ago.
After a narrow 1-0 win over quarter-final opponents Bayer Leverkusen at Anfield, Liverpool suffered a 4-2 defeat in the return leg to slip out 4-3 on aggregate.
Bayer would go on to lose in the final to Real Madrid, with Zinedine Zidane scoring one of the most iconic goals in the competition's history.
Liverpool were eliminated after winning the first leg twice in three seasons between 1979 and 1982. They let slip a 2-1 home advantage against Dinamo Tbilisi of Georgia in the first round, losing the second leg 3-0. History repeated itself soon after as the Reds took another goal lead to CSKA Sofia before being on the wrong end of a 3-1 loss in Bulgaria.
Believe it or not the first team Liverpool lost to having taken a lead into the second leg of a European Cup match was Inter Milan at the semi-final stage in 1965. Liverpool were 3-1 up following the home leg at Anfield but suffered a 3-0 defeat to the Italians in the return. Could history repeat itself?
Have Liverpool lost a home second leg in the Champions League/European Cup?
Liverpool have competed in the top club competition 26 times and are one of the most successful clubs in the history of the competition with six wins but they have still suffered their fair share of heartbreak in the knockout rounds.
Four times Liverpool have lost a home second leg and on only one of those four occasions have they progressed to the next round.
That came in 2007 in the round of 16 against Barcelona when they progressed on away goals. Having won the first leg 2-1 at Camp Nou, they went on to lose 1-0 at Anfield scraping through on away goals.
They then went on to beat PSV and Chelsea before coming up short in the final against AC Milan, losing 1-0.
The season prior, Liverpool were outclassed by Benfica, losing both the home and away legs for a 3-0 aggregate defeat.
Red Star Belgrade were the first team to beat Liverpool in a European Cup knockout match at Anfield way back in 1973, winning both legs 2-1 to progress to the third round.
Most recently, Atletico Madrid got the better of Liverpool at Anfield in 2020, albeit after extra time. With the scores tied at 1-1 after 180 minutes, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain put the Reds ahead only for Atletico to reply with three extra-time goals to progress 4-2 on aggregate.
Champions League exits after a first leg away win
While Liverpool have never been eliminated from the competition after winning the first leg away from home, there have been previous instances of clubs defying the odds.
PSG vs Manchester United (2018/19)
With the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Neymar in their team, PSG were expected to brush aside Manchester United at the round-of-16 stage three years ago.
And after United suffered their first-ever European two-goal home defeat, the tie looked to be going the way of the form book.
However, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side became the first team in Champions League and European Cup history, at the 107th time of asking, to overcome a 2-0 or greater home first-leg deficit.
Marcus Rashford completed the turnaround, netting an injury-time spot-kick to make it 3-1 to United on the night, sending the Red Devils through on away goals after an earlier Romelu Lukaku double.
Real Madrid vs Ajax (2018/19)
Incredibly, the previous night, Ajax were the seventh team to come through a European Cup tie having lost the home first leg and they also did it in spectacular fashion.
Ajax eliminated Real Madrid despite a 2-1 home loss, stunning the 13-time European champions 4-1 at the Bernabeu.
Dusan Tadic was the star of the show, grabbing two assists before curling in a left-footed shot from the edge of the box to make it 3-0 on the night.
Marcos Asensio gave Madrid hope but an excellent free-kick from Lasse Schone from a ridiculous angle wrapped up a night to remember for Ajax.
Ajax vs Tottenham Hotspur (2018/19)
The 2018/19 campaign was one of the craziest of all time, as for a third time in a matter of months a team progressed after losing their home leg.
This time it was at the semi-final stage, with Ajax beating Spurs 1-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before seeing Lucas Moura bag a hat-trick to give the north London side a 3-2 win in the reverse fixture.
As a result, it was Mauricio Pochettino's side who progressed on the away-goal rule to face Liverpool in the final. Ironically after all the thrills and spills in the knockout rounds, it was one of the worst Champions League finals in recent memory.
Bayern Munich vs Inter Milan (2010/11)
Inter have some previous in the competition when it comes to second-leg comebacks away from home, fighting back from a goal down to knock Bayern Munich out 12 years ago.
Bayern took a slender 1-0 lead back to Germany. However, striker Goran Pandev scored two minutes from time in the second leg to cap a stunning Inter fightback. The Italian side had actually trailed 3-1 on aggregate at one stage in the tie but Wesley Sneijder pulled them level on the night and Pandev's 88th-minute winner sent them through to quarter-finals on away goals.
So 1-0? Perhaps but very unlikely. 2-0? No chance.
