The Greatest European Comebacks in Real Madrid History

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Real Madrid, Raul (Photo by FRANCISCO PASO/AFP via Getty Images) /

4. Bayern Munich – 2002

Another quarterfinal encounter against a German opposition came Real Madrid way in the 2001/2002 season. However, on this occasion, it would be their historic European rival, Bayern Munich, that stood in the way. In the first leg, despite Real Madrid opening the scoring, Bayern overturned the result to the win 2-1 in Munich.

The much-anticipated return leg was surrounded by tension after the post-match comments of some of the Bayern players where Oliver Kahn called Real Madrid’s performance “arrogant” and Hasan Salihamidzic said, “they nearly crapped their pants.” After a calm first half, the game completely opened up in the second half with Real Madrid throwing everything forward and eventually scoring the go-ahead goal through Ivan Helguera. Later on, Guti would score a second, giving Real Madrid a 2-0 victory and seeing them through. They would then eliminate Barcelona in the semifinals and beat Bayer Leverkusen in the final to claim their 9th Champions League title.

Inter Milan lose 3-0 to Real Madrid in the UEFA Cup (Mandatory Credit: Allsport Hulton/Archive) /

3. Inter Milan – 1985

In the 1984/1985 season, Real Madrid found themselves playing the UEFA Cup (old version of the Europa League); reaching the semifinals of the competition where they took on Inter Milan. Despite being equally matched, the first leg did not go at all as planned as they left the San Siro with a 3-1 defeat.

However, 90 minutes in the Bernabéu turned out to be too long for the Nerazzurri as Real Madrid overturned the result and would go on to comfortably win by a 3-0 scoreline. With that, Real reached the final where they would win their first UEFA Cup title.

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